I perfectly understand everybody's outrage from this craigslist ad. But what if I told you that it is socially acceptable and even totally legal (at least in the US) and it has been going for ages?
I am talking about ghost writing. If it is acceptable and is done at all levels, including presidents and celebrities. And the US copyright law supports it. It is called "work for hire". More over, (are you ready for this?!) the person/entity who comissioned the work for hire becomes the AUTHOR of that work. [*] Look at what is known "Title 17" of the US copyright law, Chapter 2, Paragraph 201(b): http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap2.html : "Works Made for Hire. - In the case of a work made for hire, the employer or other person for whom the work was prepared is considered the author for purposes of this title, and, unless the parties have expressly agreed otherwise in a written instrument signed by them, owns all of the rights comprised in the copyright." If ghost writing is acceptable and legal, why ghost photographing is not? So, what that chap did not do right from the point of view of the law, is that he/she should have asked to shoot those photos for him, for this specific purpose, and specifically as a "work for hire". Then it would fully legal. And then he could claim his authorship of the said photographs. ----- [*] One has to be very careful with the "work for hire". It has to be specified explicitly in the contract, as there are plenty of exceptions. E.g. unless you spell things out explicitly while hiring a photographer, say, for your wedding shoot, the photographer retains the copyright (and the authorship). This is in part because it is based on customary procedure in photography business, where unless explicitly stated otherwise, (examples include but not limited to cases where the photographer gets a W-2 form) it is not a work for hire (from the copyright law point of view). Igor On 2/10/2014 4:47 PM, Brian Walters wrote: > Can't be bothered taking your own photos to illustrate your commercial > photography business? > > No problem - just buy someone else's work. > > > http://petapixel.com/2014/02/10/rant-wedding-photographer-wants-buy-good-wedding-shots-pad-portfolio/ > > > > http://tinyurl.com/mrwmz4f > > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
