Attached Link: Interesting "copyright" conundrum!

Hi people, an interesting situation developed with one of my photographs recently, and I was wondering if I could seek the opinions of some of my friends here. It's not a **really** big deal for me, but one that has had me wondering...I'd appreciate it (if you have the time) if you checked out the link. I respect my fellow forum members' opinions and was curious as to what you think. Thanks, Cam. :-)>

Well, I'm no lawyer but here's my two cents: you own the rights to the photo. you granted rights for your photo to be used for a particular purpose. and it has been used as intended. i would think you still own/control the rights of the photo for any OTHER uses. like if they update the manual again or something. but of course, if none of this is in writing, i suppose it would get trickier. there are all kinds of rights you can grant with an image; you granted them a specific right (right?) and they used it for that. above and beyond that, I would think they have to obtain your permission again. anyhow, thats my oversimplified version of it.

...in addition : it should be easy to prove your copyright: with film, you have the original negative and with a digital cam, you should have the original file (possibly RAW, including exif data etc...). The photo is yours unless you choose to put it in "the public domain" (if stated explicitly on your website) or grant some particular right to an individual (in which case you should put it in writing). More exciting (from a legal point of view) is the question about artwork derived from your photo. I'm a lawyer, but not specialised in this matter and certainly not familiar with the US law... but i've encountered some amazing jurisprudence in Europe. e.g. If an artist decides to create a collage of pictures and your photo is recognizable (beyond discussion, that is), you can claim your copyright. I've seen this happen to a large pharmaceutical company whose advertising agency used a small fragment of a picture (a small, but recognizable detail in a photographic composition) from a photostock book without clearing the copyright. Needless to say that it was an expensive fault on the part of the advertising agency.

Thanks people, I appreciate the feedback. As I said it isn't a real big deal to me...I guess I did feel a bit disappointed no credit was given for my original image. shrugs I guess imitation is a form of flattery though... :-)>

imitation is a form of flattery, but theft is theft and credsit was not given where credit was due.. I replied to the message you linked to.

Attached Link: http://www.opensource.org/site_index.php

The Open Source software community is very concerned about topics very similar to this. They point out that "just giving something away" has no real legal standing. A license protects both the giver and the receiver; suppose you take back your "gift" now, what protections does Creature House have? What if someone alters your original, making child pornography or otherwise injuring someone; what protections do you have? Reciently I obtained permission to use several photos from members of this site in a tutorial (that Star should be posting soon). I did NOT go through the license procedure. This was before I read about such stuff. But I guess I should have, just to make everyone safe. And avoid hard feelings. I will still continue to give things away to my friends, but then I can't really be surprised if they use the gift in unexpected ways. The link is to several samples of Open Source licenses. Various ones have different language --limiting commercial reuse, etc. They are written towards software, but could likely be modified for other art. A very simple example is the MIT license: Copyright (c) Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.