Assert your copyright

If you are a photographer, be it professional or amateur, the images you create are yours. Only you can allow someone to reproduce them in print or on a website, or anywhere else. And it helps to know a bit about the law that protects those rights, which you automatically have. In this case, it is the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, in the United Kingdom.

Recently a friend was looking for a conservatory and found a "local" conservatory provider. They were not actually local but they had a database-generated page that implied they were. On that page were some interesting titbits of information the Woodbridge area, including a photograph of nearby Rendlesham Forest (shown, left).

My friend emailed me to say that the photograph looked very similar to one of mine. I had a peek and found that is was indeed very similar. So much so, in fact that it was more than similar, it was one of my photographs! And to make it even more cheeky, the image could only have been taken (stolen) from one of my websites.

Although it is definitely not a requirement of the appropriate law, it will obviously make it easier to support any claim you have, if any of your published photographs already carry the copyright notice, in the Berne Convention format, which, in my case would be    Copyright © 2009 Linn Barringer.

When I find a case of my photographs being used without permission, I write a letter to the company asking them to either remove my image, or pay for the privilege. Obviously, in this instance, I expected the response to be the former rather than the latter!

As an aside, it can sometimes seem difficult to write to a company if their website does not show the company's physical address - apart from being against UK company law, I usually won't deal with a company who won't show their address - I always wonder why they won't, which makes me suspicious of their motive. Anyway, after a quick search on the Companies House website I was able to quickly find their postal address.

My letter to the offending company (the offender might, of course, have been their web design company) had the desired effect. My image was taken off and replaced with another, presumably of Rendlesham Forest - although I didn't recognise the spot... and hopefully from someone who had given them permission. Yes, of course they had. They wouldn't just "borrow" someone else's photo again, would they? Would they?