Copyright can be confusing. What is copyright and
who owns what are questions that frequently arise. This webpage is design to
provide information to help customers understand why some photos cannot be
copied.
What is Copyright?
The U.S. Constitution and the Federal
Copyright Act give " copyright " protection to "authors" for
their "original works," such as photographs. Among the protections
that copyright owners have are the exclusive right to:
1. make copies of the work;
2. prepare other works based on the original;
3. distribute copies of the work to the public by sale, rental, lease, or
lending; and
4. to publicly perform and display the work.
These rights are protected by laws which
provide for damages and criminal penalties for violations. Both the customer and
the studio are subject to the law.
Who owns what?
The law says the "author" is
the owner of the copyright. The author of a photo or image is usually the person
who snapped the shutter or created the image. If you took the photo, you own the
copyright. If a professional photographer took the photo for you, then he or she
owns the copyright. If that photographer is an employee of a studio or other
person in the business of making photos, then his or her employee is considered
the author. Prior to 1978, court cases said a customer who commissioned a photo
was the employer of the photographer, so customers could get reprints made
without any problems. In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court said that was no longer
true. To be an employee, the court said a person would have to be considered an
employee under the traditional tests such as are used to impose payroll taxes,
social security, and similar laws. That is not the usual customer-photographer
relationship.
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