DETAILED GUIDE: HOW TO PROTECT YOUR PHOTOS ON THE INTERNET? RIGHTS, LICENSES AND CONTRACTS

As you begin to gain experience as a photographer and see how your photographs begin to be increasingly professional, it is likely that you begin to consider breaking down the barriers of your computer and going out to show your art to the world. But: what if they steal those wonderful ideas and photographs that cost you so much to build? The Internet represents an incredible opportunity for photographers because anyone in the world can be watching a picture of you seconds after you have published it, you can sell a photo to a person thousands of miles away or put together a virtual gallery to that the tourists of the network visit it daily. Internet is the medium and your imagination is the limit, but is it safe? There is nothing better than a map to navigate the sea of ??possibilities of the Internet without getting lost on the road (or getting into trouble). Publishing and selling your photographs should cease to be a utopia to become a reality.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR PHOTOS?

In spite of the innumerable benefits and possibilities that the Internet offers to photographers like you, to be able to make the most of them without suffering any surprises, it is necessary that you know both your rights when sharing your work as well as your obligations to the work of others . Blogs, social networks and online stores can be an excellent way to make yourself known in the world of photography, but do you know what your rights are when you upload your photos and what precautions you should take when doing so? The photographs are paired by what is known as "copyright and intellectual property" and each country has its legislation in this regard.

Your rights as a photographer

YOUR RIGHTS AS A PHOTOGRAPHER

Copyright and intellectual property law: Both in Spain and in the rest of the countries, laws run well behind the needs of citizens, and photographers are no exception. In fact, the Spanish intellectual property law, for example, was passed in 1996 and is still in force today, despite the sudden changes suffered by the medium in which photographers share their work. In any case, the forms are still maintained, so taking time to read the law that protects your activity as a photographer and gives you rights as an author is more than recommended. Here are some of the intellectual property laws to take a look at:

Spain: "Intellectual Property Law"
Argentina: “Legal regime of intellectual property”
Chile: "Intellectual Property Law"
Colombia: “About copyright”
United States: “Copyright law of the United States”
Mexico: "Federal Copyright Law"

With a simple search on the Internet you can access the text of the copyright law corresponding to your country. I recommend that you take a look to have a general idea of ??what your rights are and your obligations as an author and citizen.

Know well about intellectual property laws

Birth of your rights: The moment after releasing the shutter not only means the birth of your photographs but also, your rights are born over them. The intellectual property and copyright law guarantees you moral and economic rights over your works. But what do they mean? 1. Moral rights: those that are intended to protect you as an author and as well as the works you do. Decide on how your works will be disclosed and withdraw them in case of disagreement (indemnified to the affected), demand that the authorship of your photos be recognized, that the integrity of your works be respected and avoid total and partial plagiarism are some of the moral rights that protect you against third parties. These types of rights do not prescribe, they cannot be sold, assigned or donated and you cannot give them up, you will always be their author. The authorship of your photographs is unalterable, but what you can give are the economic rights (of use) of them. 2. Economic rights: as the author of your photographs you are the one who enjoys the rights of economic exploitation of them, unless in accordance, you decide to transfer them to third parties for them to use. Unlike these moral rights, if they can be transferred, assigned or donated and are not eternal, their duration will be throughout your life and up to 70 years after your death, then they will become public domain. Exploitation rights:

Reproduction: as the name implies, it is the power to reproduce your photographs regardless of the medium used (books, magazines, printed copies, postcards, etc.).
Distribution: refers to the right to be able to sell your photographs with the particularity that said right is not transmitted, that is, if you sell a photograph to a third party, it does not have the right to resell it to another.
Advertising: refers to the possibility of using your photographs, provided you give your consent, in publicity campaigns whatever the means of reproduction.
Transformation: the right to be able to modify one of your photos and that may result in a work different from the original (frames, color changes, touch-ups, etc.).

Only you are the one who can decide whether to economically exploit (sell) your photographs and you can do it on your own or through the transfer of rights of use to a third party, provided that he pays you for them. In this way, what you are granting are certain licenses on your photographs, so that the person who intends to use them, whether paying for them or not, knows what you have allowed and what not to do with them. This is how most of the photo selling pages on the internet work: you put a photograph on sale and they are in charge of marketing it, paying you for each copy sold.

