Discussion:
What is the name of your state? IL
I am currently a college photography student. For a final project, I used a 'piece of art' as the main focus of the photograph. I thought it turned out nice, so decided to create note cards with the photograph for friends and relatives for Christmas presents. A friend, who owns a printing company, printed them up for me, and I wrapped them in ribbon to give away. As learned in class, I added my copyright information on the back of the card to protect my work, and also added my email information for comments/criticisms on the photograph. I made no profit on these cards, only used them as gifts.
After giving these away, I realized in talking with people, that the artwork could be recognized as this 'artist's' work, and now I am concerned that, since realizing it is a copyrighted piece, I may have infringed on their copyright.
In this class, we as students used items such as glass vases, wooden jewelry boxes, musical instruments, old game boards, jewelry, and everyday items in our assignments. Some of them are definite copyrighted items. Now I am questioning whether anyone can market their work, should they decide, without worrying about copyright infringement.
Question one: Did I infringe on this artist's copyright? I did not profit, but did print my photograph with their work in card form.
Question two: Can we market such an item, and if so, what is needed for the copyrighted artwork in my photograph?
Thank you!
Answer:
In general, a photograph of a copyrighted item is considered a "reproduction." Since the right to control reproduction is one of the rights a copyright holder has, in general you would need permission from the copyright holder to take the photograph.
Now, if you were simply using the photo for your own use -- say, for your own collection, or for your class -- then the photograph would likely fall under the "fair use" exception, and you could take the photo without permission.
However, when you began reproducing the photo onto greeting cards -- even though you are not selling the cards -- you are less likely to fall under the "fair use" umbrella, and the distribution of the cards is likely infringing.
If you choose to market your work (i.e., sell it in any way), then you can forget about fair use.
In order to lawfully reproduce your photos for profit, you'll need permission from the copyright holder. The copyright holder is not necessarily the person who owns the artwork -- it's usually the person who created the artwork.
EDIT: One last thing. If the work of art was created before Jan 1, 1923, or if the work is otherwise in the public domain, then you don't need permission to photograph it or to sell the photos.
Answer:
Thank you for taking the time to respond. I was unaware at printing that it was copyrighted, and did not realize that the item would be noticed as a particular artists' work.
I would like to straighten this out, as I am concerned it would be construed as an obvious infringement on the artist's copyright, should they ever come across any of these cards.
I'm retrieving what cards I can, but may not get them all.
I am getting a good response from friends and relatives on their appearance, so I would like to contact the artist about possibly promoting these cards some how.
What penalties could be held against me, should they take this error as an actual infringement and sue me?
Again, thanks for your time.