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The working photographer4 min read

LESSON 74

Copyright basics

Who owns a picture, and for how long.

IN THIS LESSON

  1. Read this first
  2. What copyright covers
  3. The Berne Convention
  4. How long it lasts
  5. Exceptions and open licences
  6. In practice: protecting your own work

Read this first

This lesson is general information, not legal advice. Laws differ between countries, so check the rules where you live and work, and ask a qualified lawyer before you sign or rely on anything important. The facts below come from an international treaty and from one country's law, and they are presented as exactly that. They describe a broad pattern, not the rule in your country, and details such as who owns commissioned work, how long rights last and which exceptions apply vary a great deal from one legal system to another.

What copyright covers

Copyright is a form of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. It protects the original expression of an idea, not the idea itself: anyone may photograph the same bridge, but not copy your picture of it. The rights usually include reproduction, control over derivative works, distribution, and in many places moral rights such as being named as the author. Copyright is territorial, so each country's law applies within its borders. Typically the first owner is the person who made the work, but an employer can own it; under the UK's Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, for example, work made by an employee in the course of employment belongs to the employer.

The Berne Convention

Much of the world's copyright rests on the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, first agreed in 1886 in Bern by ten European countries and revised many times since. As of November 2022 it had been ratified by 182 states. Its central idea is that protection begins as soon as a work is fixed, that is, recorded on some medium, with no need to register or apply. It also requires each member to protect works by authors from other members at least as well as those of its own nationals. Some countries call these rights copyright; much of continental Europe calls them authors' rights.

How long it lasts

Berne sets minimum terms, and countries may give longer ones; the source on copyright notes that terms typically end 50 to 100 years after the creator dies, depending on the country. For most works the minimum is 50 years after the author's death. Photographs are a special case: the treaty's minimum for photography is only 25 years from the year the photograph was made. Many countries protect photographs far longer than that, for example the European Union lengthened terms in a 1993 directive. So never assume that an old photograph is free to use: check the term in the country that matters, and ask whether a later restoration or scan might carry rights of its own.

Exceptions and open licences

Every system has limits that allow some uses without permission. In the United States the doctrine of fair use weighs the purpose of the use, the nature of the work, the amount used and the effect on the market for the original; it became statute in the Copyright Act of 1976. The source notes that US fair use is generally broader than the fair dealing rules of most countries that inherited English common law. Separately, an author can choose to share work on set terms with a Creative Commons licence, first released in 2002. The current 4.0 suite came out in November 2013, and options include allowing only non-commercial use.

In practice: protecting your own work

This section is working practice, not legal advice. Put your name and a copyright line in the metadata of every file at import. Keep your original RAW files and dated folders, because they help show that a picture is yours. Agree in writing, before a job, who owns the pictures and what the client may do with them. When you use other people's pictures, assume they are protected unless you have clear evidence otherwise, such as a licence that covers your use. Where registration is possible and offers extra protection, as in some countries, look into it for important work.

Try it today

  1. 01Add your name and a copyright line to your camera and import settings.
  2. 02Find out which country's law applies to your work and look up its term for photographs.
  3. 03Write a one-paragraph statement of who owns your pictures, for your next job.
  4. 04Pick one Creative Commons licence and read its full terms.
  5. 05Check the licence of three images you use on your own site or social pages.