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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Copyright question
Jack Kurtz, Photographer
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Phoenix | AZ | United States | Posted: 9:13 PM on 01.18.10 |
->> I'm not sure if this is a real issue or just a question for ethicists. We got photos of a missing child that cops took from the mother's camera (who is a suspect in the child's disappearance). The mother took the photos of the child with the camera.
Does she own the copyright? Does her status as a suspect and the fact that cops provided the photos mean we can use the photos without mom's permission?
Thoughts? |
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Mark Peters, Photographer
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Highland | IL | USA | Posted: 9:23 PM on 01.18.10 |
->> Why wouldn't she? Absent work for hire, copyright is invested in the author of the work when the shutter clicks.
Seems to me the real question is whether such use would fall under fair use.
This is on the copyright offices website - and specifically mentions news reports. Run this by your paper's counsel and get them to render an opinion.
http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html
"The 1961 Report of the Register of Copyrights on the General Revision of the U.S. Copyright Law cites examples of activities that courts have regarded as fair use: “quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment; quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author’s observations; use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied; summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report; reproduction by a library of a portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy; reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson; reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports; incidental and fortuitous reproduction, in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported.” " |
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Thomas E. Witte, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Cincinnati | OH | USA | Posted: 10:37 PM on 01.18.10 |
->> Mark- Correct, the website does say that, but there are caveats which only an attorney can explain... And chances are if you ask for ten attorney's opinions, you're going to get ten different interpretations. The main counterpoint is pretty obvious - what's stopping any newspaper from claiming fair use for every photo they use in their daily publication?
Aside from the website saying whatever it likes, it ultimately boils down to precedent. I'd run it past your legal department (or representation) because either way you look at it, you're still running a photo without author permission. Just because it was given to you by the police doesn't mean anything. |
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Mark Loundy, Photo Editor
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 12:07 AM on 01.19.10 |
->> They MIGHT reasonably claim Fair Use if they were doing a story about the photo itself. Merely using it to illustrate a news story about the disappearance does not come remotely close to Fair Use.
--Mark |
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Joe Andras, Photographer
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Orange County | CA | USA | Posted: 12:48 AM on 01.19.10 |
| ->> In my opinion, there are practical considerations. Neither an innocent mother nor a guilty mother would object. Why? Because an innocent mother would welcome the publication to help locate her missing child and a guilty mother would act like an innocent mother. |
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Mark Peters, Photographer
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Highland | IL | USA | Posted: 1:37 AM on 01.19.10 |
->> Mark - no disagreement, but how difficult would it be to run an article where the photo is the story - headlined "Police Seize Camera With Photo Of Missing Child"?
My personal opinion, which isn't worth the electrons its written with, is that it is infringement - but no more so than copying a photo out of a yearbook or using a school wallet photo to accompany a missing child alert or story about a young accident victim (which I have seen and read about more than once.)
Either way, let the attorneys make the call - or just ask the mom if it's ok. Why would she say no? |
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Mark Peters, Photographer
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Highland | IL | USA | Posted: 1:38 AM on 01.19.10 |
| ->> I should add - I wouldn't defend the use of the school photos in the manner described either. It's just an observation. |
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