You can grant certain rights to your photographs in a conditional and nuanced way

Types of licenses: At the moment of sharing your photographs on the internet, what you should consider are the permissions that you are willing to grant to people who can run into them. Since the authorship is unalterable, the rights at stake here are those of use of your photos, that is, under which license of use you will share them. • Copyright: it is the most used license and in which the author reserves each and every one of the rights to his work: only he can use it, distribute it or modify it. If a third party is interested in using one of your photographs protected under this license, they must ask you for an explicit permission or they must pay you so that they give you the rights of use (never those of authorship). Without your consent they cannot use your photos, not even naming you as an author. This type of licenses is often used among the big chains, companies and prestigious photographers, but also its popularity is a product of that, if a photograph is shared without any specification about the type of license of the same, it is automatically protected by the license copyright. If you are a super jealous photographer of your work and you are half reluctant to share your photographs on the internet, this type of license could give you a little more security when doing so. • Copyleft: it is a license where the author allows his works to be used, copied and distributed with the sole obligation of recognizing their authorship. Despite being a license that protects the copyright of your photographs, unlike copyright licenses, they do not require any authorization by the author for their use. Just mentioning who is the author of them is enough. This type of licenses gave rise to the multiple types of licenses for distribution of digital content on the internet, including the well-known Creative Commons. Creative Commons why not? If you are taking your first steps as a photographer, you are probably more interested in spreading your photos than in making money with them. Believe it or not, the type of license you choose when sharing your photographs can influence the dissemination of your work. Sharing your work under more permissive licenses does not imply that they are not protected, but rather the opposite. It is more advisable and safe to share under Creative Commons licenses, than under the strict copyright: Why? Because controlling that nobody on the internet uses your photographs without your authorization is almost impossible and carrying out a trial can be very expensive. On the contrary, offering some rights to your images does not seem like a bad deal if you guarantee that you will get more diffusion of your work. You can think of it as a “win, win” situation: you gain diffusion and those interested can use your photographs, under the conditions you set and recognizing yourself as the author of them. Explain each of them in detail is not the reason for this article but, if you are interested in knowing the possibilities that this type of licenses can offer you, I recommend you read the following article: “I become creative commons Do you sign up? " A clear example of this is the Photographer's Blog: the photographs that illustrate each of the articles published here, were shared under this type of licenses, more permissive, allowing thousands of readers to appreciate the work of photographers who might never have acquired such attention of having chosen a more restrictive license.

Creative Commons

The terms and conditions: The terms and conditions that accompany all pages when you register are not just for “accept and follow”. I bet you've never taken the job of reading them carefully! If you are trying to promote your work and disseminate it, you should start paying attention to the “terms and conditions” if you do not want to take a surprise later. Depending on each of the platforms where you share your work ( Flikr , Facebook , 500px , etc.) you may or may not assign the rights to use your images. Each site has its own policies regarding the photographs that are uploaded on them. If you are seriously thinking about turning your work to the internet, I recommend that you take your time to read the terms and conditions in order to understand what licenses you will grant to each of the platforms you choose to do it and which not, so that You can decide if you are willing to assign certain rights to your work. Make sure in each case, to know where the companies that own the social networks or platforms are located where you are going to share your images so as to be able to deepen about the intellectual property laws in force in those countries.

Terms and Conditions

Transfer of rights of use: This type of contract is the instrument used for photographers like you, to assign the rights of use, modification, reproduction and distribution of the photographs they take in favor of a third party according to the terms agreed in the same contract. Such assignment may be in favor of a person or a company and once the agreement is signed, which may be on paper or by accepting the terms and conditions of a website, you assign part or all of the rights to use Your photographs depending on each case. When you publish on a social network, such as on Facebook, even if you do not know, you are giving certain rights of use on your images, unlike Flickr where the rules regarding the publication of photographs on your site are very strict and always , beyond the chosen license, the decision of the author of each of the photos housed there must be respected. Not for nothing is one of the most reliable and used photography social networks. That is why I recommend that you always read the terms and conditions so that you can take your precautions when making your work public. In any case, if you carry out a specific job where the recipients of the same buy the resulting photographs, the most convenient thing will be, for both parties, that this agreement is embodied in a written contract. I recommend that you do not skimp on details at the time of making it: in which country the assignment is made, the duration, the price and any other clause that seems relevant to you. Once signed, both parties must submit to it and what has not been clarified or made manifest in writing, cannot then be claimed if they are not deducted from the contract. In any case, the contract will only be valid for what it establishes: if it is not established, for example, if the photos can be edited after the assignment or not, it does not mean that the third party can do so. Contracts must be interpreted restrictively, that is, only what is expressly permitted is permitted. Then I leave a model that you can use as a basis for this purpose. [ MODEL OF CONTRACT OF ASSIGNMENT OF RIGHTS OF USE ] Transfer of image rights of a model: As I mentioned before, having the image rights of those recognizable people who appear in your photos is one of your main obligations as a photographer when making your photographs public. Why? Because the right to one's own image is a right that is aimed at protecting not only the privacy but also the morals of people. Anyone can prevent a photograph from being broadcast without their consent. Such consent must be stated expressly in a document signed by both parties. Keep in mind that such permission can be revoked at the request of the party (person). Suppose you make a production in a studio with a model: to be able to publish the photos in any public medium, you must have an authorization from the person who appears in your photographs in order to avoid future claims. Said authorization is known as a contract for “transfer of image rights”. In the case of children, those responsible for enforcing their rights are their parents or guardians, so you must have a written authorization from them to share photographs where they appear. Situations that do not require the transfer of image rights:

When the person is not easily recognizable
When it comes to people or public figures, in public events or in open places.
When the interest pursued by the photographs is to inform, and said information is of public interest.

