Photographer's rights: everything you need to know about the ban on photography. Image Rights Is Photography Intellectual Property?

I'm a photographer. I often post my photographs on the website (online photo album). The photographs are in fairly high resolution. Tell me, is this dangerous? What should I do for copyright protection, how can I protect myself from the fact that my works will be stolen and they will take credit for my photographs?

Legal advice

It all depends on what format you photograph in. As a rule, this is the RAW format.

The RAW format is quite strong evidence that you are the author of the photograph, and accordingly, you have copyright to it.

However, I would still not recommend posting photos on the Internet in a resolution that would allow you to print a photo in good quality in a 10x15 or larger format. There is a risk of violation of non-property rights of the author ( attribution - plagiarism), and violation of your property rights ( using a photo without your permission). It is now quite popular among Internet periodicals to illustrate articles with other people's photographs without the permission of the authors.

Try to no one do not transmit(even to the customer) theirs photos in RAW format, as well as other source and working files. For example, a Photoshop (psd) file can be a good proof of your work on a photograph.
Do not forget to enter in the camera settings personal information(field owner / owner, autohour / author, etc.). Provide your information in such a way that it is easy to establish your identity. At a minimum: first name, last name and other information (for example, the address of your website or passport number, etc.).
If possible, crop the original photo.
Mandatory on photographs posted on the Internet, and, if possible, on all other photographs of yourself and for any other methods of use (including when printing photographs in magazines) place information about the author on the photo itself. Accepted format: © Name-Surname of the Author, Year of first publication (for example, © Vadim Kolosov, 2008). It would be a good idea to provide a link to your website, especially if you publish photos under a pseudonym.
Please note that © according to Art. 1271 of the Civil Code notifies about the exclusive right (these are the property rights of the authors), therefore, if you create a photograph to order and transfer all rights to the customer (only property rights can be transferred - the so-called exclusive right), then the customer can reasonably object to indicate you in the copyright (as the copyright holder), and indicate yourself. You can also instruct us to indicate you as the author (according to the law, you have such a right - Article 1265 Civil Code), then instead of the copyright icon (©) you can indicate “Author:”.
The big advantage of listing yourself as the author of a photo is that if someone uses your photo without your permission, it is legally minimum compensation for such copyright infringement will be not 10,000, but 20,000 rubles. for one (each) photograph (although the court does not always consider each photograph as a separate “case”)!
Art. 1301 of the Civil Code provides for compensation in the amount of 10,000 to 5,000,000 rubles. for violation of property rights ( exclusive right), i.e. for the very fact of copying and using your photo. A Art. 1300 of the Civil Code also provides for compensation in the amount of 10,000 to 5,000,000 rubles, but for violation of moral rights (removal of information about the author or copyright holder), but violators almost always delete or cut off information about the author and/or copyright sign.
The following are also applicable here: general methods of copyright protection, like: printing photographs in a large format (20x30, for example) - an examination can determine the approximate printing time, and accordingly, set your time priority - the priority of owning a photograph in a certain period of time; notarization; writing files to a one-time finalized disk; “registration” of copyrights with collective copyright management organizations; publication of photographs in periodicals and/or other publications, etc. Read more about general methods of copyright protection (by analogy, they all apply to copyright protection in photographs).

* The relevance of the answer was checked for compliance with the legislation in force as of 01/08/2012.

Every picture has an author. Sometimes the author reserves the rights to the picture, but more often he transfers them to another copyright holder. When you use a picture differently than agreed with the copyright holder, you violate copyright. Such a violation in Russia is punishable under Article 146 “Violation of copyright and related rights.” Punishment under the article is a fine of up to 1 million rubles or a prison term of up to 2 years.

Let's consider first controversial situations, where the copyright holder is unclear, and then we’ll talk about licenses for pictures and explain why this is necessary.

Determining copyright for fan works, avatars and screenshots

Let's say you took a screenshot of a game for an informational article. Or drew a picture with a game character. Or your avatar on a social network. Another person took your photo. Who even owns these images, and how can they be used?

