Note:check out the foreclosing clarifications of "public domain" and "work for hire."
Need the answer to a stock photography question? At our website you'll find our Bulletin Board, called "The Kracker Barrel." Check it out. Our staff answers marketing questions; fellow photographers, photobuyers and researchers offer their input and experience.
The following is a typical exchange.
Q.
I work for the U.S. Postal Service and have been assigned to take photos as part of my duties. Since I'm the "author" of these pictures, can I also add them to my stock photo collection and sell them?
- - - - - - - - -
Yes, you can sell them. Actually, anyone else can sell them, too. If you have produced photographs for a federal government agency, they become public domain, unless an agreement for you to own the copyright has been made in a signed contract. Works prepared by federal government officers and employees as part of their official duties are not protected by copyright. For example, even the Copyright Act document and other federal government regulations are not protected by copyright. Remember, though, this rule does not apply to works created by state government officers and employees, in any of the 50 states.
Uncopyrightable works and works for which copyright protection has ended, are referred to as "public domain" works, and can be copied by the general public.
These rules, of course, do not apply to "Work For Hire" projects and assignments if you are working for a non-federal government agency under a signed "Work For Hire" agreement. But as a federal employee, all the pictures you take while working (except those that fall into "classified" or special holding rights) are made available to the general public. Typical agencies and departments that offer these free photos are the Library of Congress, The U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force, NASA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the CIA. For more information on this area of public domain photos, see pages 208-213 in the book, sellphotos.com. -RE
Rohn Engh, veteran stock photographer and best-selling author of "Sell & ReSell Your Photos" and "sellphotos.com," has helped scores of photographers launch their careers. For access to great information on making money from pictures you like to take, and to receive this free report: "8 Steps to Becoming a Published Photographer," visit http://www.sellphotos.com
Welcome
to AvailablePix.com. Here's where you'll
find information about public domain, free public domain photos,
photography, pictures, and getting access to a photograph.
Can Photo Suppliers Sell Public Domain Images?
Most government documents (including images) are in the public domain, that is, they are free to be used by the public. For example, here at PhotoSource International, we often get offers for "how-to" pamphlets or reports costing $5 to $25, on subjects ranging from gardening to aerospace; or posters announcing new tax or minimum wage announcements. It turns out these are (free) government documents that have been re-packed by entrepreneurs and put out for sale to the public.
Photo researchers can do something similar.
In my book, "sellphotos.com," on pages 208 & 209 I write about the photographer/entrepreneur, Tom Carroll, who 'sold' a "Public Domain" image to DRS Technologies for their annual report, for $875.
A distinction to note is that Tom Carroll did not "sell" the image; he found the image for the market and charged a "research fee'.
Why are documents and government-owned images free? When you work for the U.S. government, whether you are building a bridge, landscaping a new park, or taking a photograph, you are working for the people. So, the reasoning is -- the people own the results. I'm surprised that more people have not come up with ways of selectively distributing the photos that are gathering dust in U.S. government archives. Tom Carroll's approach is certainly valid. And we'll no doubt see many photo researchers begin to use the advantages of the Internet to utilize public domain images that are available to the people for the asking.
The subjects of these stock images range from aviation (historical to modern; U.S. to Russian); naval (most countries represented); agriculture (historical as well as new and innovative); photos from NASA, and even from the Central Intelligence Agency, which images, believe it or not, are also public domain and available (see page 212 in sellphotos.com).
font size="4" face="arial narrow">
SOME RESTRICTIONS
The federal government (U.S.) cannot own copyright, but even so, not all photographs on ".gov" and ".mil" sites are public domain. For example, a private donor or a foundation might donate a copyrighted image to a federal institution with the restriction that the copyright of the image will eventually revert to the estate of the original owner. Same is true for some photographers who make photos for the government on a "work-for-hire" basis, in which case the images may be copyrighted by the photographer and not the government. If you find an image on a U.S. government Internet site, it is most likely useable as a public domain photo, but you'd need to confirm that.
Keep in mind that our organization, PhotoSource International, focuses on editorial photography used in books and magazines. Commercial use of a public domain photo is another issue, and will have strong restrictions for its use. To learn how the government looks at this situation, check out pamphlet 195 at http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/195_copr.html.
A good place to find the source of public domain images that have little or no publication restrictions on them is:
http://mciunix.mciu.k12.pa.us/ spjvweb/cfimages.html
Rohn Engh is director of PhotoSource International and publisher of PhotoStockNotes. Pine Lake Farm, 1910 35th Road, Osceola, WI 54020 USA. E-mail: info@photosource.com . Fax: 1 715 248 7394. Web site: www.photosource.com.
