PHOTOGRAPHY - COPYRIGHT

Many of the photographers are unaware of the copyright of their images and those who are aware may not be serious about their hard efforts in clicking the images which come under their copyright....please note that the owner of the copyright has the unquestioned right to do several acts with regard to his/her created works....This right is the exclusive one ensured in section 14 of the 1957 Act.

Nature of the aforesaid exclusive right or rights varies according to the type of work or works. Grouping of the said works run as under:
Copyright dwells in literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works. It is also found in a cinematograph film and in the case of a record, CD, DVD etc.

A photograph - good,bad, or otherwise - falls into the group in an artistic work. The exclusive rights afforded to the owner under the 1957 Act go as follows:

1. to reproduce the work in any material form;
2. to publish the work;
3. to include the work in any cinematograph film (not to mix cinematograph film and photograph - both are different -and here we concentrate on photographs taken by still cameras and handicams.)
4. to make any adaption of work;
5. to do in relation to an adaptation of the work.-any of the acts specified in relation to the work in sl.no. 1 to 3 above.....besides this copyright is a statutory right. It is an intellectual property right. And offence against it can be set right under the Act and its provisions.

It is obvious that such a right vests in someone and that someone is classified as the owner of such right. AS far as photography is concerned Section 02(d)(iv) states that in relation to a photograph, the person taking the photograph, ''remains its author''.

If a photograph taken in a studio of a client of the photographer, though the client has paid the charges, he cannot claim to handover the film or CD to him by the photographer, unless he had a contract in writing with the photographer about his/her photographs...The copyright vests into the photographer.