Screenshots and fan art are recognized as independent works that use part of someone else's intellectual property. In such cases, the use of someone else's property is recognized as quotation. There are no penalties for citing.

But the permissible sizes of citations and the number of citations are not regulated by law, therefore, for each such court case carry out an examination, during which they decide whether the work has violated the law or not. The same goes for books, films, TV series and other intellectual property.

What is an image license and why is it needed?

The copyright holder places a license on the picture - a special permission for actions permitted by the copyright holder. To install, just write next to the picture or directly on it what license the image is distributed under. In order not to write the same thing in contracts a bunch of times, we have developed license templates.

There are many of these templates, so we will separate them into separate groups:

licenses on sold images
licenses for images are freely available

Licenses on sold images

Some photo stocks do not adhere to existing licenses, but write their own terms and conditions and indicate them on the site. Depositphotos, for example, has two licenses: regular and extended. If photo stocks do not specify their own conditions, pictures are sold under the following licenses:

Free licenses for images

Here we will look at three types: Creative Commons license, Public Domain license and CC0 license.

1. Images licensed under Creative Commons distributed in free photo banks. They can be used, but there are nuances. Creative Commons has "subtypes" of licenses. For each picture, a special abbreviation is written from abbreviations. Each subspecies is designated by two letters. There are five of these subspecies in total.

We’ll give you a transcript so you can take a look and determine whether the picture with this license is suitable for you:

CC (Creative Commons). Always present in the abbreviation. If the copyright holder does not have conditions for using the picture, then only these two letters are indicated in the license.
NC (non-commercial). The picture can be used for non-commercial purposes. Ideal situation - website, public page or page social networks without monetization. If you use the images to advertise a company, service or product, you will be infringing. In theory, if you monetize a site through your services, but the image is not used to sell a service or product, the court will acquit you. In practice, everything will be decided by forensics.
BY (attribution). The picture can only be used if you indicate the author’s first and last name, and then attach a link to the source site. If the author's name is not indicated anywhere, a link will suffice. If you don't indicate the author, you violate the license.
ND (no derivative works). An image with this license cannot be modified, but can be used for any purpose. You can turn a color picture into black and white, but you can’t post it on the Internet, even with private access. If you distribute a modified image, you violate the license.
SA (share-alike). If you modify a picture, you must distribute it under the same license as the original. If you distribute it under a different license, you violate the license.

And everything would be fine, but there is a problem with our legislation. In theory, Creative Commons licenses are valid worldwide. But in Russia its norms are not spelled out, so it is unknown how the matter will go if it involves a CC license or its violations.

2. Public Domain Stamp Pictures- images released into the public domain. They can be used for any purpose, but you must credit the author. Images become publicly available 70 years after the author’s death, but sometimes the authors renounce copyright themselves.

CC0- one of the Creative Commons licenses. We have highlighted it as a separate paragraph because under this license the author waives copyright and gives permission for unrestricted use of the image. This is not the same as a Public Domain mark - if the author wants, he can put a different license on the picture.

But this is not a reason to be afraid of court and fines. The copyright holder cannot change the license and then sue you - by law he is required to file a pre-trial claim. If you remove the image when you receive a complaint, you will not be breaking the law.

Where to buy images

Shutterstock - 100 million images for media and business
Depositphotos - there are fewer images and they can’t be used as widely as images from Shutterstock, but they cost less
Photogenica is a Russian photo bank with prices starting from 33 rubles per subscription. Distributes images only under a Royalty-Free license
Lori - Russian photo bank with 21 million images

The author's right to use and protect his own work also applies to photographs, not only to printed photographs, but also to negatives, files and parts of the image. In Russia, drawing up shooting contracts and image transfer processes correctly, taking into account the laws, is gaining popularity. What is the author's right to a photograph?

As stated in the articles of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, copyright is assigned to the creator of the photograph and implies that he is the full owner; without his permission, the photograph or part of it cannot be used for advertising, printing and other purposes. This means that, having seen his own photograph posted in magazines, on an advertising banner, on someone else’s website, the photographer has the right to report the incident to the violator and even sue. If he proves documented authorship, he may demand monetary compensation for illegal use of the image and moral damage.

