Currently, hiring photographers to take product photos, portraits, advertisements, or event photos is very common. However, after the photos are completed, many people assume that the person who paid for the photoshoot is automatically the copyright owner. In reality, this is not that simple because intellectual property law distinguishes between the author and the copyright owner. So, who is the copyright owner the photographer or the person who hired the photographer? Let’s explore this in the article below.
Are photographic works protected by copyright?
From portraits, product photos, advertisements to art photos, each photograph can have its own commercial and creative value. Therefore, many people wonder whether photographs are protected by copyright law and when this right arises.
According to Clause 1, Article 14 of the Intellectual Property Law, photographic works are one of the types of works protected by copyright law. This means that photographs created through human creativity are protected against unauthorized copying, use, or exploitation.
A photographic work is understood as a product created by recording images through a camera or similar devices. A photograph is not simply a recording of objects or phenomena, but also reflects the photographer’s creativity through the choice of camera angle, composition, lighting, color, timing, and many other artistic elements. These creative elements are the basis for copyright protection of photographic works.
According to the law, copyright for a photographic work arises from the moment the work is created and expressed in a certain physical form. This means that as soon as the photograph is stored as a digital image file, a printed photograph, or any other tangible storage method, copyright is automatically established. This protection does not depend on whether the work has been published or not, nor does it require copyright registration.
However, in practice, copyright registration for photographic works is still chosen by many individuals, photographers, and businesses. A copyright registration certificate is an important basis for owners to prove their rights in case of disputes or when they discover others using their images illegally. It also provides a favorable basis for requesting competent authorities to handle copyright infringements.
Therefore, whether it’s a portrait, product photo, advertising photo, event photo, or artistic photo, if it is created through legitimate creative activity and expressed in a certain physical form, it can be protected by copyright under the provisions of the Intellectual Property Law.
Who owns the copyright, the photographer or the person who hired them?
This is a common source of confusion in practice, as many people assume that the person who directly takes the photograph is automatically the copyright owner. However, according to the Intellectual Property Law, a clear distinction must be made between the author and the copyright owner.
The author is the person who directly creates the work. For photographic works, the person who chooses the shooting angle, composition, lighting, and timing, and directly creates the photograph, is generally considered the author. Meanwhile, the copyright owner is the individual or organization that holds the property rights to the work, including the right to copy, distribute, publish, commercially exploit, or permit others to use the work.
According to Article 39 of the Intellectual Property Law, the organization or individual that commissions or contracts with the author to create a work is the copyright owner of that work, unless the parties agree otherwise. This means that if a business hires a photographer to take product photos for advertising purposes, or an individual hires a photographer to take a series of photos under a service contract, the hiring party may be the owner of the property rights to the photos after the work is completed.
However, the hiring party becoming the copyright owner does not negate the photographer’s authorship. The photographer is still recognized as the direct creator of the work and still enjoys moral rights as stipulated by law, such as the right to have their name mentioned on the work or the right to be recognized as the author of the photograph.
In addition, Article 39 of the Intellectual Property Law also allows for other agreements between the parties regarding ownership rights. Therefore, if the contract stipulates that the copyright to the photograph remains with the photographer or that both parties jointly own the work, that agreement will take precedence. This is also why many commercial photography contracts today include very detailed clauses regarding copyright and image usage rights.
It can be seen that the photographer is not always the copyright owner, and the client does not automatically have full rights to the work. Determining who owns the copyright depends on legal regulations and, especially, the content of the agreement between the parties in the photography contract.
The above article is titled “Who owns the copyright, the photographer or the person who hired them?“. When providing photography services, the parties should have a clear agreement on ownership and scope of use of the work to minimize potential legal disputes in the future.
Sincerely,
FAQ
Yes. Although the property rights may belong to the client under the contract, the photographer is still recognized as the author of the work and enjoys moral rights as stipulated by the Intellectual Property Law, except in certain cases where the law provides otherwise.
Yes, it is. A contract is an important basis for determining the rights and obligations of the parties, including ownership of the work, scope of use of the photograph, editing rights, commercial exploitation rights, and other related content. Signing a clear contract will help minimize disputes over photographic copyright.