Quote:
Originally Posted by cariadferch
Doesn't this also apply to any form or artwork, not just photographs?
I have wondered about this too. If strictly enforced I would guess 95% of pics on here are illegal if they require direct approval. I confess I have pictures on here that are probably not proper (though not taken from private sites, like facebook).
Can you post/link to a picture you simply like? I know there is much debate about how to update national and international copy-right laws and public domain issues, but I don't know the details.
|
This applies to all artwort.
After certain time spans the copyright ends and the work will enter into the public domain and can be used by everyone for every purpose (even commerically). There are some variation and I'm not sure which law applies, that of the country you live in or that of the country where the artwork is used (e.g. the place where the web servers are)? Or the country the author lived in? Or the country where it was first published? I'm not so sure.
Often the artwort is protected for the life time of the author(s)/creators(s) +75 or 90 years. The individual who lived longest is the reference if more than 1 person created the work. And often the copyright endures a bit longer until, in concrete until 1st January of the following year. Example: the work is published 1940. The author dies on 3rd Mar 1942. The work is protected for 75 years, so it should become public domain on 4th Mar 2017. But in fact you have to wait until 1st Jan 2018 until it's free to use. Details depend on the country's copyright law of course.
Well, the avatar I use is for example long in the public domain. Google for example by the author's name "Hokusai" to get more of his paintings, that are all in public domain.
You could use Google's advanced photo search or other sites' (like Flickr...) to filter for usage terms. In theory you could use artwork licensed under creative commons terms for avatars, but usually you either need to cite a source or give the name of the author somewhere (luckily it's often sufficient if this information is stored in the image meta data).
And by the way if someone photographs a painting which is in public domain, the photo itself can be protected again. Unless it is made in a trivial way. That means if it's a simple photo, showing only the painting, with usual exposure than everything's fine. But if the painting is part of a still life, maybe with some object in front, the photo is a new work of art and therefore protected, so you cannot use it freely. Or if the painting is illuminated with a strange coloured light, or extensive photo editing is done, and so on, then it's protected too.
So in summary if you use photos or scans of paintings of long dead artists that show nothing but the painting in a clear way you can use it.
Best is always if you make photos yourself. But maybe remove your name from the meta data before uploading it, if you want to stay anonymous, and if your camera stores that in your photo. Mobile phone cameras could potentially include personal information in the photo meta data.