copyright

Yet another Toronto photo rights grab

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The City of Toronto is desperate for free pictures. The city is running yet another photo-rights grab disguised as a photo contest.

The city is asking people to send in winter pictures taken in city parks, ravines and recreation centres. The latter case, taking pictures inside recreation centres, violates the city’s own code of conduct for recreation centres.

In public parks, the city’s parks people are known for harassing photographers who have “big cameras” but no photo permit. Toronto even says that news photographers need prior city permission before shooting in a public park. Yet now, Toronto has a contest asking people to do what the city tries to ban.

Just like all previous Toronto photo contests, the rules say that Toronto gets:
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Another Toronto photo contest to avoid

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A year ago, the City of Toronto ran a photo-rights-grabbing effort disguised as a photo contest. The city is now running another photo contest. Let’s take a look.

The good news is that this contest has a big statement about copyright. It says the photographer will “retain full rights and ownership of their photos.” If any use is required beyond the contest, the city will negotiate with the photographer. Perfect.

And now the bad news. The rules state that every picture submitted to the contest becomes public record. Public record => almost public domain => photographer loses some rights and ownership of their photos.

The prizes are very minimal. Who wants to win lunch with Toronto’s General Manager of Transportation Services? Who wants a City of Toronto certificate? Prizes also include a magazine subscription (a $22 value), a gift certificate that can be used to buy a magazine subscription and a t-shirt, and your name on a vanity street sign.

Certainly this contest is aimed at amateurs. But why take advantage of them like this?

Why not have prizes like: no property taxes for a year, no utility bills for a year, one-year TTC transit passes, a year’s free parking at any city-owned parking lot.

 

On your marks

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Earlier today, I received an e-mail that read:

Good morning!

I am looking for a photographer that has the equipment to remove watermarks from a school proof photo. I have a letter from lifetouch giving me permission to do so.
Is this something that your studio is able to do?
If not, are you able to refer me elsewhere?

With sincere appreciation,

(name redacted)

A school portrait business like Lifetouch or for that matter, any other type of photography business would not give permission to remove a watermark. It doesn’t make any sense.

This is like asking, “Can you shoplift a jacket for me? I have a letter from the store giving me permission to do so.”

As all professional photographers should know, it’s illegal (and here) to remove, alter, or hide, a watermark or copyright notice from a picture of which you don’t own the copyright.

As every consumer should know, the easiest way to remove a watermark from a photo is to pay for it.

 

If it’s on the Internet…

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Let’s say a photographer owns the copyright to a photo. Without any other agreement in place, if that photo was published in a newspaper, would the photographer still own the copyright to that picture? Of course they would.

What if the photo was used in a book, on a billboard or on TV? Would the photographer still own the copyright? Yes they would. The medium in which the picture is used doesn’t affect copyright. Surely this is obvious.

So why do some folks think that a picture “found” on the Internet would have no copyright?
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An Open Letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper

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As reported by The Globe and Mail (and here), CTV, Toronto Star, Macleans and others, the Canadian federal government (or probably more accurately, the Prime Minister’s Office) is planning to amend Canada’s Copyright Act so that the government can freely use any “news” content for any of its political advertising without the permission of the copyright holder(s).

“News” is in quotes because it’s only vaguely defined as being any published content that features any politician acting in their capacity as a politician or anyone who might be seeking a political position, or relates to any political issue. News content can include video, photographs, text, audio and music.

“Published” seems to be defined as being published, broadcast or otherwise made available, in any media, to the public. This includes any TV news broadcast or any other news program, news radio programs, newspapers, news periodicals, and news web sites including everyone’s favourite news site, Youtube.
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Avoid this Toronto photo contest

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The city of Toronto, the same city that bans parents from taking pictures of their kids taking part in any activity at a recreational centre or arena, has launched another of its photo rights grabs. By simply entering this contest, you’re giving the city all rights to your pictures for all eternity.

Rule 14 includes:

Entering the contest constitutes an agreement by the contestant to give a royalty-free, world-wide, perpetual, non-exclusive license to the City, and anyone it authorizes, to display, distribute, modify, crop reproduce, and create derivative works of the entries, in whole or in part, in any media now existing or subsequently developed including the Internet, for any City purpose including, but not limited to, advertising and promotion.

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Corporate art and copyright

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A recent magazine assignment had me photographing in a Toronto law firm’s office. The reception area, conference rooms and hallways looked more like an art gallery than an office. It’s become common for corporate offices to be decorated with original artwork.

When hired to shoot an executive portrait, a corporate photographer might be tempted to photograph the person in front of a piece of office artwork because it adds a point of interest. But beware of copyright issues.

(I’m not a lawyer so don’t believe anything you read here . . . )
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