| Guide to Rights and Licensing |
Page 1 of 5
Introduction to Rights & LicensingFor Photo Competition Entrants and OrganisersIf you are entering a photography competition, or you are a photography competition organiser, we hope this article will help with regard to understanding the importance, purpose and the need for terms and conditions in photography competitions. The object of this article is twofold -
Note this article is not a full treatment of the law concerning intellectual property rights, that's a subject that legal specialists give their life to. However, intellectual property rights and the licensing of these rights can be reduced down to simple concepts that everyone should have a basic grasp of. A knowledge of these concepts will enable entrants to read and understand photographic competition terms and conditions. It will also help competition organisers to determine the rights they require entrants to grant to them to enable them to promote their photography competition. Throughout this article when we refer to a photographer, we are not just referring to professional or even amateur photographers. We are referring to anyone who takes a photograph, and if you have ever taken a photograph, that includes you!
Copyright & Intellectual Property You take a photograph, you could be an amateur photographer, or a professional, or you are just taking a snap for the family album, the law grants everyone equal rights with regard to the photographs they create. The instant you take a photograph the law makes you the copyright owner of that photograph1. There are no forms to fill, you don't need to register your photograph, you just need to press the button on your camera, you are now a copyright owner. What does this mean? It means that no one else can use or reproduce the photograph you have created without your permission. Being the copyright owner automatically gives you legal rights to control who, when, where, and what your photograph can be used for, these rights are commonly referred to as photographer's rights. Every country in the world has copyright laws in place to protect people and their works and these laws enable people to place a value on their creativity. These laws are often referred to as Intellectual Property laws and the rights set out by them are called Intellectual Property Rights. Everyone is entitled to the rights set out by these laws. If you have ever taken a photograph YOU are a creator, a copyright owner, and have rights. It is possible to legally transfer your copyright and Intellectual Property Rights for specific photographs to another person or organisation, but there are very few good reasons for doing so. Always take legal advice from a lawyer who specialises in intellectual property law should anyone or any organisation propose that you transfer your copyright to them. You may occasionally see photo competitions with rules requiring you to transfer your copyright or intellectual property rights to the organiser, do not enter such contests. Competitions with terms and conditions that are fair to the entrants will not make such demands of you. We will explain what we mean by fair terms and conditions later in this article. ### Note 1. If you are an employee and take a photograph in the course of your employement it is likely that the copyrght belongs to the employer, dependent of course on any agreement that may be in place between you and your employer. |
|||||||
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
