Posted by Stephen Friedman (Stephen Jay Photography) on February 07, 1999 at 17:32:15:
In Reply to: Re: COPYWRIGHTS ON PHOTOS posted by M. Arthur Auslander on December 14, 1998 at 12:47:25:
: : WHO CAN I CALL TO FIND OUT WHY WE ARE STRICTLY FORBIDDEN
: : TO COPY PHOTOS BY PHOTOGRAPHERS AND OTHER COPYWRIGHTED
: : MATERIALS AND THE CUSTOMER CAN GO ACROSS THE STREET AND
: : HAVE THE SAME PICTURE COLOR COPIED??
: They are very nice at the Library of Congress wher the Reister of Copyrights is. I think the number is 12027079100. You can get if from Washington DC information if that doesn't work. The copyright laws are very strong but copyright owners cannot catch all infringers. I believe that taping off a TV screen is probably an infringment. The taper will not get in trouble unlese they try to sell and get caught. Many photocopies are infringements. It is too hard to police. There are efforts to find ways of dealing with this type of infringement. There are even stong criminal statutes involved with copyright infringment. Casual infringement is har to trace. ASCP polices music and licences its use. That is well organized.
: M. Arthur Auslander (aus@auslander.com)
: Auslander & Thomas, 505 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10018
: 212-594-6900, fax 212-244-0028
: ELAINE's Workshop: Early Legal Advice Is Not Expensive
Yes it is hard to catch those that infringe on the coopyright laws. But as a professional portrrait photogrpaher the only money that i make is on the resale of reprints of those portraits that the client likes. If they are copied it is stealing my ideas and using it for their own pleasure without me making the intended proffit. That in the eyes of reasonable people lis stealing and i am protected by the copyright laws.
lI just came from K Mart and had one of my images copied on their scanner. The sales girl told me to just go ahead and do it. I am going to make sure that this never happens again.