Copyright

Rules on ownership

Copyright © 2008 Paul Holden Inc. All rights reserved
Contact: paulholdenphotographer@live.co.uk
General rules.
If you wish to use or copy copyright protected photographs you may need the permission for the rights holder, unless copyright exceptions apply.
Ownership of photographs taken after 1 August 1989
The general rule about first ownership of copyright is that the author is the first owner.
Photographs taken on or after 1 January 1996
If you create a copyright work, you become the 'author' so in the case of any photographs you take you are the first owner.
Photographs have the same term of protection as all other artistic works. Therefore, the term of protection is generally life of the author (generally the photographer) plus 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the author dies. It is important to note, though, that a photograph cannot be of unknown authorship if the identity of the author is once known and, if at any point the identity of the author becomes known, the life plus 70 year term applies. If you commission a photograph you will only be the copyright owner if there is an agreement to assign copyright to you. If you commission a photograph for private and domestic purposes, since 1 August 1989 you generally have the right not to have the photograph exhibited in public or otherwise communicated to the public (such as by broadcasting) or copies of the photograph issued to the public. So long as you have created a work that qualifies for copyright protection, that is it falls into one of the categories of material protected by copyright, you will have copyright protection without having to do anything to establish this. It is a requirement of various international conventions on copyright that copyright should be automatic with no need to register. To help protect your copyright work, it is advisable to mark it with the © symbol, the name of the copyright owner and the year of publication. Although this is not essential, it will let others know when the term of protection started and hence whether it is still covered by copyright, and indicate who to approach should they need to ask permission to use the work.
NB. All my work is copyright and cannot be copied or re-produced in any format what so ever with out prior agreement.



pholdencopyright@hotmail.co.uk

Thank you.
P.Holden