IPOS Links on Copyright - Essential for Photographers to understand their rights


Stumbled upon this link which said that the photographer is the owner...
Professional Photographers Association (Singapore) - Copyright Issues

I had read that before. I remember starting a thread about that and no one gave me any answers (within expectations). That PPAS article was supposedly written by a lawyer but I am more inclined to believe otherwise, for as far as I know, in countries like UK and Australia, copyright for personal photography also defaults to the client, only US defaults all original works to the creator. We are more similar to UK and Australia in terms of legal structure.

Ipo website and the statues is also consistent with this. Also it's better to err in the safe side.
 

Stumbled upon this link which said that the photographer is the owner...
Professional Photographers Association (Singapore) - Copyright Issues

I would suggest you read from the IPOS site. There are some errors in facts within the link. Sum it up in a nutshell - If you dependent on the default position in Singapore law, then you are short changing yourself. The issue of who own what and who has been granted the right to do what should be defined in a contractual document in writing and signed by all parties involved. This will state clearly and precisely who has the copyright, who is granted what rights and the parameters of that granting.
 

Greetings all. I don't know if I should start a thread when this is directly related t

This happened weeks ago now (DECEMBER 9) I just feel helpless.


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Few weeks back, a guy from a print agency in Pakistan emailed me asking if they can have rights to use my image for a print ad. I replied that I would need more information on this to consider. A day later, he responded saying it's alright for they have had a shoot carried out already. The whole affair was a tad suspicious but I thought nothing more of it.

Much to my dismay, an extraordinarily helpful friend from Karachi alerted me that the agency had went ahead to reshoot the photograph in all its entirety based off my concept and visuals and the ad has been printed on the leading English newspaper in Pakistan, The Dawn.

So I guess I can't do much about this? Alot of emails asking for compensantion and explanation has been shot, to all the parties involved including the bank itself but ZERO replies.
 

can you prove that your concept is unique? it can lead to a whole can of worms. if you do a quick search there are similar concepts for "beach prayer".

You can always try to take it to court, and I'm not sure of the procedure but there was this London bus case a while ago that was a little ridiculous to me.
 

can you prove that your concept is unique? it can lead to a whole can of worms. if you do a quick search there are similar concepts for "beach prayer".

You can always try to take it to court, and I'm not sure of the procedure but there was this London bus case a while ago that was a little ridiculous to me.

It is not about being unique here i feel but the blatant intention and execution to copy through the email exchange. The work has been exhibited internationally and he saw it from one of the shows and tried connecting with me.
 

It is not about being unique here i feel but the blatant intention and execution to copy through the email exchange. The work has been exhibited internationally and he saw it from one of the shows and tried connecting with me.

Like I said, you can try your luck, but I personally feel that it is not worth it. Try to look for the bank management's email and indicate what the print company has done, they might be more concerned about corporate image (but then again, who knows?).. But unfortunately I doubt there is much you can do. My classic example will be the view of Shenton Way from Esplanade.. If a company approaches you and then decides to shoot it themselves, imagine if you started claiming that there was a blatant intention and execution to copy. There would be a queue behind you and there are so many advertisements here and there that employ photographs of that view.

Then again, like I said, these days, a lot of funny things happen too. You can read up on the London bus case here - I think it's really silly given how many postcards of the London bus on the bridge employing selective color method you can find in London tourist shops, but well it's a sign of the times: http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/01/25/Imitated_Image_Copyright_Case
 

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You can go to http://stopstealingphotos.tumblr.com/ (and other similar places) put up a complaint and give them some reputation exposure.

Or you can go to Pakistan court and sue them if you think its worth it.
 

Also to understand the situation a bit more; I believe the print agency contacting you is the advertising agency who won the contract from the bank in its advertising/marketing campaign. It could also be a smaller sub contractor of a bigger film (who won the contract bid). Normally the bank puts out a tender or a request for quote from its pool of vendors and the creative directors and sales person from these respective agencies will come to the bank marketing dept to pitch their concept and plan, and quote their prices. The bank then choose. The figures can be in the thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of dollars (equivalent to Sing) depending upon the size and scale. The image idea their stole from you could be only a very small part of that whole project, or it could make up to be major part, you know don't. What we know is that getting your email to the right dept or person in the bank, could have a huge impact on their impression of the creative agency they hired, and if it affects their branding and corporate image enough, they will want to solve the problem.

Your problem is getting the right people's attention.
 

Copyright laws are just scams to make money and to create more unnecessary lawsuits. In the end, lawyers and courts are the one who benefits the most from such laws.

You can use my photographs anytime. I will be honored if you did. Do you know you can print one of Ansel Adam's negatives archive at the University of New Mexico for free? You can even sell it. That is the spirit!

This post was made almost 10 years ago. It is happening now.