Your legal rights as a photographer in the UK


	Your Legal Rights as a Photographer

	This is my understanding / interpretation of current UK law with respect to photography and is meant as a guide only. The only firm recommendation I can make is if in doubt seek professional legal advice.

	Copyright

	In the absence of any contract / agreement stating otherwise, the person who took the photograph owns the copyright for that image. This is fundamental to photographic law and the key element is “In the absence of any contract / agreement stating otherwise”. That means if you have not agreed to anything or signed a contract to the contrary, you own the copyright. You do not need to declare or register your image(s) in any way. Copyright remain yours until you give it (assign it) to someone else.

	An exception to this, hinted at above, is where you are employed by another and a contract exists whereby you agreed to assign copyright of your images to your employer or third party. In the situation of full time employment (employer pays tax and national insurance on your behalf), the employee does not own copyright on work created during the normal course of their employment unless there is an agreement to the contrary.

	As the owner of the copyright, only you can licence the copying of your image (including the electronic copy and storage of digital images) and the issuing of your image to the public.

	Permitted Uses

	‘Fair Dealing’ under UK law allows the copying of copyrighted material under certain circumstances without the need for prior permission. These generally cover; publicising work for sale, copying for research purposes, educational use, copying for review, submission in court as evidence.

	Duration of Copyright

	The copyright of an image either taken in the EU or by an EU nationality photographer is 70 years from the end of the first year in which that person died. Applicable to work created after 01-08-1989.

	Assignment of Copyright

	The owner of the copyright can pass on (assign) the rights of an image to another but should do so only after careful consideration. To sell the copyright outright requires the owner’s agreement in writing. It should be remembered that once copyright is re-assigned to another party you will have no claim on money made from further sales. Protect and maintain your copyright, unless you are offered a good price for it!

	Moral Rights

	These remain with the originator of the work regardless of who currently owns the copyright. The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 defines these rights as follows.

		The right to be identified as the author of the work(also known as the Paternity Right).
		The right to object to false attribution of the work.
		The right to protect the integrity of the work.

	The first two items basically allow the author to be credited with the original work and prevent another from claiming authorship. Item 3 is also described as the right to object to derogatory treatment of the work. This is most relevant today where images can be digitally ‘manipulated’ almost without trace.

	It should be noted that the right to be credited only works if it is ‘asserted’ and should never just be assumed. The use of the statements “moral rights asserted” or “all rights reserved” on the back of images, as meta tags to digital images or as footers on websites are legally sufficient ‘assertions’.

	Once-Off Rights

	If a picture is purchased for publication in a calendar, magazine, newspaper etc, generally this is for ‘once off re-production rights’. This allows the buyer to use the image only once. The advantages of this are two-fold; firstly you retain the copyright and secondly you can sell the same image again providing the new buyer is not in direct competition with any previous buyers.

	Calendar markets generally stipulate a period during which they retain full calendar rights to the image. Generally a year, sometimes more; during this period you may not sell the image on to another calendar producer..

	When it comes to sell your images on again you must first check the clearance of that image with earlier buyers to ensure any previously agreed rights have expired.

	What NOT to do

	Since we have the right to pretty much look at and observe anything in this world, you might be mistaken to think you have the right to photograph it. Sadly this is most certainly not the case. Below is a list of just some of the places you cannot photograph without at least prior permission.

		Any railway premises, including station platforms and the London Underground.
		Parliament square.
		Private property. Did you know that London ’s Canary Warf is private property?
		Prisons.
		Certain security premises.
		Many English Heritage and National trust sites.
		Most galleries, theatres, cinemas, museums and concerts also prohibit photography.
		Schools and hospitals.
		Law Courts.

	Some places put a blanket prohibition on photography, some require you to have written permission for personal use and others will charge significant sums of money if you wish to sell your images.

	It is permissible to photograph certain places deemed private property providing the photograph was taken from a public place. As soon as you enter private property without permission you are trespassing!