Author: Editor VCD

According to the provisions of the Intellectual Property Law of many countries around the world, the photographer will be the copyright holder of the photographic works he or she took, and the artist will be the copyright holder of the photographs or pictures drawn by them. However, for photos or paintings of people, does the model appearing in the photo/painting have any rights to that painting or photo? Please follow VCD’s article below for more detailed information.

1. What are image rights?

An individual’s image right is an individual’s moral right. Therefore, when using anyone’s image, you must have that person’s permission and consent. This right is specifically stipulated in Clause 1, Article 32 of the 2015 Civil Code as follows:

• Individuals have the right to their image. The use of an individual’s image must be approved by that person.

• Using another person’s image for commercial purposes requires compensation to the person with the image unless otherwise agreed by the parties.

Therefore, if arbitrarily using a personal image, the person with the image has the right to request the Court to issue a decision forcing the violator and other relevant agencies, organizations, and individuals to recover, destroy, terminate the use of images, compensate for damages and apply other remedies according to the provisions of law.

The photo or painting model also has image rights to the painting/photograph in which they are present. However, if the author of the photo/painting has given consent to use the model’s image, the model does not have ownership rights to this photo/painting.

2. The model’s rights to the painting/photograph containing their face

A photo or painting can create a copyright conflict between the person being photographed and the photographer or artist. Both sides have reliable and solid arguments about why they have the right to the photo or painting, one side is the creator, and the other side is the main object of that painting.

The answer to who the copyright belongs to will depend on whether the individual’s image has been approved by that person or not, and whether the modeler has been compensated or not.

An artist spends hours drawing a professional poser hired to pose, standing still for hours on end. In this case, the rights to the resulting painting will belong to the artist, not the subject of the painting.

Likewise, the rights to the photo will belong to the photographer and not the person being photographed. However, whether the photographer has the right to take photos of the person being photographed is another matter. If a picture is drawn or taken without the permission of the subject being photographed, it can lead to lawsuits from the person being photographed or drawn because their privacy has been violated or their honor has been violated (if any)…

Accordingly, the rights to the photographs/paintings belong to the photographer/artist in the absence of any other conflict of nature. If the subject being photographed uses the photo without permission, they have violated the photographer’s copyright.

Above is the article “Does the model of a painting/photograph have rights to the painting or photo that includes them?“. We hope this article is useful to you.

Thanks to the internet, today we can easily access extremely rich and diverse image data sources. However, arbitrarily downloading what you want from the website and using it whenever you like is not recommended. The copyright owner still holds the copyright rights, unless otherwise provided by law. Therefore, if you use an image in your design work without permission, the owner can take legal action against you. Therefore, we invite readers to read this article about Notes when downloading images from free websites VCD websites.

1. Some general issues about image copyright

Currently, image copyright infringement is quite common, affecting the lives of the image owners. Image copyright law was issued with the role of protecting copyright for image owners, prohibiting and strictly handling acts of image copyright infringement.

According to the provisions of Article 14 of the Intellectual Property Law on types of works, “Photographic works” are protected by copyright. In particular, photographic works are prescribed in Article 14 of Decree 22/2018/ND-CP as a work that represents an objective image of the world on a light-catching material or on a medium on which the image is created, or can be created by chemical, electronic or other technical methods. Photographic works may or may not be captioned. Protected photographic works must be directly created by the person using his or her intellectual labor.

Therefore, image copyright can be briefly understood as the right to own and use an image of an individual or organization created by them for commercial or non-commercial purposes. All other organizations and individuals who use copyrighted images without the owner’s permission are violating image copyright.

2. Is downloading photos from free sites safe?

Many websites allow you to download photos for free without requiring the image to be copyrighted when used. However, using these free images has many risks because the website is often not the copyright owner. Those websites only distribute the content and are not legally responsible.

These free websites will always say that they will not compensate and are not responsible for any legal claims. Therefore, you need to be careful when using an image that is not created by you. Especially, if the image you use is for commercial purposes, you must carefully check the origin.

In addition, there is also the act of “copyright fraud”. Specifically, unconscious people will post their images on free-sharing websites. They will wait for others to download it, then delete it. Ultimately, these scammers will claim their image copyright has been violated.

3. Be careful when downloading images from free websites

After all, if the image is hosted in the Public Domain or under a Creative Commons license, you can use that image. If you do not fall into the above two cases, downloading images for use (personal or commercial purposes) is considered illegal. Even if you crop and edit the photo, you are still breaking the law.

In addition, there are software like Adobe Stock that provide millions of royalty-free images, videos, illustrations, and 3D products… that you can use in your projects. However, there are always some legal issues that you need to be aware of. It is always best to read the supplier’s terms and conditions carefully. That way you can avoid future risks.

