Multimedia Applications & Tools: Copyright & Fair Use... What's Up With That?!

Any creative person or consumer of creative things should have at least a basic knowledge of copyright and fair use, not only to protect others but to protect themselves. As a photographer, I've had to learn this the hard way. Here's a general breakdown of how to avoid copyright infringement and how to slow down sneaky thieves from stealing your work and claiming it as theirs.

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According to dictionary.com, copyright is defined as:

"The exclusive right to make copies, license, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or artistic work, whether printed, audio, video, etc. Works granted such right by law on or after January 1, 1978, are protected for the lifetime of the author or creator and for a period of 50 years after his or her death."

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So, in other words, the author/creator of something has the rights to copy (aka copyrights) his/her own work unless they give or sell those rights to others. period. If you, as a consumer, have not purchased or somehow obtained these rights (via a letter of permission, usually) to a piece of art, literature, music, etc. it is probably ILLEGAL, via Copyright Law, to alter, print, post, share or sell that work. Even if it is of you, such as in the case of photography.

That's right! When you have family portraits done, you do NOT automatically have the rights to print those images... you agreed to this when you hired the photographer (it's an unspoken rule, though most photographers either explain it, have it in a contract, or have it detailed somewhere on their website). The photographer is the creator, and thus has the rights. Photos of your children? Same thing! You don't own those images unless you purchase them from the photographer (or get permission... in writing). You can't really do anything with the images without permission from the creator. period. You can't take a screen shot, upload it to Instagram, edit it and post it on Facebook, for example. Can you tell I've experienced this with my clients? ;-)

It's not their fault. By and large most people have no concept of how any of this could hurt someone. So, let me touch on a few things, specifically that photography clients, shouldn't do if they want to avoid... dun-dun-dun... breaking the law!

Taking screenshots reduces the resolution of the image, creating a pixelated and low-quality photo. If anyone sees this blurry, unprofessional image, they think it came from the photographer like that, which doesn't help business.

Editing photos yourself in a phone app or some other consumer-grade program creates a "homemade" editing appearance as well as further reducing the resolution. The photographer more than likely will be embarrassed - or, in my case, utterly humiliated - at the site of these because potential clients will not see the true quality and professionalism of the photographer and will instead see a joke!

Sharing online without permission is a huge no-no. With the social media craze, this happens all the time and usually the artist doesn't even know! Always check first with your photographer because he/she will likely have a large resolution image that will look professional when posted for friends and family to see. This enhances the appearance of the artist's work and won't hurt their reputation.

Printing at home will never look professional no matter what kind of printer or ink you have (unless you spend many thousands of dollars on building your own print shop). The drug store or local department store printers aren't much better, but us photographers realize this is sometimes the only option for families on a budget or in a time crunch. In this case, you will still need a letter of copyright release in order to have prints made, so discuss these options with your photographer.

Avoiding communication with your photographer will lead to a waste of your time and money! If you are dissatisfied with the images that your photographer has created, talk to him/her about it. Any good photographer will want you to be happy and will re-edit the images, or if needed, schedule a follow-up session. If they aren't cooperative, then talk to them about obtaining the copyrights to the images. Once you have the rights, you can do what you wish with them (may be limited to personal use, so get the details IN WRITING!).

Bottom line is this -- the artist knows their work the best. They can help you get the most out of their work while also maintaining a professional reputation for themselves. Don't embarrass or degrade someone else's skills and creative ability by taking matters into your own hands. GET PERMISSION! This goes for any type of creative work from poetry to music and from movies to literature and everything in between. Copyright protects the artist's work.

But then... There's this thing called "Fair Use" which says we can use some parts of others' creative works.... Say What???

There is a place where copyright law ends and public use begins. It is sometimes considered "fair" to use certain parts of someone else's creative work. Such as the case when students use small bits of information for research papers (as long as they use proper references), or when someone's art is being critiqued in a blog, or when a song is being rewritten as a parody or used in satire. As long as it isn't harming the original creator in any way and is giving credit where credit is due, it is often legal to use small pieces of another person's creation.

Again I will use my personal experience as a photographer. Now, there are people who purposely steal photographers images and post them online as their own. Because of this, I have to make sure every image I post online has my watermark in a location that would make it difficult for the person to photoshop out, and I have to keep the file sizes small so that if someone steals it, it won't be a good quality for them to use. I use other security measures, but I'll save that for another blog post.

Today I want to talk about what happens when people copy my ideas... The short answer is NOTHING. I come up with lots of ideas for themed photography sessions (such as the "school days" theme below). Once I publish those images, someone else can take that idea and use it themselves. Copyright doesn't protect ideas because there is no way of tracking where ideas come from or who had them first. So, this is considered "fair use".

While it can be frustrating for me as an artist to see someone copying my ideas, I am grateful that I can be inspired by other people's ideas without committing copyright infringement! Because, let's be honest, we all get our ideas from somewhere. We may think we came up with our own original idea, but ideas are just a compilation of previous inspiration and knowledge gained from other sources. And, as an artist at heart, I wouldn't want to ever copy someone else's work exactly, but I do love looking at Pinterest for new concepts and ideas.... so, really, how is that any different? Below is some of my newborn work which no doubt was inspired by something else I saw online at some point. The internet in general is the modern day epicenter for fair use! So go be inspired by what you find! Just make sure your work is yours, and that you treat other artists the way you'd want to be treated.