The concept of “creative objects” in photography includes the actual printed photographs, as well as:

photograph negatives, color and black and white;
slides;
color images and printing;
an area or part of a photograph, details and small elements.

Types of copyright

Formally, the author is the only one and cannot change, in fact there are 2 fundamentally different types copyright: property and personal. If the first can be conveyed in writing or orally, the second is forever assigned to the photographer and cannot be changed. Let's take a closer look at both types.

Personal copyright. Roughly speaking, it includes the right to sign a photograph when using it for commercial purposes. All the “noise” is created because of the fee that the photographer is entitled to for taking the photo. Personal copyright is assigned to the author throughout his life and 50 years after his death; the image must be signed.

Property law. Consists in the right to use the image for any purpose with the author indicated. Having permission to publish, you can post the photo, part of it on a website or advertising banner, include it in collages, resize, edit and print the photo. The main nuance in the transfer of property rights is that the author can revoke permission to use the images.

In what cases are photographs allowed to be used?

You cannot use other people's photographs - the prohibition is regulated by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation; it has an entire chapter devoted to copyright. There must be exceptions to the rules, so you can freely use photographs if one of the conditions is met:

Other people's photos cannot be used

The opposite situation is if images cannot be taken. Obviously, in other cases than those listed in the previous chapter. You should not use a photograph if the authorship or permission is not established or is in doubt. It is better to double-check the uniqueness several times; for this, there are special platforms where you upload a picture or a link to placement. The output will include: registered author, conditions for those wishing to use them.

Contrary to popular belief, you cannot download pictures:

Posted in the public domain on the Internet, there is no guarantee that the author will not appear with a claim;
Without an author's mark, each photo has an owner, regardless of the presence of an inscription on it;
Pictures posted by users on social networks and created by the page owners are his property;
Photos taken specifically for you under a contract are still the property of the photographer, and you do not have the right to post them without permission.

The latter situation often becomes a stumbling block for models and photographers. Models demand exclusive rights to post and manage photographs; photographers post photographs on their sites without the models’ permission. Who is right in such a situation? Nobody! Photographers must obtain written permission from the model to use the image for commercial or promotional purposes. But the model does not have the right to completely dispose of the photographs; the author retains personal rights, regardless of the situation.

How to protect pictures from illegal copying?

Most cases of copyright infringement are provoked by careless photographers who post their own photographs in the public domain. Proving authorship will then be quite problematic, and tracking the fact of violation will be difficult. Protecting the photos you create is quite simple, because the proof of authorship will be the original photo you took. To avoid problems, you need to make the following manipulations a habit:

Do not give the pictures to anyone in their original form, for example in RAW format, store them on your hard drive or other media as the original;
Post slightly modified photos online: you can crop them, change the resolution, change the photo size;
Fill in the information about the author in the camera settings, where you can specify the first name, last name, company name, date, sometimes the location of the shooting, and personal website;
Place a watermark or © symbol on all uploaded photographs, they will give you additional copy protection;

Conclude contracts with clients, write down all the important points there, what customers can do with pictures and what they are not entitled to do;
The PSD file proves that you worked on the photo.

Few people will want to copy images protected in this way and use them for commercial purposes, because this is fraught with unpleasant consequences.

What to do if copyright infringement occurs?

If the necessary manipulations have not been carried out, no one can cancel the law on the protection of the author. Copying an image from a search or from another site without the owner’s permission is a direct violation, giving the photographer the right to make a claim or sue.

If you notice a personal photo on an advertising poster, on website pages or printed publications without attribution or appropriate permission:

The first thing you need to do is check all the facts, whether there was permission, whether this is your photo, and so on;
Find and prepare evidence of authorship;
Contact the violator and state the precedent;
File a lawsuit alleging copyright infringement.

The most important point is to record the violation, this is especially important online when photos can be quickly deleted. Take a screenshot indicating the date and all necessary data. To be able to present it to the court, it must be notarized. Contact a notary, he will record the fact of violation in writing. Having such a certificate and proof of authorship in hand, you can go to court.

