(I’m writing this so I understand a little bit more about the mysterious © …cos I’m still baffled by it)
A few days ago, I received an invitation to judge for a ‘cutest’ baby contest, it received over 100 entries from all over malaysia. some are a regular mummy and daddy snap shot, others are commendable and looking to be more professional i.e. the set-up, the pose, the lighting, the selection of photos and that it was submitted in smaller jpegs then the rest is another big clue (a thumbnail for client proofing). The competition guidelines didn’t mention any conditions that entrants must hold full copyright. Maybe it doesn’t matter but I’ve submitted a few of my nature/landscape shots for comps and I need to check a button that full copyrights belong to me.
Were they allowed to enter the photos to these competitions (assuming that they didn’t take those shots)? I normally wouldn’t care but I have a hubby who loves ’subject sparring’ and this was one of the subjects we spar on quite often. ….WHO HOLDS THE COPYRIGHT???
I’m a mummy, a sci-fi addict, a vampire fan (and yes, i do believe that the vatican is harbouring vampires…thats why we don’t see them out here…they are being held safe in the vatican), an engineer and every now and then … a photographer … and copyrights is just something that i still need to get my head around. Back in the days of yonder (which wasn’t too far along really), copyrights are just a thing that I see on papers, manuals, drawings, never really need to think about what I can or cannot do with it. Afterall, I assumed that since I was being paid by a company to use some of the copyrighted products, I’ll use them to the limit of the job. Never had it ever occurred to me once that I need to be producing my own copyright terms and conditions and actually …read it!!!
Well, its not much of a problem in Malaysia, I think. Or perhaps I’m just being naive. My husband reminds me of this all the time, that I must not take things for granted. Malaysia is a very tolerant nation, in this case, copyright issues are often conveniently neglected and often assumed ‘none’, i.e. its just a cool symbol to put next to your name and it doesn’t matter what it really means. But while I still struggle to get my head around this, I’m also beginning to appreciate that little symbol with a © a little bit more.
Here’s what I gather so far:
- If you took a photo of me, does the image belong to me or you?
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