Business
Notepad
MEETING PLACE
-- Interactive Flickr Now for everyone. Yahoo has finished a redesign of its Flickr home page that emphasizes the photo-sharing site's social aspects. The new home page shows off more of a user's own photos and more from the user's contacts, and it surfaces social activity such as comments on the user's photos, replies to comments the user made on others' photos, and new photos posted to the user's ... Full
Story
Program maintains it's easy to earn extra
funds by establishing a photo business out of your home and
photographing local businesses, corporations, churches, schools,
sports teams, and families in your community.
FREE
FREE photos from government organizations are available for uploading. The images found come from various sources such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (www.nasa.org/), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (www.noaa.gov), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (www.fws.gov/). Each of these sites clearly state that their images are in the public domain and give the conditions for their use. The images you'll find are copyright free, but some restrictions still apply. Specifically, people have a legal right to privacy, and the use of their likeness for commercial advertising typically requires a consent agreement. If a person is recognizable in an image, a model release must be obtained before using the image for commercial use such as advertising. Usually for editorial use, no model release is needed. For more information, see Tom Carroll's use of public domain photos in pages 208-211 of "sellphotos.com" www.sellphotos.com. Also check out http://gimp-savvy.com /PHOTO-ARCHIVE/index.html for public domain images to see how they can be used.
In 1998, Congress extended the term of copyright protection by 20 years, applying the extension to copyrights then in existence and future copyrights. For works created by individuals, the term of copyright protection is now life of the author plus 70 years. For works made for hire, the term of protection is now 95 years from the date of first "publication" (distribution to the general public) or 120 years from the date of creation, whichever expires first.
Professor Larry Lessig of Stanford Law School filed a lawsuit seeking a judicial determination that the copyright term extension law was unconstitutional. His clients in the case are several companies that use public domain works. The plaintiffs' primary challenge to the term extension focuses on the "Copyright Clause" of the U.S. Constitution, which states that "The Congress shall have Power . . . to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."
YES, TWENTY YEARS IS O.K.
The plaintiffs contended that the extension of the copyright term by 20 years violates the constitutional requirement that copyright protection be granted only for "limited times." The federal district court rejected the challenge, and the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit agreed, holding that the quoted language is not a limit on congressional power and that the term extension is constitutional.
J. Dianne Brinson is a copyright attorney specializing in intellectual property. She is author of "Internet Legal Forms For Business" ($24.95 plus $5 p&h), and "Internet Law and Business Handbook" ($44.95 plus $7 s&h). Anyone wishing to order the books may call 1 800 523-3721, or go to Dianne's website: www.laderapress.com. Her website includes a free primer on intellectual property law. Ladera Press, 27 Berenda Way, Portola Valley CA 94028. LaderaPress@aol.com.
Of
Interest
Re-publication Permits Privacy Suit to Proceed
Although the language of each state statute may vary, the use of a
person’s name, portrait or picture in a photograph cannot be used for
advertising, commercial or trade purposes, without the person’s written
consent.
This is called the Right to Privacy. The time to bring a lawsuit for
invasion of the Right to Privacy is one year from the first publication
in New York and most other states, but is subject to what is called the
single publication rule. Under this rule, the statute of limitations
begins to run on the date the material at issue is first published or
used. Accordingly, subsequent distributions or uses of the images does
not constitute a separate publication or continuing wrong which would
extend to the date the initial claim accrued.
The purpose of this rule is to avoid an endless tolling of the
limitations statute. For example, a distribution of a work to a library
would be the initial date for statute of limitations purposes, and that
initial date would not be extended each time the ... Full
Story
HOW DO THEY DO IT? Yuri Arcurs - Microstock Entrepreneur - Not content with an
annual microstock income of US$1.3 million and being the top selling microstock photographer, Yuri Arcurs is creating a microstock empire. Here's a summary of his new entrepreneurial activities.
http://www.microstockdiaries.com/meet-the-new-yuri-arcurs-microstock-entrepreneur.html
WHO SAID PHOTOGRAPHERS CAN’T WRITE? History in the Buffer - David Burnett, photojournalist, wrote this piece about his experience "in the buffer" covering the election night in Chicago. A remarkable diary of his election night experience.
http://werejustsayin.blogspot.com/2008/11/history-in-buffer.html
TAKEAWAY: When TIME Magazine made “the computer” the Man of the Year, they sent David Burnett to Pine Lake Farm to photograph me and my new Radio Shack TRS-80 Model II. You can see the picture TIME used at:
http://www.photosource.com/rohntime
