copyright infringement?

A client took a photo I took for them and cut out the subject and inserted them in another background and had it printed is this a copyright infringement? thanks for any replys in advance.

Did you sell them the digital photo? If yes, did you specify it's use?

I don't know the answer, but you don't give enough details for anyone to make an educated guess.

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G-Man, D700, D300, P6000, G10
Northern, VA

Unless you gave them rights, it probably is. But how it is used will have a lot to do with whether there are any damages worth pursuing. If it was used for a full page ad for a car dealership, it's a bigger deal than if it was used as a background for a powerpoint slide.

What usage rights were they granted in your contract?

just do not copy on back of photo.No contract as I am just starting out and learning.

However, there is some possibility it might be "fair use." The copyright laws reserve certain things to the copyright owner and only the owner is allowed to do or authorize those actions. "Fair use" is a limited set of uses that another can do without permission.

The Library of Congress copyright office site has the laws and a variety of supporting information available which address these things. If you want/need to pursue this and to protect your work, you will want to register. This increases the potential damages. However, registration must occur in a timely fashion and the processes for determining damages don't offer a lot of help for small matters.

One of the advantages of using a contract, even a simplified contract, is that it offers a vehicle for telling the customer what uses have been licensed instead of leaving it to their imagination or interpretation or ignorance of the copyright laws.

If so, AD's often modify stuff. I personally don't care, as long as I get paid.
KP
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http://www.ahomls.com/photo.htm
http://www.phillipsphotographer.com

'The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it.', H. L. Mencken

bobbie176 said:

A client took a photo I took for them and cut out the subject and
inserted them in another background and had it printed is this a
copyright infringement? thanks for any replys in advance.

Click to expand...

Firstly, where are you? Copyright law varies from country to country.

Secondly, what was the nature of the agreement you had with him when you 'took the photo for them'?

Thirdly, what damage have their actions caused you? Even if your agreement prohibited what they have done, and you are in a jurisdiction where what they have done is a copyright infringement, you will only get back damages, and id the damage is small, what you get will be small.
Very probably not worth getting worried about.
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Asqeez

Photoshop User Magazine has an on-going series of articles about copyright and infringement.

One really important question is: Did you register your images? If you did, you might get serious damages, if you didn't, good luck.

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'Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera.'
Yousuf Karsh

Since you are in the USA I assume your client is and therefor US Copyright law prevails. Under the law in the absence of a specific grant of rights (from you to your client) the default is a license to use one time only if the use is publication. If the use is a display use then no publication rights were granted. If the use did not require copying the photo then no right to copy was granted.

The facts are not full enough to answer your question with any authority. However, what is clear is that you did not employ the normal safeguards that professionals use to protect their works. Your notion that you did not because you are learning is self-destructive. You have now learned that proper business practices are the basics of a good business. Foget about this one, and learn the lesson. Then do it right.

You might want to purchase a copy of the ASMP Business Practices Book or The Real Business of Photography (my book) to learn how to better conduct your business. That way you can learn by reading and not by making mistakes. Forty of fifty dollars in good reading materials about the business end will save you and make you many thousands of dollars in years to come.

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Weisgrau

http://www.weisgrau.com

Google copy right fair use, they probably have a case depending on what they used the finnal photo for.

The other question is even if it "IS" copy right infringment, what if anything can you reasonably do about it?

Also remember, its up to you to defend your copy right, not the people you sell your photos to

So how much money do you want to spend defending your copy right?