Copyright in the UK can be very complicated for photographers. However, it gives photographers the right to the photographs they create. This right protects their photographs against unauthorised reproduction by others. It also entitles the photographer to the economic benefits of licensing their work for use. If these rights weren't in existence, it would be difficult to make a living as a photographer. You don't have to register or apply for a copyright and just by adding a watermark, you will have the ownership of the photograph.
The right to Economic Benefit:
To sum up the economic benefits from copyright, the owner of the photograph will have exclusive rights which I will list. They have the right to reproduce the photograph, distribute copies to the public, rent or lend the work to public, broadcast to the public and lastly make an adaption of the image. Anyone else who is not licensed for the copyright owner that does this will breach the law and you would have some control with your rights.
The Moral Rights:
To begin with, the photographer will have the right to be credited. If it is ever published, exhibited or broadcasted, you will have to give some credit and have the photographers name with the photograph. There are many exceptions such as judicial proceedings but nevertheless, it needs to be credited. Another moral right is to not have work falsely attributed to a photographer. This means that nobody should add false credibility to images that the named photographers never took. This could end bad and the falsely accused photographer has the right to legal help in such cases if they take it to extreme measures.
Keeping your copyright safe:
To ensure that you're safe from copyright infrigement, it is necessary to proceed it in courts. You must ensure that you can prove that you created the work, have the date of creation and initially have the original copy. Metadata can be helpful for this because it will have this with the file but sometimes this can be manipulated so it's not the best solution. There are many ways of keeping it safe. You can leave copies with a solicitors, use a copyright registration agency or keeping the original file as soon as you snapped the shot.
Copyright laws can last up to 70 years in the UK and also depends on the circumstances. Some photographers may have passed away but the copyright will still be there till after 70 years. Copyright does also apply to digital images on the internet, even though it may seem public, it's actually a breach of the law if you don't give credit to the ownership or if you don't have a license to use their photographs for your own use. If someone used the work without permission, it can be taken to court and the consequences can differ. They could be paying the cost for the image plus they would cover the legal costs for themselves and the photographer. It could go into extreme measures where they pay for the license after using the image.
Source:
http://www.pro-imaging.org/departments/photographers-rights/copyright-law-introduction/
As there is a lot to it, I decided to do some extended research and actually look at the government website to see what information they have on copyright. So I came across all this that I have documented below:
This has all the information based on copyright in the UK and it's also been updated within the last year. I think it has lots of information and also gives scenarios where you would consider what copyright laws we'll have. I think I've learned quite a lot about copyright laws and how we'd work with the laws to become photographers and not feel like we lost our rights to our photographs. It's good to see that there are consequences so I think it's worth looking at because it will keep us from copyright infringement but it will also keep up protected too.
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