Pro-Imaging

In general in the UK and the USA this lasts for the life of the photographer and then for a period of 70 years after their death. Note however copyright duration is a far more complex affair than the previous statement suggests. What follows below is a more detailed statement of copyright duration in the UK only. For other countries please refer to our Copyright around the World section.

Duration of Copyright in Photographs

As mentioned above, this is currently an extremely complex matter depending on, amongst other things, when the photograph was taken, and when, or if, it was published. For a detailed statement of the rules the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) have published a fact sheet which gives a precise statement of the facts. You can read this fact sheet here.