|
Copyright:
Consideration of the issues surrounding copyright for our purposes can be divided into two areas:
- The avoidance of breaking copyright laws in the quest to promote art.
- That copyrights held by artists we promote and ourselves will be broken by web users unknown to us.
We are currently talking to VISCOPY, the most vigilant artist's copyright body in Australia, to get more information to present to you here.
VISCOPY has a comprehensive response to the fact of this kind of copyright violation.
The most pertinent advice I can give members is to follow the example of the AGNSW and seek the particular permission of all of your artists in order to publish their images on your site and your account with ARTnews, without violating their copyright.
VISCOPY provides advice as to what to do when this happens. VISCOPY or any other copyright body cannot stop it from happening, they can only respond to the fact of it happening and publicize a deterrent in the event of it happening.
It will happen. The question becomes, does it matter? The answer is of course if matters but as a publisher or artist or owner of the copyright of images how will it effect you?
- does it matter in a way that prevents you from publishing
- or in a way that will lead to you going through legal channels when it happens
- or in a way that will not induce to spend time pursuing the culprits at all.
After consulting with VISCOPY I will be publishing some advice on this page.
I will be addressing questions including:
- Is there a way of loosing copyright of your work by publishing it on the web?
- Do we loose copyright to images that are published without a copyright symbol or under any other circumstances?
- What are the repercussions for committing a violation of someone's copyright, using their image without their explicit permission?
If you have any other questions regarding this issue that you would like to see addressed, please email here.
Thank you for bringing your attention to this very important issue.
|
A personal testimony proving that it happens:
I (Jayne Waterford) am aware that your images and mine are used illegally. For example, one afternoon I was called by a person, working for a large corporation, wanting to use my photos for a large client considering out door sculpture. He couldn't find the particular pictures that he was looking for to include in his presentation and was wondering if I could tell him where he could download them. I could hear him blushing when he realized that calling me was fairly stupid. By this stage he had already given me his email address and name.
I was gobsmacked.
I continue to publish my images on the web. This is because my main aim is to publish my images for particular effect or reason, with a particular goal in mind. This is often my sole aim and the violation of my copyright by others isn't in any way relevant, unless of course it's blatant enough to be obvious and able to be acted on. This guy is in for it.
|
|
|