Copyright: What the shit?!?
Copyright can be pretty confusing. Unless you are a lawyer or love reading long, boring documents, copyright can also be just plain dull. Chances are though, if you’ve ever paid for or created any kind of artistic works, copyright somehow applies to you. So how the hell are you meant to know what you are and are not allowed to do?
Thankfully we’ve done all the hard work for you. Here’s the easy run down.
What is copyright?
Copyright is the right to distribute, publish, reproduce or alter something. It applies to any work of art or photo. If you don’t own the copyright, you can’t reproduce, alter publish or distribute the thing! Copyright can be individually owned or shared and should be talked and/or thought about before the thing is made. So if you own the copyright to photo of say, I dunno, a frikkin.... wombat. Yeh, if you have the copyright to a photos of a wombat you can change it, hand it out to friends or put it on your website etc.
Who usually owns the copyright?
When something is made just for fun or just because, or no one has asked them to make it, the ownership of the copyright belongs to the author- whoever made the thing. If they were asked to make the thing and paid for the job the rights belong to the person who is paying them- the commissioner- unless otherwise stated. This is called the law of commission. So if you get asked to take a picture of a wombat for money, or you get paid to take a picture down the street and you take a picture of a wombat sipping latte, the picture doesn’t belong to you unless you’ve agreed that before hand. They commissioned you, it's theres.
Licensing
A common way to share copyright is through licensing. This is when the owner of the copyright gives permission for limited or specified use of the copyright to another individual, group or organisation. Usually the licensing agreement includes the time it's licensed for and the ways it can be used. There is often an exclusivity cause to stop you licensing the same thing to lots of people. So if you own the copyright to the wombat photo you can sell/license it to www.ilovewombat.com to use only on their website for 2 years. Or whatever.
Moral rights of the author
Even if you don’t own the copyright (you got commissioned and didn’t agree to retain some copyright) but you made the thing, the moral rights of the author still kick in. That basically means that ONCE YOU ASK TO BE CREDITED for the works, then legally you have to be credited. If you don’t ask, the copyright holder doesn’t have to credit you. So if you get asked to take a photo of a wombat riding a bike and you do that, wherever the owner of the copyright puts that image they have to credit you as the Author (as long as you’ve asked them to).
What you should do if you are making things
If you are freelancing, being non commissioned, people can’t use your shit. You can license every photo and force people to pay up for every usage- the licensing conditions are up to you. If you are being paid for work or being asked to do jobs and you want to retain any copyright you need to agree on that with the client before the job. This includes your rights to post to facebook or anything. If it’s just credit as the author you want, you also need to specify this as per your moral rights. If you don’t care about other people being able to alter your image, or getting recognition for it, or being able to do anything with it yourself; say nothing. But this should all happen before the shoot!
What this means if you are our client
We state in quite a few places (and are stating it here too) that we share copyright with the client. We retain the ability to reproduce the image on our website or facebook. We require permission for the images use if it’s for any commercial purposes or money making. In return, we also won’t be selling your images to anyone else! We don’t want the photos changed either (no shitty instagram filters), but are happy for you to use them wherever and whenever you want for non commercial purposes. Make t-shirts for grandma. Make stickers for your bike. Make an album for each one of your family members- just don’t use them for a business without permission (and then we’ll require credit). Basically if either of us want to do anything else with the images other than for personal use or one of our own facebook/instagram/website, we need to be courteous and check with each other. We license to anyone else to use without permission. It’s like the photos are our babies and we’ve got shared custody. You know what else looks kinda like a baby? A wombat.
Further reading/ where we got the info:
The Clendons Guide to NZ Law Relating to Photography
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1994/0143/latest/DLM345634.html
http://www.speedwaynz.com/copyright_law.pdf
Thankfully we’ve done all the hard work for you. Here’s the easy run down.
What is copyright?
Copyright is the right to distribute, publish, reproduce or alter something. It applies to any work of art or photo. If you don’t own the copyright, you can’t reproduce, alter publish or distribute the thing! Copyright can be individually owned or shared and should be talked and/or thought about before the thing is made. So if you own the copyright to photo of say, I dunno, a frikkin.... wombat. Yeh, if you have the copyright to a photos of a wombat you can change it, hand it out to friends or put it on your website etc.
Who usually owns the copyright?
When something is made just for fun or just because, or no one has asked them to make it, the ownership of the copyright belongs to the author- whoever made the thing. If they were asked to make the thing and paid for the job the rights belong to the person who is paying them- the commissioner- unless otherwise stated. This is called the law of commission. So if you get asked to take a picture of a wombat for money, or you get paid to take a picture down the street and you take a picture of a wombat sipping latte, the picture doesn’t belong to you unless you’ve agreed that before hand. They commissioned you, it's theres.
Licensing
A common way to share copyright is through licensing. This is when the owner of the copyright gives permission for limited or specified use of the copyright to another individual, group or organisation. Usually the licensing agreement includes the time it's licensed for and the ways it can be used. There is often an exclusivity cause to stop you licensing the same thing to lots of people. So if you own the copyright to the wombat photo you can sell/license it to www.ilovewombat.com to use only on their website for 2 years. Or whatever.
Moral rights of the author
Even if you don’t own the copyright (you got commissioned and didn’t agree to retain some copyright) but you made the thing, the moral rights of the author still kick in. That basically means that ONCE YOU ASK TO BE CREDITED for the works, then legally you have to be credited. If you don’t ask, the copyright holder doesn’t have to credit you. So if you get asked to take a photo of a wombat riding a bike and you do that, wherever the owner of the copyright puts that image they have to credit you as the Author (as long as you’ve asked them to).
What you should do if you are making things
If you are freelancing, being non commissioned, people can’t use your shit. You can license every photo and force people to pay up for every usage- the licensing conditions are up to you. If you are being paid for work or being asked to do jobs and you want to retain any copyright you need to agree on that with the client before the job. This includes your rights to post to facebook or anything. If it’s just credit as the author you want, you also need to specify this as per your moral rights. If you don’t care about other people being able to alter your image, or getting recognition for it, or being able to do anything with it yourself; say nothing. But this should all happen before the shoot!
What this means if you are our client
We state in quite a few places (and are stating it here too) that we share copyright with the client. We retain the ability to reproduce the image on our website or facebook. We require permission for the images use if it’s for any commercial purposes or money making. In return, we also won’t be selling your images to anyone else! We don’t want the photos changed either (no shitty instagram filters), but are happy for you to use them wherever and whenever you want for non commercial purposes. Make t-shirts for grandma. Make stickers for your bike. Make an album for each one of your family members- just don’t use them for a business without permission (and then we’ll require credit). Basically if either of us want to do anything else with the images other than for personal use or one of our own facebook/instagram/website, we need to be courteous and check with each other. We license to anyone else to use without permission. It’s like the photos are our babies and we’ve got shared custody. You know what else looks kinda like a baby? A wombat.
Further reading/ where we got the info:
The Clendons Guide to NZ Law Relating to Photography
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1994/0143/latest/DLM345634.html
http://www.speedwaynz.com/copyright_law.pdf