Who Owns A Facebook Photo? Photography Copyright Cheat Sheet PLUS Video

Who-Owns-A-Photo

In this video photographer Jack Reznicki and attorney Ed Greenberg discuss the ins and outs of copyright law

Like I said on the previous page a lot of photographers are under the impression that if they simply watermark their images they are copyright protected. What they fail to realize is that without filing a copyright on their images they have no legal grounds to stand on. Not filing a copyright might sound difficult but, in fact it’s quite easy. I’ve also included a cheat sheet on the next page that outlines your rights.

GO TO THE NEXT PAGE FOR THE CHEAT SHEET

About Johnny Yakubik

Johnny Yakubik is the Founder- Editor- Publisher- Chief Cook and Bottle Washer at Modern Lens Magazine. He's a professional family and portrait photographer living in Southern California. You can see some of his work at http://californiabeachphotography.com

65 comments

Just another example of the govt performing as a mob. “We will protect your images for $35 an image otherwise we will throw out your case”. Money hungry crooks. & federal court is for the mega rich only with their crazy charges for a case to be heard.

Just another example of the govt performing as a mob. “We will protect your images for $35 an image otherwise we will throw out your case”. Money hungry crooks. & federal court is for the mega rich only with their crazy charges for a case to be heard.

Its great to know about copyright laws and how you can protect yourself and your images. But $35 an image? Sounds like another way the government sucks money out of you. If you produce just 10 images in a year that’s $3,500. Isn’t there a way to copyright your images without spending tons of money?

why pay for something you have spent money on equipement time etc. and everything else to produce the image just to be ripped off to protect your BASIC RIGHT TO OWNERSHIP

so in other words just pack in taking photographs that you don’t own or stop posting any that you have taken in the past on here or any other sites until the LAW recognises your right to the OWNERSHIP of your DIGITAL IMAGES

No. Photos on facebook do not belong to facebook. You’re reading the terms of service wrong. When you post to facebook you grant them a license to use them but you still hold the copyright.

I have read every word herein posted. Mickey Mouse’s owners have the bucks to send their corporate lawyers after a copyright thief and to take the most reasonable but severe actions in court. The return of the maximum listed herein as $150,000 dollars and other court ordered charges would not likely even pay for the legal fees. The law is rigged intentionally or not making it only possible for the largest firms or extremely wealthy individuals able to file and press charges. Anyone can argue any fine points but this is the one unavoidable basic fact. Another unmentionable is that foreign country individuals or companies pay no attention to the law which applies to the lands where USA law is in effect.

I’ve done this before after speaking with Ed about it. It is an easy process and it’s not $35.00 a photo. I’ve done hundreds at a time for $35.00. The only thing you have to know is how to calculate your upload speed from the total files you are uploading. The governments system has a 60 minute window to upload then it times out and you’re done. I’m not sure what the process is if you do get timed out but I’m betting they make you pay something or the full boat price again. If you have photos that you think aren’t anything special you can continue to post them and gamble that they will not be used by someone advertising that could make you millions if you had it registered. The another alternative is to stop posting anything and you’re sure it will not get used or copied. Another choice would be to only post your snapshots and leave you business photos off the web until the client puts them there and has paid you. I’m not so worried about Johnny Schoolboy getting a hold of a landscape to use with his school project, in fact I’d condone that use if he asks. I am waiting for Nike or Coke or General Mills getting one of my images and using it in their advertising. Man, that would be a pay day finally! They probably aren’t going to use my snapshots from Facebook for their advertising campaign. You’re not getting anything even after a court case from Johnny Schoolboy anyway, you want the big name company to use it wrongfully. Most of the time they know enough to ask if they can find out who to ask so keep that meta-data up to date! Happy Photography!!

Many photographers use social media to promote their business. Since some sites like facebook strip the metadata out of an image, the only protection that you may have is to upload a low rez image. Of course people can steal that, but they are limited as what they can do with it.

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