However, determining the origin of an image as well as distinguishing between license types is very complicated. Therefore, users should buy copyrighted images from image supply sites to avoid headaches.

Above is the article “Notes when downloading images from free websites“. We hope this article is useful to you.

In the age of technology, online business and sales have taken place vibrantly and become a strong trend in the past few years. Many stores have invested time and effort to take photos and videos of products to advertise and provide customers with the most realistic images of the products. However, online advertising using images cannot avoid the risk of copyright infringement. Many online stores use other people’s images for their own business, affecting the reputation of the copied brand, as well as confusing customers.

1. Images are subject to copyright protection

Images are subject to copyright protection under Article 14 of the Intellectual Property Law under the name of photographic works. Article 14 of Decree No. 22/2018/ND-CP dated February 23, 2018, specifically stipulates as follows:

“Photographic works specified in this Article are works that represent objective images of the world on light-catching materials or on media where images are created or can be created by chemical or electronic methods. or other technical methods. Photographic works may or may not have captions.

The fact that brands and stores invest money, facilities, time, and effort to take product photos to advertise their products or brands means that the brand or store is the owner. of the photographs created and is the holder of copyright property rights. If others want to use their photos, they must get permission from that brand or store and pay royalties and other material benefits (if any) to them (According to the provisions of Article 20 (2) Intellectual Property Law), unless the parties agree otherwise.

From the above analysis, it can be seen that the act of taking photos of those brands and stores without permission or payment to use for business purposes is an act of copyright infringement.

2. How will image copyright infringement in online business be handled?

Using images in online business helps increase brand recognition and easily reach consumers widely and effectively. Many brands and stores have invested heavily in creating unique, impressive, and attention-grabbing images to promote their products and brands. However, many other online sellers copy that image and use it for their business purposes, deleting the original brand name and inserting their brand name. These people even have more sales interactions than the original brand.

The above action is an infringement of the copyright owner’s right to copy the work. According to Article 18 of Decree 131/2013/ND-CP, this behavior will be punished as follows:

“1. Fine from 15,000,000 VND to 35,000,000 VND for copying works without the permission of the copyright owner.

2. Remedial measures:

Forced removal of copies of infringing works in electronic form, on the network and digital environment or forced destruction of infringing material evidence for acts specified in Clause 1 of this Article.”

In addition, the act of cropping images and deleting the original brand name is also considered an infringement of the copyright owner’s right to create derivative works. According to Article 12 of Decree 131/2013/ND-CP, this behavior will be punished as follows:

“1. Fine from 5,000,000 VND to 10,000,000 VND for acts of creating derivative works without the permission of the copyright owner.

2. Remedial measures:

Forced removal of copies of infringing works in electronic form, on the network and digital environment for acts specified in Clause 1 of this Article.”

Above is the article “The issue of image copyright infringement in online business“. We hope this article is useful to you.

Texting in today’s digital age is sometimes even more popular than calling. In addition to regular texting, texters often use emoticons (emoji) or stickers when texting with others, relatives, or friends. Sometimes words and stickers cannot fully express the feelings that the sender wants to convey, then “memes” are born. Memes can be created by users from their photos or using images from the internet or other people’s photos, so is using photos from other sources to make memes considered copyright infringement? Please read VCD’s “Is making meme photos considered copyright infringement?” following article for more detailed information.

1. Meme – A new term for young individuals

“Meme” is a broad term, including many images, videos, texts, or online content, which is often humorous and light-hearted, so it is often shared a lot on social networking sites. Memes are jokes based on irony, satire, or parody and often use different images or videos (such as GIFs) from various media available on the internet.

Regardless of their status, these memes are still shown in lovely, cute images and are not offensive images. Because of the cute images, these memes both express the sender’s emotions and show a unique sense of fun in the conversation.

The majority of memes on the Internet are spread by teenagers and young adults. This is because these two age groups like to convey messages, and also enjoy the mischief of memes. However, the average age of those participating in spreading memes has also increased, especially as users in their 40s discovered the humor of sending popular memes to their friends.

2. Intellectual property rights and memes

Meme culture is still out of coverage in the field of intellectual property rights protection in Vietnam. However, as with all other types of works, copyright automatically arises upon the creation of a newly created meme when the meme content is an original work of authorship, with a minimal degree of creativity. and is fixed in tangible expression. Copyright law gives the original creators of the meme or the owners of the media channels using the meme the exclusive rights to copy, modify, distribute, post, and use the meme. Therefore, making a meme from someone else’s photo can sometimes constitute a copyright violation in Article 28 of the IP law on infringement of the author’s moral rights “Protecting the integrity of the work from revealing it to others distorted; do not allow others to modify or mutilate the work in any form that harms the author’s honor and reputation” when there is an act of modifying the original work, then using, sharing, or copying it. Copy to repost multiple times.