Here is a model of the contract for the transfer of image rights so you can print it and keep some copies with you if you plan to go out to take pictures with models, passers-by or children that are easily recognizable in these: [ IMAGE RIGHTS ASSIGNMENT CONTRACT MODEL ] These types of agreements are not only designed to protect the rights of the models, people or children that may appear in one of your photographs. The signing of a contract for the transfer of image rights will also protect you as a photographer: not only will they authorize you to publish your photographs with their image, but also, if they use your photographs that you have taken without your permission, you can initiate legal action . Remember that they have given you their image rights.

Signing a contract for the transfer of image rights will also protect you as a photographer

YOUR OBLIGATIONS AS A PHOTOGRAPHER

Not only must you worry that your rights are not violated, but also, by sharing your work on the Internet, you not only acquire rights but also obligations that you must fulfill if you do not want to be the one who is in trouble. When sharing your photographs in the various media that the internet gives you, you must ensure:

That you are the author of photography and that this is completely yours and not plagiarized.
Do not show works by other artists or colleagues protected under copyright.
Have the image use permissions of children, people and / or models that participate in them and are easily recognizable. (Law with constitutional guarantee)

Make sure you get the corresponding authorizations and permits if you plan to share photographs that do not meet any of the issues mentioned above. Be especially careful if children, people and models appear in them since the right to privacy violated can get you into serious trouble.

Do not forget your obligations as a photographer

TIPS TO PROTECT YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS

Once you share a photograph on the Internet, it is almost impossible to prevent it from being used without your consent. If it is impossible for a Hollywood producer to prevent a movie from being downloaded for free on the Internet, imagine how difficult it will be for you to prevent someone from using your photos without permission. What you can do and it will not require you much effort is to put certain obstacles for the person who wants to use your photos without your permission, find it a little more difficult to do so. Here you have a series of tips that you can adopt for this purpose:

Register them: While all these types of procedures may seem somewhat cumbersome, you can do them without leaving your computer and for free. You can register your photographs through the “Safe Creative” service (free) or you can digitally sign your photographs. With just a search you will find companies that are responsible for digitally signing documents, photographs, etc.
Use trusted sites: Share your photos on sites that allow you to configure the level of license security, download permissions, size restrictions, etc. The more controls you can configure, the more control you will have over your photographs. In the Photographer's Blog we recommend Flickr .
Author's Web: If you are extremely jealous of your photographs and do not trust anyone to share them, you can always build your own site. There the master and lord will be you and you can configure it according to your needs: avoid the "Paint Screen" or "Print Screen", downloads, disable the right mouse button, etc. It will be safer but you will not have the traffic (number of visits) that you could achieve thanks to a renowned social network or platform.
Your logo always: Include your logo or signature always in your photographs. If they want to use one of your photos without mentioning you as an author or paying you for it, they will have to cut it out, making it less attractive or useless for their purposes.
Clear and readable signature: use your name as a personal brand so that anyone who sees your signature will clearly know who was the author of the photograph. It must be clear, legible and simple so as not to create confusion about who its author was. You can also include a contact email along with your signature so they can request your permission.
Do not share in maximum resolution: when sharing your photographs, do not do it in the maximum resolution . Do it in medium or small sizes so that they can be appreciated, but not plagiarized.
Never share RAW: never, but never deliver the digital negatives of your photographs . They are the living proof of your authorship and in many cases, they may not be the final photograph. The negatives are your property and you should never give them up, unless for a succulent sum of money you are willing to do so.

Photographer near the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police

Every right brings its corresponding obligation. It is no use demanding that your rights be fulfilled if you do not respect those of others. Remember that your rights end where those of others begin and respect, especially among colleagues, is essential for everyone to work comfortably and calmly. Sharing a photo on the Internet is as insecure as leaving a bicycle without a lock or a car without your alarm, if someone wants to take advantage of such a situation, they will do so without asking you for permission. This does not mean that you should place 4 locks on your bike, you just have to be careful and know the environment in which you move. By way of personal opinion I think the best way to protect yourself is by sharing. Think about the money you don't earn by not charging a photo for sharing it for free, like money you save on advertising to make you renowned. Did you find this article minimally useful? Print it, save it in your favorites for future reference, and please share it. Thank you.