In court, each situation is considered individually, the outcome may be different:

Request to remove illegally posted content;
Material compensation, fine (its amount depends on the situation);
Compensation for moral damage, especially if the process is delayed.

The amount of the amount will depend on each specific case; if someone posted your photo on their blog with 10 visitors per day, it is unlikely that you will be able to ask for a lot of money. On the contrary, if an advertisement on television or on a poster in the center of Moscow attracted the attention of millions of people and brought substantial profits to the offender, then you can count on a substantial reward.

The opposite situation is that you violated copyright by using someone else’s photo for commercial purposes. Your goal is to resolve the situation amicably, remove the illegal content and try to reach an agreement with the author. If the plaintiff has evidence of authorship, then in 90% of cases he is recognized as right.

How to avoid such a situation?

The chances of earning a claim in our country are quite low, but it’s still not worth the risk, especially when using photographs for commercial purposes, for advertising a brand or product, or for long-term campaigns. How you can protect yourself from claims of copyright infringement, and what you need to do when searching for media content.

The easiest way to obtain unique content and the rights to use it is to film it yourself, if experience and technical equipment allow.
You can hire a full-time photographer, then the property rights to his work will belong to you as the employer.
You can enter into an agreement with a designer or photographer and receive project shooting and property rights to photographs.
Use free sources and image sites where you can download the desired photo. But there is a nuance here: users can upload not only their own pictures, but also those found on the Internet. You are not immune from possible problems; you will only rely on luck.
Buy a photograph from a photographer, obtaining a proprietary copyright for it. Be sure to indicate in the contract permission to edit and change it at your discretion.
Paid photo banks and photo stocks, there are a lot of beautiful images at symbolic prices. You automatically receive permission to use and edit the photo at commercial prices. You can place such a photo on an advertising poster, on a website, or print it in a magazine.

Conclusion

Copyright– exclusive and cannot be transferred to third parties, even by the photographer himself. The author retains the right to sue in case of violation, or to turn a blind eye to unauthorized use. To legally transfer a photograph to an employer, customer, or magazine, it is necessary to draw up and sign a mutual agreement giving the right to use the photograph for any purpose, but indicating the fact of copying. There is a special sign © for this; you can indicate the name or nickname of the author in the picture or in its description.

All images posted on the pages of printed publications, on the Internet and on other media were taken by someone, he is the author with exclusive rights to dispose of the image, only he can edit the photo, print it, sell it. Any actions without his knowledge are a violation of copyright law.

If you want to protect the photos you take, set up your camera, enter information about yourself and the site, save the source files, and be careful about who you send photos to and under what conditions. If your personal copyright is violated, you can sue the violator in court, supporting the claim with documents.

Be careful, general carelessness and widespread use of other people's photographs does not give you the right to do the same. Increasing legal literacy of the population can play a cruel joke on careless users and force them to be responsible for unauthorized actions morally and financially.

Article 1259 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation provides that photographic works and works obtained by methods similar to photography are the subject of copyright. In this case, copyright arises by virtue of the very fact of creation of the work. The creation, exercise and protection of copyright does not require registration of a work or compliance with any other formalities.

So it’s worth sending a complaint to the owner of the domain resource where the site is located, indicating which objects, in your opinion, are posted in violation of copyright.

In accordance with Art. 1228 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation exclusive right to the result intellectual activity, created by creative work, initially arises from its author. This right can be transferred by the author to another person under an agreement, and can also be transferred to other persons on other grounds established by law. According to Art. 1286 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, property rights to works can only be transferred under a license agreement (except for cases provided for by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). Any use of an object of copyright, including photographs, is possible only if there is an agreement with the copyright holder (the author of the photographic work, his heir), which must be concluded in writing.

Thus, in order to use a photographic work in publication, it is necessary to obtain the prior consent of the author of this photograph, which may be reflected by concluding a license or other agreement on the transfer of exclusive rights to the media publisher.

