Okay folks, Now you've got me going. Some of you are asking what is the harm of having someone copy photos from one Web site to another. Someone suggested that material put on Web pages is intended to be viewed.
And, finally, someone suggested that those of us who do photography professionally and attempt to make money from it are blowing the copyright issue out of proportion. I'll try to address each of these points, as they are all important to me. Copyright is based on the concept of intellectual property. If you create something, you own that creation. That ownership is no less real than your ownership of a house or of a car or of your camera. You wouldn't want someone making use these latter types of property without your permission -- even if you're not using your car/house/camera at the moment. Literally, copyright is about the right to make copies of a creative work. Just as you do NOT have to put a specific warning notice on your house/car/camera to establish your ownership, you do NOT have to place a copyright notice on your creative work to establish your ownership. (However, specifically placing a copyright notice on your work and registering that copyright provides you specific advantages in legal procedings.) I don't think any of the list members would argue with the fact that photography involves creative work. Many of the problems of copyright infringement come from the fact that many creative activities can be practiced either as a profession or as a hobby, and that there's a whole spectrum of people who fall somewhere between full-time professional and pure hobbyist. (You don't find too many people practicing brain surgery as a hobby.) Copyright has no distinction as to why a creative work came into being. You own the copyright to your work, whether you are a professional or a hobbyist. Nor does copyright make any distinction as to whether you intend to sell your work. You have every right to give your work away for free -- if you so choose. But, you also have the right to keep others from taking your work if you do not want them to. I enjoy photographing railroads. But, I also try to make money from that work. Selling a magazine or book publisher a photo of a railroad subject is no different from selling that publisher a photo of a news event or a nice landscape (without a train). Among my clients have been major railroad companies. Selling photography to a railroad is no more or less legitimate than selling that company tie plates or spikes. It's a business. When I license a stock photo to a particular client, I assign that client very specific usage rights in return for payment of a specific fee. In some cases, clients want a certain degree of exclusivity. They normally do not object to promotional use of an image -- use which would include my Web site -- but would probably be very unhappy if the image appeared in another context. (Yes, I photograph many other subjects other than railroads, but, with a lot of work and over many years, I've now acquired a reputation as being a good source for transportation coverage. Most of what I sell in terms of railroad images does not go to the typical railroad media; my railroad photos have appeared in textbooks, encyclopedias, and a variety of non-railroad magazines.) I care very much about the reputation of my business. It is very important to me that I have never had a complaint about my conduct on railroad property and that I always bring along the proper safety gear when I am on railroad property. Because I do photography as a business, I have invested both time and money in things that a casual shooter may not: specialized equipment, a fairly complex filing system for my images, etc. And, with my business, I also get to spend lots of time on such fun things as accounting, correspondence, and promotion -- and everything else that falls in the category of "overhead." Which brings me to the next subject -- my Web site. My Web site is basically a promotional tool for my business. Yes, I want the photos on that site to be seen, but I want them to be seen in the proper context. A lot of time and thought went into organizing the content, which has grown dramatically during the year that the site has existed. In some cases, different pictures are intentionally displayed next to each other to show the range of coverage that I have of a given subject. (I spent a good part of this week working on my site, with new material to be uploaded this weekend.) On my site, my illustrations are accompanied by caption information and there are a varity of internal links to other information. I have tried to make the site look every bit as professional as the printed promotional sheets that I send out. (In fact, I'm cutting back on mailing color promo sheets in favor of a black and white newsletter which, among other things, points to new information on my site.) Do I mind other interested people stopping by my site? Of course not. In fact, when I've added new railroad material, I've usually posted to the various railroad lists that the material is available for viewing. One of the most popular pages on my site, the Intermodal Container FAQ, is provided for two purposes: (1) I provide it as a public service, putting in one place information that is not otherwise easily accessible. And (2) it helps establish that I do know something about the transportation business. What does the above have to do with copyright? Well, when a university professor teaching a graduate-level course on transportation management asked to quote a section from my Intermodal Container FAQ -- WITH ATTRIBUTION -- for material for his class, I was happy to let him do so. Would I be happy if someone use part of that page without my consent? No, of course not. I hope the above provokes some additional thought about these issues. And, as I recently said in the conclusion of another posting on the stock photo mailing list: I am not a lawyer, and I never even played one on TV. However, I have been following copyright (and other intellectual property issues) for many years in a variety of contexts, including discussing the subject with an acquaintance who was an intellectual property lawyer. -- Ernest -- Ernest H. Robl, Durham,NC,USA Stock photography; photojournalism; writing Specializing in transportation and travel subjects for more than 25 years. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone +1 (919) 286-3845 Fax +1 (919) 286-1696 http://www.robl.w1.com "I'd rather be on the train." At =NS milepost H-52. Intermodal Container FAQ: http://www.robl.w1.com/Transport/intermod.htm -> SPORRS: Serious Photographers of Railroad Related Subjects -> Web Site: http://www.anet-stl.com/acphotog/sporrs
