Problem???

[cc976a]

Do any of you use stock photography on your websites?

Read an article recently saying that a company was being threatened with a bill for £x,xxx for the use of a photo they had already paid for.

This photo was purchased by the company in good faith from a stock photography website but the user who uploaded and sold these did not have the permission to do so.

Basically the view was the company could still be liable for the £x,xxx fee if went to court, even though they 'paid' for the photo and were completely unaware - this is based on the assumption that this is not an excuse for copyright infringment.

Just a risk we live with???

I can see a scam coming on with this type of ruling!

 

[bensd]

Surely it is down to the istock or whoever to check if the copyright lies with the seller?

 

[cc976a]

Exactly what I thought. If you purchase an image from the likes of istock then surely the copyright issue is placed with them.

Unless there is something in their over dramatised T&Cs stated each time you upload / purchase a photo

 

[namealot]

There is nothing really new with this many of the companies that supply photo’s have disclaimers there way seems to be you get sued there T & C are that the onus is on you… (Ignorance of the laws governing copyright is not a valid legal defence it can help with mitigating circumstances) you end up being sued and counter sue…

It’s the way its always been read the T& C carefully if you unsure seek advice or send them a email asking the question simply what happens if the photo rights are not there’s. If they don’t answer or there answer is see T&C then most likely it’s at your own risk?

 

[tifosi]

There is nothing really new with this many of the companies that supply photo’s have disclaimers there way seems to be you get sued there T & C are that the onus is on you… (Ignorance of the laws governing copyright is not a valid legal defence it can help with mitigating circumstances) you end up being sued and counter sue…

It’s the way its always been read the T& C carefully if you unsure seek advice or send them a email asking the question simply what happens if the photo rights are not there’s. If they don’t answer or there answer is see T&C then most likely it’s at your own risk?

Just the same with parking companies, irrespective of whether they show ad feeds against set categories.

S

 

[aZooZa]

I never upload large, useful images without a strong watermark.

 

[cc976a]

I'd like to know a legal position on this.

Surely it must be as illegal to sell copyrighted material than it is to publish it - irregardless of what a company state on their T&Cs?

If you buy a photo how is it possible to know whether, from a legal perspective, you are breaking copyright laws. It's not like you can search to make sure?

 

[golddiggerguy]

On a similar note whats the LAW or take on taking photo's of people (who agree to be taken) say in a club, at an event, etc and offering them all as a download for sale on a website?

Local news papers do it all the time, I can buy a pic of a guy who ran a local race holding his medal and sure it's very very common.

Just wondering if people can show me some pit falls if any in dev a site like that

 

[Skinner]

Golddigger guy, as someone who did that kinda thing for a while, the laws are simple, in a public place, there are no rules for or against it.

In a club as long as their is a sign up saying that images maybe captures (the same sign they use for CCTV works), and the photographer has the venue managers permission to take photo's then your clear.

Take photo's looking in to a private premises from a public location is technically acceptable as long no effort was put obtaining said location (i.e. no ladders used etc), and anyone else who wanted to could easily get there without trespassing. This is how people get photos of celebs inside their homes.

I have a pdf somewhere I'll dig it out

 

[Skinner]

Photographers Rights And The Law In The UK - the law and photography

 

[golddiggerguy]

Perfect thanks

Idea is 2 of us dressed up as ??? (not sure yet maybe 70's guy's BIG hair) are going around a local town of around 20-30 local pubs taking Photo's.

• Fun
• Couples
• Pool Teams
• Party Animals
• Birthday Girls night out etc

Giving out B cards, T-shirts, (making it fun) asking is it ok to take a pic, get the names, details of who it is, where and when and they then have the option to go to the site and do a digital download of the full set of that night for around £2-£5 through PayPal.

Got a nice layout and system ready, just need to add pub info filling out with more content and adding the first batch (once we've been out) of photo's.

 

[Skinner]

Been there done that, We charged £1 to validate the users age each month to gain access to the site, and I used a lab near me to print 10x8in fuji photo prints for about a quid each, then sell them for £7.50 posted, we also did keyrings as well for £5 on the spot with a mobile printer or £5.75 ordered off the site.

I'll shoot you a PM with what what we used

 

[golddiggerguy]

Cool, would be good! thanks

 

[golddiggerguy]

Apologies for the thread hi-jack !!

 

[namealot]

I'd like to know a legal position on this.

Surely it must be as illegal to sell copyrighted material than it is to publish it - irregardless of what a company state on their T&Cs?

If you buy a photo how is it possible to know whether, from a legal perspective, you are breaking copyright laws. It's not like you can search to make sure?

In a nutshell very very hard to prove ....?

Downloading images from the Internet confuses issues, because it can sometimes be unclear where the orders (Or the copyright granted) came from and where the material is stored (the images may have been created in e.g. the UK and stored on a Web server in e.g. the USA). If, for example, a person in the UK was downloading some images that had a copyright symbol (©) attached, and the Web site was clearly an American site, then it would be an infringement of copyright. It is illegal to download/import (i.e. copy) material into the UK, which if you had made a copy of in the UK would have been an infringement of copyright.....(Berne Convention and the Universal Copyright Convention offer some guidance etc )


Because there is no bureaucratic process to prove that you are the copyright owner it can sometimes be difficult to prove ownership. However in extreme cases, there are ways of proving that your work existed at a particular point in time,

Digital materials are classified as literary works (even digital images) because they are constructed of binary code.

These offer some good information

Copyright info on the Net

Copyright licensing experts - Copyright Clearance Center

Copyright FAQ

 

[cc976a]

I'm going to take a look through those links.

I've also emailed istock to see where they feel liability falls if a user illegally uploaded and sold copyrighted material and where in the T&Cs it references this.

I'll let you know their response.

Just seems difficult getting your head around the fact you can purchase something for use as stated and sold as from someone as huge as Getty Images and end up with a copyright infringment bill runinng in to £x,xxx's when you merely wanted a simple photo to set the tone of your website rather than proft from it as such.