Los-Angeles-Shooter Loc: Los Angeles

Hello, gentlemen and ladies.

I'm a very experienced photographer in Los Angeles. Have shot all kinds of stuff and been published a lot, but I don't make my living at it. Shooting these days is mostly portraits, headshots, and other people stuff in a comfortable home studio. I'm very at ease with studio strobes.

I have worked as a legal secretary and paralegal with particular experience with copyright issues and "Right of Publicity" law. Right of Publicity is the law that gets in play when model releases (or the lack of them) are at issue.

I'm looking forward to learning from my colleagues and occasionally providing some insight. Especially into those two legal areas which are so confusing to many photographers and other lay persons.

manderson Loc: Northeast Nebraska

I think your expertise is going to be welcomed and appreciated by most.

ebrunner Loc: New Jersey Shore

Welcome and glad to have you on the forum. I'm sure your experience will prove valuable to many people here.

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Welcome to UHH

JoeB Loc: Mohawk Valley, NY

Hello and welcome to UHH.

photophly Loc: Old Bridge NJ

Welcomed to th e Hog......I look forward to reading your posts.

Iwantitall Loc: Chicago (south side)

Welcome to the Hog.
Hope we can maybe give answers you need. Me being the novice I am, just
stopping by to say hello.
Mike
:-) :thumbup:

bcheary Loc: Jacksonville, FL

Welcome to UHH

Meives Loc: FORT LAUDERDALE

[quote=Los-Angeles-Shooter] Welcome. A lot of members put large copywrite marks on their pictures and spoil them. I believe you can add the copywrite to the exif camera data and copywrite protect all you photos. David

Los-Angeles-Shooter Loc: Los Angeles

[quote=Meives]

I plan to make a substantial post regarding copyright and a separate post regarding model releases. But a few comments regarding the above, for now. Everything I say unless stated otherwise applies to USA law.

The copyright notice has very little legal significance and is not required to protect your copyright. A proper notice includes the word "copyright" or "copr" or the copyright symbol; the copyright claimant's name; and the date of copyright.

As an informal matter a visible copyright notice may deter some thieves. Or it may not. If a thief crops out the notice, that's a separate crime and violation under copyright and increases penalties if a matter goes to court. And if a thief steals an image and reproduces it with notice intact, obviously that fact demolishes the credibility of any lies or excuses he comes up with.

A visible copyright notice also prevents a thief from claiming his infringement was "accidental" if the matter goes to court. Everything I've seen indicates that the notice must be visible; a notice within the EXIF data is not, to my understanding, a valid copyright notice.

For legal purposes, a discreet notice in the corner of the image is good enough; for legal purposes you don't have to deface the image with a giant watermarked notice in the middle of the image.

The most important points about a copyright notice:
1-You don't lose your rights under copyright if you don't have a notice;
2-There is very little legal significance to a notice or lack thereof.
3-The key to protecting copyright and/or going after thieves, is timely registration of copyright.

Meives Loc: FORT LAUDERDALE

[quote=Los-Angeles-Shooter]I will study more myself. I do believe copywrite info on in the camera meta data exif is enough. David

Los-Angeles-Shooter Loc: Los Angeles

The subject is discussed here:
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ03.pdf

And it refers to "visually perceptible." The copyright office does not appear to recognize EXIF or other "hidden" notices as valid notice. This makes logical as well as legal sense because many sites automatically strip away EXIF data anyhow.

I've never heard of a case where an EXIF notice is recognized by a court. But then, as I've mentioned, the notice has very little legal significance anyhow.

Rich2236 Loc: E. Hampstead, New Hampshire

Hi L. A. Shooter... I also am an L. A. shooter. So, welcome to the hog. We are so glad you decided to join us. Aside from your photos which we look forward to seeing, your expertise in the law will be invaluable to everyone here. i have a feeling, in the near future, you will be inundated with questions. Thanks for joining.
Rich

rebride

What the hell happened to you?
Please get some help!

Los-Angeles-Shooter Loc: Los Angeles

I expect questions. And I hope I can clarify some common questions; there is a lot of misinfo around about copyright.