I chose to do my blog on the copyright rules of photographing. With today's use of the digital cameras, Myspace, and Facebook, it is extremely important that we know what we can and cannot do. While I was doing my research, I found some surprising information that I would like to pass on to you. Feel free to ask me any questions about any of the information posted!
Photographing something that is copyrighted is the same thing as copying it!! For example, taking a picture of someone wearing designer (copyrighted) clothing with a logo can be an infringement. This might not pertain to people that are taking family photos for personal use. However, it is geared more toward someone who is advertising something. If they use someone else's' copyrighted clothing in an ad to sell something they are selling, then this is an infringement! This can be simply avoided by asking the copyright owner for permission to use their logo, design, picture, jewelry, clothing, or whatever it may be.
You might be thinking..jewelry, picture.... but yes they are copyrighted too. Some other things that you might snap a photo of without realizing it could be copyrighted are: books, newspapers, magazines, cartoons, sculptures, paintings, architectural work, other photographed posters, photos, maps, globs, charts, other advertisements, films, TV advertisements, dances, plays, fabric, toys, carpet, and yes even wallpaper. So watch what your snapping shots of!!
So...what if you took this great photo of two teens wearing Abercrombie & Fitch reading books in your library to show that even the "hip" teens come to your library. Could you use it on a flier to advertise this great after school program the library has to offer? You might think...whats the harm the logo is very small, but the answer is No!! Even though the logo is very small it is still what they call a "substantial part" of the copyrighted work. The clothing logo alone makes a big statement for the advertisement, so you would still need permission by the designer to use their clothing in your ad.
Alright, now lets say you have permission to use someone else's copyrighted work in your photo. Do you need to "cite" the owner of the work? YES! It's the same as using any other copyrighted material. You still need to give the owner recognition. If you chose not to, you have to get permission from the owner to do so first.
6 comments:
When I read your post, I immediately thought of how T-shirts are blurred out on TV shows. This is a common occurance on reality shows such as Real World. Also, I watched Big Brother and one of the guy's tattoo's was blurred out because it was of the Lucky Charms character. They are blurred out due to copyright laws. This is good advice for librarians and teachers taking pictures and then posting to the web!
yes..It's really not something you think of when your photographing but it's def. something that is still a copyright issue!
Justine,
I like your take on the copyright topic! I too, like Laura, thought of them blurring out clothing items on television.
Jessica
Great topic! I have a question about the scenario you gave with the two teens with the A&F shirts. Can a school library media specialist use that photo to promote her library when she is technically not "advertising" anything for a profit. How can she use the photo? Ask for permission to use the logo or blurr out the logos? I think it would be hard to get photos of teens that are not wearing some kind of logos these days.
I agree with Helen. It seems a little too much to expect a school library not to use photos of kids in the library wearing logo shirts. You could argue that it is "fair use" because it is an educational setting, couldn't you? Has something like this ever been taking to court as an infringement? I can understand it being an issue on a TV show, but not in a school. I think that's taking it too far but maybe that's just me...
You know, now that I think about it, I remember when we were shooting a TV ad in our library for independent schools in the area they told the kids that were going to be in the ad not to wear any clothes with brand name labels. When we were making a new brochure, same thing. I see you are correct!
Post a Comment