Moreover, as provided for in paragraph 1 of Art. 1251 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, in the event of a violation of the author’s personal non-property rights, their protection is carried out, in particular, by recognizing the right, restoring the situation that existed before the violation of the right, suppressing actions that violate the right or create a threat of its violation, compensation for moral damage, publication of a court decision on the violation .
In case of violation of an exclusive right or other violation of copyright, the author of the work has the right to demand from the violator payment of compensation in the amount of ten thousand rubles to five million rubles, determined at the discretion of the court, or twice the cost of the right to use the work, determined on the basis of the price that in comparable circumstances is usually charged for fair use of the work.
Moreover, the copyright holder has the right to demand payment of compensation for each case of unlawful use of the result of intellectual activity.
At the same time, the joint resolution of the Plenum Supreme Court RF No. 5 and the Plenum of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation No. 29 dated March 26, 2009 “On some issues that arose in connection with the entry into force of part four of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation” explained the following: when considering cases of recovery of compensation in the amount of ten thousand to five million rubles, the court determines the amount of compensation within the limits specified by law at its discretion, but not higher than the claim made by the plaintiff. In this case, the court is not deprived of the right to recover an amount of compensation in a smaller amount compared to the stated claim, but not below the lower limit.
The amount of compensation to be recovered must be justified by the court. When determining the amount of compensation, the court, taking into account, in particular, the nature of the violation committed, the period of illegal use of the result of intellectual activity, the degree of guilt of the violator, the presence of previous violations of the exclusive right of a given copyright holder by a person, the probable losses of the copyright holder, makes a decision based on the principles of reasonableness and fairness, and the proportionality of compensation to the consequences of the violation.
If the copyright holder makes a demand for payment of compensation in the amount of twice the cost of the right to use the work, object of related rights or trademark, determined on the basis of the price that, under comparable circumstances, is usually charged for their lawful use, then when determining the amount of compensation, the basis should be the remuneration determined license agreement, providing for a simple (non-exclusive) license at the time of the violation.
It is also worth noting that in accordance with the Law of the Russian Federation “On Funds mass media» art. 42 establishes the obligation of the editors to respect the rights to the works used, including copyrights. In addition to this, s. 46 of this law provides for the possibility of prompt response by citizens in relation to whom information has been disseminated in the media that does not correspond to reality or infringes on the rights and legitimate interests. Those mentioned in the article that infringe on the rights and legitimate interests of a citizen include the rights to authorship and rights to a name.
The citizen has the right to respond in the same media. The answer can be called differently (comment, remark, etc.). However, the essence of this publication should be aimed at eliminating the infringement of a citizen’s legal rights to authorship.
As for the main recommendation when the author publishes his photographs, in particular on the Internet, the following should be noted. It is mandatory that in photographs posted on the Internet, and, if possible, in all other photographs of themselves and in any other methods of use (including when printing photographs in magazines), the author must place information about the author on the photograph itself. Accepted format: © Name-Surname of the Author, Year of first publication (for example, © Ivan Petrov, 2008). This circumstance can subsequently play a key role in proving the right of authorship to the photograph.

Thus, you have every reason to take all legal measures to protect copyrights and bring those responsible to justice legal liability, including through recovery of damages in financial form.

Few people know that any photograph taken by a professional or an amateur is considered the property of its author. Therefore, for its unauthorized use there are penalties various fines, which will be discussed below. Copyright in photographs can be personal or property, and their violation leads to various consequences. In order to avoid unknowingly getting into an unpleasant situation or incurring financial losses as a result of the replication of your creative products by third parties, you should know the details related to this issue.

Personal and property rights of the photographer

Just half a century ago, photographs were not considered works of art, and their authors were considered artisans. Today the situation has changed dramatically. Thanks to the emergence of high quality technical devices, some photographs stand on a par with paintings by artists. At the same time, the author has personal and property rights in relation to them. These two concepts have significant differences.

In particular, copyright in photographs is inseparable from personal rights, but property rights can be transferred by the author of the work or transferred, according to the law, to third parties or organizations. To make everything very clear, let’s give the following example: a famous photographer decided to donate his works to the city museum and formalize this act in accordance with all the rules. In this case, the property rights to the photographs will be transferred to this organization, but the author will forever retain the personal rights, and when exhibiting his works, his name will have to be indicated under them.

