Copyright

Simon Brown · Issue 51, Nov/Dec 2009 · pp. 36–41

Products mentioned: Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, Nikonos V

Disclaimer; Copyright law can vary between countries and can be complex. I am not a lawyer and have no legal training whatsoever, but the feature that follows is based on my experiences as a photographer. The following article does have a UK bias, but the general principles of copyright are governed by the Berne convention, to which most countries are a signatory. This is not meant to be an absolute guide to copyright law, but I hope it helps explain what copyright means in broad terms to photographers. Copyright – What is it? Copyright gives artists, authors, sculptors and photographers certain “rights” to protect their work from exploitation. Copyright does not protect an idea, but rather protects the expression of that idea; things like works of art, text (such as this piece), music, and television broadcasts, cinema and photographs. Generally speaking, the creator of the work is also…