What is copyright?

Copyright is a property right vested in works which authors have created.

The law of copyright…

...protects against unauthorised reproduction of works and entitles copyright owners to economic benefit whilst seeking a fair balance between the interests of authors and users of copyright materials.

What are moral rights?

These are:

  • the right not to have one’s work subjected to derogatory treatment
  • the right to be identified as the author of one’s work
  • the right not to have a work falsely attributed to oneself as author
  • the right of privacy for photographs commissioned for private and domestic purposes

Copyright law originally came into being to ensure that individual craftsmen received proper economic compensation for the products of their craftsmanship. The problem for photographers was always that UK law excluded them from first ownership of copyright when work was commissioned and therefore denied them the protection and benefits afforded to composers, illustrators, writers and painters, etc.

Largely because of the lobbying of 19th century portrait painters who felt threatened by the advent of photography, the work of British photographers and engravers became treated as a copying technique and, unless it was agreed otherwise, copyright was vested in the commissioner rather than the author of the work.

This view of photography, apart from being basically unfair, was contrary to legislation in much of the rest of the world and has led to confusion at one time or another for nearly everyone involved, either as creator or user. The implementation of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 has done a lot to improve the situation although many people, including photographers themselves, still have to cope with rights in photography generated under legislation going back to 1862, which were left largely intact by the 1988 Act and now also have to deal with the complications produced by the copyright harmonisation measures brought in throughout the European Union and the European Economic Area. (Like the European Union, the European Economic Area is defined by international agreement and may vary over time. Readers needing to know the membership of the EEA are therefore advised to check on the latest position at the time their need arises).

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