What do property rights provide?

It is obvious that personal rights relate, so to speak, to satisfying the author’s understandable desire to receive public recognition for his work. If we talk about property rights, they also relate to the financial side of the issue, assigning to the photographer the right to permit (including for a certain fee) or prohibit the use of his works. This applies to the reproduction and distribution of copies of photographs, as well as their public display. Permission to use a photo is given by the author or copyright holder orally or in writing and is considered an author's agreement under which part of the copyright (but not personal) and property rights is transferred to a third party.

Copyright sign

According to Article 1271 of the Civil Code of Russia, in order to notify about their rights, the copyright holder of a photograph can put a special mark on each copy of the work. This copyright sign must consist of the Latin letter “C” (COPY) enclosed in a circle, as well as the name of the copyright holder (name if the object of protection belongs to a company, organization, etc.) and the year when the work was first published.

In what cases can you use photographs without violating copyright in photographs?

There are several situations when the result of a photographer’s creativity or work can be used without asking his permission and without paying remuneration. This:

reproduction of an already published photo and viewing it at home with your family;
display of a lawfully published photograph as an illustration in television programs, publications and video recordings of an educational nature in a number of other photographs with the obligatory indication of the name of the photographer and the source from which the work was borrowed;
reproduction of photographs located in places that are free to visit (for example, a photo on an advertising banner, but not a photograph from someone else’s personal page on social networks on the Internet);
when creating cartoons;
if the author works for you as an employer under an employment contract;
if you acquired this work from the author legally.

When a photo becomes public domain

Copyright in photographs has some aspects that only last for a limited period of time. In particular, photographs pass into the public domain after the expiration of the exclusive right. The latter remains in effect throughout the photographer's life and 70 years, which are counted from January 1 of the year following the date of his death. At the same time, copyright infringement in relation to photographs created before 1969 is not considered today as a violation, since the current legislation has changed since then.

Preventive measures

The photographer must ensure that in the event of unauthorized use of his work he is able to prove copyright infringement. To this end, you can do the following:

never transfer your photos in RAW format to anyone;
enter information about yourself in the camera settings, including first name, last name, website address, passport number, etc.;
when publishing on the Internet, put a copyright symbol on the photographs in the form described above;
produce a notarized certification of authorship;
register copyright with one of the collective copyright management organizations.

What can a violator face?

Copyright protection, according to the law, provides compensation to the author. Moreover, it will be larger if a copyright sign with your name is displayed on the photo. In particular, if a photo with such a mark is used by a third party, then the minimum amount instead of 10,000 rubles will be 20,000 rubles for each photo.

As for the maximum compensation, for violation of property rights (copying, replication, etc.) it is 5 million rubles (Article 1301 of the Civil Code). The same amount must be paid for violation of moral rights, which is expressed in the removal of information about the author or copyright holder, for example, using any computer program for photo editing (Article 1300 of the Civil Code).

How to protect your rights in court

If it is impossible to come to an agreement with the “thieves” of your photos, then you should seek protection from the law. In other words, you will have to go to court. In this case, you will have to prove that you are the author. According to the current legislation protecting copyright (RF), the main document in this case is printed photographs on which your name is clearly marked. Here you need to know that it is quite possible that the other side (“the kidnapper”) will be able to present the same ones, but with their own data. In such a situation, files with these photographs in RAW format should be provided to the court.

You also need to prepare evidence regarding the illegal use of your images. For example, if an attacker posted a photo on his website, then you can contact a notary with a request to notarize those pages on which the photos are displayed.

When copyright is violated, copyright protection in court also includes a requirement to compensate the photographer for material or moral damage. By going to court, the plaintiff can independently determine the amount of compensation that suits him. However, the court determines it at its own discretion and reasons its decision. The following circumstances are taken into account:

the nature of the violation committed;
the period of unauthorized use of the photograph by the author or copyright holder;
whether the defendant has committed similar offenses in relation to the work of a particular author or other photographers;
the degree of guilt of the offender;
probable losses of the author;
proportionality of compensation established by the court to the consequences of the violation.