Sunday, September 28, 2008

Flikr v Copyright

Flikr (www.flikr.com) allows user to share photos with others on the Web. Other similar sites exist, such as Photobucket, Shutterfly, etc. Users of these sites may not realize that the pictures they post may be subject to copyright. A photo that contains another copyrighted image within the photo could be copyright infringement.

For example, if I took a photograph of a friend standing in front of a piece of artwork, the artwork is likely under copyright. If I post my photo to a photo-sharing Website the copyright of the artwork could become an issue if the photo is shared within a large network.

Just another thing to consider when using Web 2.0....

6 comments:

Valerie D. said...

Wow, that is something that I never have even thought of before! Just imagine how many people out there unknowingly infinge on copyright laws.

Pam said...

Thank you for that information. I never considered that a copyrighted work of art or poster could not appear in a personal photograph. But that makes sense when I remember taking my children to art museums. No pictures were allowed.
Pam

Lorena said...

Oh, for goodness sake,Pam's comment makes so much sense! I always thought the no picture policy was because the flash from cameras caused light damage to the displays. Am I a little obtuse, or what?

Louie said...

The concept can even be applied to film-making. If someone is making a documentary film and there is a copyrighted work in the background (either visual or musical), without the proper rights the filmmaker would be in danger of copyright infringement. Even if it is incidentally! Thanks for bringing this topic up.

Sarah Gobe said...

The more I learn about copyright the more that I learn about how often it is violated. Personal photos need to be watched also. We really need to be careful

Steve Gallick said...

The copyright infringement that you are discussing occurs all of the time. An example that comes to mind is a music video. Sometimes, a company on a t-shirt or ballcap is blurred out because the director has not gotten permission to use those logos. Many times, logos are in full view in videos. Was the director/actor/musician granted permission? I doubt it on most occasions.