Copyright - Part 8

30530a – Progress Challenge 08

Forum update By Colleen Sedgwick

Imagine you are working for a graphic design company and that you had recently taken photos of sports people for an article in a magazine. You then spot some of the same photos in someone else’s blog site that sells sports supplements.

Answer the following questions in no less than 150 words

1) Have they infringed copyright and why?

2) What steps would you take to amend the situation?

Complete the above challenge and then click LINK 19 to upload. Click LINK 20 to discuss your work with other students on the forum.

Answer.

In answer to the first question, 'Yes, they have'. If you find some photos you know that you have taken in someone else's blog, you will want to know how did they get their hands on them, and who exactly gave them permission to use them (obviously not yours because you would have known about it otherwise.

Firstly, I would ask them where they got them from, and then to take them down from their blog (also include dates and times when you may have uploaded those pictures to the Internet, and then check to see when they made their entries.

If they don't comply, I would then take my complaint to the providers of the blog site, or the management of the company and then ask them to take it down.

Should the company not comply, I would then be pursuing legal action and compensation.

I would also send them a copy of the Photographers and Copyright Information sheet (c/o The Australian Copyright Council), and quote this paragraph¹:

• Photos taken by employees of newspaper and magazine publishers For photos taken by employees of newspaper or magazine publishers, different rules apply, depending on when the photo was taken:
• For photos taken before 1 May 1969, the publisher owns copyright.
• For photos taken on or after 1 May 1969 and before 30 July 1998, the publisher owns the rights for newspaper and magazine publication and for broadcasting, and the photographer owns all other rights (including the right to put the photos online or in a book).
• For photos taken on or after 30 July 1998, the photographer owns the rights to photocopy the photos and include them in books; the publisher owns all other rights.
• These rules do not apply to freelance photographers, who are covered by the general rule that the person who takes the photo owns copyright in it (unless they make an agreement to the contrary).

1The Australian Copyright Council (2015): Photographers and Copyrights, file:///C:/Users/USER/Downloads/Photographers%20and%20Copyright%20(G011v18)%20FINAL.pdf (PDF document, from www.copyright.org.au, viewed 14/12/15 at 11:41:35 PM;