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Copyright protection of photos undert threat?

You are here: Home > Forum > Miscellaneous > Open mic (non-railway) > Copyright protection of photos undert threat?

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Copyright protection of photos undert threat? 30/04/2013 at 08:15 #44167
postal
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5264 posts
A comment on one of the rail gen sites has raised a concern about copyright for items published on the internet. According to this report it is going to be very difficult to retain copyright protection for photos posted on the Internet. Facebook have already awarded this right to themselves through their Terms and Conditions but the legislation will apparently allow other large organisations to exploit the same right.

From other information I have seen on the Internet (therefore still needs a reality check) a number of sites strip out the exif information when a picture is posted. At that point there is nothing to link the image back to the photographer beyond the records held in the back office of the site so anyone copying and pasting the image will be able to claim that it is an "orphan" image with very little prospect of any meaningful action from the original photographer to protect their copyright..

Am I reading things correctly or is it all an over-reaction in order to vilify the big beasts of the internet?

“In life, there is always someone out there, who won’t like you, for whatever reason, don’t let the insecurities in their lives affect yours.” – Rashida Rowe
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Copyright protection of photos undert threat? 30/04/2013 at 09:55 #44169
lanzecki
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9 posts
You can pretty much assume that anything that get's posted to the internet is no longer copyrighted. Be it text, picture or video.

Even if you splatter copyrighted info all over the place, it'll get used.

We the public have been weakening copyright law for years by copying everything we can copy such as music and DVDs etc. The companies didn't sue us for these infringements (in the main).

Rhetorical question here, but does Joe Public have the time and resources to sue a company over copyright?

A law not exercised, is a pointless law.

The general public doesn't give a damn, and is still posting picture to FB. I'd be willing to bet that most FB users don't know of the T&C changes, and that those that do usually don't care. They are trying to find school friends they haven't see on years

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Copyright protection of photos undert threat? 30/04/2013 at 16:56 #44185
kbarber
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1742 posts
It has always been the case that copyright can be assigned. Use (copying) of images may also be licenced. I haven't looked at Facebook's T&Cs in detail but I imagine they provide that FB has a free licence to use any image posted on their site. I'd be a little surprised if they provide that copyright of any posted image is assigned - that would mean the original owner was left unable to use their image (and possibly could even be held in breach of copyright by retaining a copy of their own photo). Even if a court permitted that to stand, I can't imagine anyone wanting to incur the adverse publicity that would result if they tried to enforce it!

Ianzecki: copyright exists in every image (and other artistic work of any kind, however inartistic we might think it). The fact that it hasn't been enforced in any particular case (or any number of cases) doesn't change that. If a copyright owner decided out of the blue, one day, to act against an infringer (whoever that might be and regardless of their not having previously enforced anything at all), the court would undoubtedly find for them and award damages.

If/as/when regulations appear under the E&RRA, there will be a little matter of how they fit with the UK's international obligations under various treaties, quite apart from the local row that will undoubtedly follow. Judicial review on the basis that a property right is being taken away is also likely to derail things - including appeals to Europe if the English courts decide either that they cannot intervene or that the legislation is acceptable. It's a nasty little act but I don't think this one is settled yet.

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Copyright protection of photos undert threat? 07/05/2013 at 13:25 #44395
clive
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2789 posts
Before panicking about this, particularly on the basis of anything in the Vulture, sorry, Register, you might like to read this view from one of my professors.
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The following users said thank you: postal, kbarber, Forest Pines, GoochyB