I thought I’d write a helpful post explaining some of the confusion and myths surrounding Copyright law in England and Wales and where we all stand as photographers and clients. I’ll start at the very beginning; when someone takes a photograph, they own the copyright to that image. That applies to anyone, and any type of camera, including a mobile phone camera. So the copyright to the holiday snaps you take are yours and the copyright to the images I take of my family down the park are mine. The images created by the camera are the intellectual property of who takes the photograph; not who the photograph is for and not who is in the photograph.
No one else is allowed to copy or reproduce the image, and this law also incorporates the technology of today. Copying or reproducing covers scanning, reprinting, downloading and uploading of the images, in fact any manner where a copy of the images is made. This also applies to altering the images; even the simple task of making a colour image black and white is prohibited under the copyright law.
So, for example, putting your holiday photos on facebook or some other website is fine as you took the images and therefore you own the copyright. A common misunderstanding is that when given a disc with her images on by her wedding photographer, the bride will naturally upload them onto her computer, her profile, and her phone without believing she is breaking any sort of law. I have many stories of brides wanting their wedding images printed out at a high street photograph printers and not being allowed as she does not own the copyright to the wedding images.
It is true that she is breaking the law under the Copyrights Designs and Patents Act 1988 if she does not have permission from the photographer.
What’s needed is a Reproduction or Print Licence; this gives the bride permission to copy her images in a manner described in the licence. Usually this gives permission to print the images, upload them online, onto phones or other devices, but may have restrictions on the images such as being entered into competitions, submission to publications or being sold. It may also have restrictions on altering the images; this would be covered by a Usage Licence. This is not giving the bride copyright of the images though; that remains with the photographer.
Any client of a photographer will not have the copyright of their images; I am using a bride for ease of explaining what can be a very tricky topic. It is important to remember that you cannot print, copy, scan, reproduce, upload or download any image that you have not taken yourself. You need the permission of the copyright holder.
There are some myths regarding how long the copyright lasts for; it is 70 years after the death of the photographer. Music copyright lasts for 50 years after the music was originally created, which may be the basis for some confusion.
The contract you will have signed with your photographer for your wedding or portrait session should cover your permission for them to take the photos of you and to use for their own purposes (which usually means processing them, adding them to their website and using them for marketing and promotional products). There should be a section covering your usage of the images after you have received them and what you are licensed to do.
The licence can be a paper or electronic copy and if you don’t have one with any of your images, it is best to go back to your photographer and enquire.
The full Act can be found here
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and this is a simplified description of the Copyright law. It is my interpretation and specific questions should be directed towards to a solicitor or lawyer.
If you have any other questions, please contact me. I hope this has been helpful.
