How does intellectual property and copyright laws
apply to images being used on the Internet
Which images do
copyright laws apply to?
Copyright laws on
the web apply to any digital images taken on any digital capturing device or
any images taken on a traditional film camera that have been scanned into a
digital form. Copyright also applies to any illustration or animations that are
present on the Internet.
However, some of
the copyright laws and guidelines do only apply to photographic images
How long does
copyright last?
Copyright laws
exist on any image until the creator dies, plus 70 years after the calendar
year of their death.
Who owns the copyright?
Generally, the
owner of the copyrights to an image is the creator or creators’ of an image. However,
if the creation of an image was commissioned on behalf of an organization it is
not uncommon for the organization in question to own the rights to the image,
rather than the creator of an image.
Also, the creator of an image may pass on the selling rights of an image
to an agency.
What if you cannot
find the person or party who owns the copyrights to an image?
Work in where the
owner of copyright isn’t known, the copyrights to the image don’t simply just
disappear. These works in question are called orphan works; if orphan works are
used or copied this is still an infringement of copyright. If an image doesn’t
come attached with a © symbol, copyright laws still apply.
Is their anyway I
can be completely safe when using an image from the Internet?
The only way to be
completely safe when reproducing an image is to retrieve the copyright from the
owner of an image. Or, to retrieve an image from a website which states clearly
in the terms and conditions that the image may be used and copied freely.
What are the
consequences of copyright infringement?
Often the theft of
an image can result in being forced to pay the usage rights for an image when
the theft has been discovered. However, it can result in being taken to court
and having to pay for the usage rights, the legal fees of both you and the
copyright holder, along with having to take the image down from your website as
well.
However,
deliberate infringement of copyright on a commercial scale is against the law
and can result in a criminal prosecution.
Basic introduction
to copyright law of images used on the world wide web, for more information
visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/305165/c-notice-201401.pdf
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