In addition, businesses today often use memes as a marketing tool to attract customers’ attention and catch the trend of young people. When a meme is used for commercial purposes, the legal owner of the meme can obtain trademark rights.

3. Is making meme images considered copyright infringement?

In general, making and sharing memes online is considered safe and unlikely to be used. However, when memes are used for commercial purposes (such as printing memes on clothes and selling them) without the permission or license of the rightful owner, such activity will be considered illegal in copyright infringement. Regulations in Article 28 of the Intellectual Property Law on infringement of property rights are specified in Article 20 of the Intellectual Property Law.

“Distributing, importing for distribution to the public through sale or another form of transfer of ownership of originals or copies of works in tangible form”.

All in all, if you are making and sharing memes on social media or other platforms on the Internet, IP infringement is not a concern. However, any attempt to monetize a meme owned by someone else could result in legal action by the copyright or trademark owner. Therefore, the first thing to consider is the verification of ownership and intellectual property rights, such as licensing agreements when choosing non-original content for commercial use, advertising, or making derivative works.

Above is the article “Is making meme photos considered copyright infringement?”. We hope this article is useful to you.

A picture could be inspired by photographic works. However, is using another person’s existing photography work as a model for a painting considered a violation of copyright? We would like to explain this issue below.

1. The nature of drawing or recreating paintings from photographic works

In this day and age, taking photos is no longer difficult because almost everyone owns a smartphone that can take photos and easily upload them online. For artists and painters, photos are a very rich, useful, and valuable source of information, because photos can record samples quickly, conveniently, meticulously, and accurately to every detail, especially fast-moving objects such as animals, vehicles, or objects that change over time, and the ability to depict light as close to reality as possible. Therefore, it is not difficult to see artists using photos as documents or models to copy into paintings today.

However, before copying sample photos into paintings, artists need to pay attention to some provisions of intellectual property law related to photographic works. Because, from the perspective of intellectual property, copying a photographic work into a painting is considered a derivative work and this work must be approved by the author of the photographic work. This is explained as follows:

• According to the provisions of Article 14 (1) (h) of the Intellectual Property Law, photographic works are a type of work protected by copyright. To better explain photographic works, Decree 22/2018/ND-CP stipulates in Article 14 as follows: “Photographic works specified in Article 14 (1) (h) of the Intellectual Property Law are a work that represents an objective image of the world on a light-emitting material or on the medium on which the image is created, or can be created by chemical, electronic or other technical methods. Photographic works may or may not be captioned.”

• A derivative work is a work created based on one or more existing works through translation from one language to another, adaptation, compilation, annotation, selection, adaptation, adaptation of music, and other adaptations (Article 4, Clause 8 of the Intellectual Property Law). Therefore, the adaptation of an image from a work of photography into a work of fine art of painting or graphic art is the performance of a derivative work.

• The right to create derivative works is one of the property rights of the author and copyright owner as stipulated in Article 20 of the Intellectual Property Law. Authors and copyright owners have the exclusive right to exercise or allow other organizations and individuals to exercise this right. Accordingly, organizations and individuals who want to make derivative works must obtain permission from the copyright owner and pay royalties and other material benefits (if any) to the copyright owner. author.

2. Is drawing or re-graphing pictures from someone else’s photography work considered a violation of copyright?

It can be seen that drawing or re-graphing pictures from another person’s photography work is considered copyright infringement if the person doing it does not ask permission from the author of the photography work or does not pay copyright to the author. author, copyright owner.

Specifically, according to Article 28, Clause 2 of the Intellectual Property Law, an action is considered to infringe copyright if it infringes on property rights belonging to the copyright, including the right to make derivative works.

According to Article 12 of Decree 131/2013/ND-CP stipulating penalties for administrative violations of copyright and related rights, people who commit acts of infringing the right to make derivative works will be handled as follows:

“1. Fine from 5,000,000 VND to 10,000,000 VND for acts of creating derivative works without the permission of the copyright owner.

2. Remedial measures: Forced removal of copies of infringing works in electronic form, on the network and digital environment for the acts specified in Clause 1 of this Article.”

For the above reasons, artists and illustrators should note that if they want to use photos as models to copy, draw, or draw graphics into paintings, they must ask permission and pay copyright penalties to the author and owner copyright of that photo.

Above is the article “Is making a painting or an illustration from photographic work considered copyright infringement?“. We hope this article is useful to you.