International Modeling - Copyright & Ownership
International Modeling - Copyright & Ownership
Anything you see on this site is copyrighted and should only be used by permission. Most of the time people write us about using a graphic, an image, etc, on their site and we refuse, but we will make certain rare exceptions depending on how it is to be used and how we are credited for it. If you just want it to decorate your site then our answer will be no.What are the copyright laws?
This varies from country to country, but copyright laws protect the intellectual property of its creator. Examples of this are patents, copyrights, trademarks, logos and registered names.
The holder of a copyright is the owner and he/she can sell, license, lease or simply keep it just as personal property. These laws have international weight too by those countries that sign trade and intellectual property rights agreements. Examples of this are; EC=European Community, and NAFTA=North American Free Trade Agreement.
How does that work in a model/photographer situation? First of all, everything should be done by contract. When a photographer takes a photo of a model the photographer holds the copyright for his work in taking the photograph. The image of the model puts a 'bind' on what the photographer can do with that photograph. The same is true for the model - he/she cannot do anything with the photograph without the photographer's permission.
So then what is the good of the photograph if two people have rights to it? Well that is where the contract comes in. If the photographer wants full rights to sell, distribute, advertise the photo as he/she pleases then the photographer has to get the model to sign a 'release'. The opposite is true for the model too... The model will have to get a signed 'release' from the photographer if that model wants to use the photo exclusively. Verbal word is not good enough as people 'change' their minds later.Check with your local authorities to see what the procedures and laws are that govern intellectual property. The above was written in general and does not refer to any one rule of law for a particular country.One model recently wrote to us about finding scams and pointed out that the hard point of trying to deal with these issues is having to face counter suits. This is why there are agencies that can follow up with this without necessarily involving you.
To Catch A [Website] Thief... NOTE: This article is a bit long but I feel it is not only worth reading but NEEDS to be read. At both of our web sites recently we have had a daily rash of theft. The worst case was discovered just a few days ago and has been dealt with promptly. This person(S) took off with our entire Christmas area (Yes, graphics and all) which is over 300 pages in size! He/she did not just take text and graphics; it was the whole HTML code of the page. He/she then placed them online as their own --stating so by removing "Personality Creations" From the page header and adding their own in its place. He/she also removed the site navigation table and my Human Click icon with my face on it. We caught this person(S) immediately due to several mistakes made on his/her part. On the other site the story is more serious to a business owner. How can it be more serious than taking 300 pages? Because they are taking your money when they copy the content from a business site. The business owner will chase that thief to the ends of the Earth and back, and rightfully so. What are we talking about here? Copyright infringement! I have found that a vast amount of you do not know the answers to these questions. Neither did I for quite some time. Copyright laws are like the IRS (Internal Revenue Service,) ignorance is no excuse. So read on...
What is copyrighted? Your content is covered the moment it is written or created. This is the words you write, images and any other item that you create yourself, including how you display them. What you did not create yourself, you cannot claim copyright to. [By The Way], as I write this article I am watching someone copying many of our Christmas stories. Correction; they took our Christmas stories and those of the writers who gave us permission to post their copyrighted stories on our site. This person left the site with 13 stories in less than nine (9) minutes--this includes load time for each page! I know I can't read that fast, can you? Many web sites now have programs in place, as I do, that help them not only help their visitors when needed but also help us watch what's happening with our content. Others also rely on other means of finding what belongs to them. I cannot stress this enough, ALWAYS ASK and NEVER TAKE without first getting PERMISSION!
OK, so how do I protect my site? I didn't know the answer to this question myself until a short while ago. For a quick free response I went to All Experts.com and contacted one of their excellent legal volunteers Laura Moran. I told her my story and this is what she said: "As a first step, please take the time to register your copyright with the Library of Congress. It's really not that time consuming, only costs $30 and it's the only way you could ever sue" (Not that this will come down to a suit, but its required to make one, and it takes a while). Read about registering your copyright here:
Source 3 and then follow the links to the LOC where you can download the forms to do the registration. If you don't know that much about copyright law, you can read this too, so you feel more comfortable about what your rights are:
Source 2 And if you find someone infringing on your copyright she also says: "Generally what one does is write them a demand letter telling them they are infringing on your rights and telling them to cease and desist of the infringing activities. If they stop, you should just let it drop from there." OK, so you want to know how I caught the Christmas thief? It was very simple! But first I have to state that I am in no way affiliated with this service - it's just a great product! It has its limitations and kinks but doesn't everything? As I said in the first paragraph; I have Human Click (Humanclick.com) in place on my pages. Check Our Special!If they had ASKED to mirror my site I would have said yes, provided they left my copyright info and a link to my main page intact. My web host and I contacted theirs and the pages are now gone to make that story short. The Internet is growing in massive numbers also with it are the number of new webmasters who want to create their own pages. Unless informed, much of that content could be yours! Will you be competing with your own content? On the other end, If you are taking content without permission, you are risking your reputation, web site, ISP(Internet Service Provider), being fined and or imprisoned.
WebProNews November 2nd, 2000 'Issue To Catch A [Website] Thief...' Source 9 An iEntry Network Newsletter - and is used by permission from Pete, the Editor at: Pete-WebProNews.com The text was originally written by Jackie Capps of Personality Creations and All Letters.com --