HELP!!! Copyright question.....

kirstym01

Hi everyone, I'm really sorry if this is posted in the wrong place but didn't quite know where to put this question!

Here goes.....

Back before xmas we took the children into daddys work (the xray department in the hospital) as they were having an art day, so basically the kids could take in some toys to be x-rayed and see the x-ray result of them, we were told the best pictures would be selected to go around the hospital, particularly the childrens ward to make children feel better and a bit more at ease when going in for x-rays.
We had some fantastic pictures of a very popular recent film which we were given a print of the picture as it was from our childrens toys. At time we thought it would be a brilliant idea if we could sell these pictures to the film maker as it was something different, but we didn't do anything about it and didn't tell anyone our thoughts.
Now we have just found out the guy that ran the art day is trying to get a copyright for these pictures..... can he do this? We were never told he was going to try and make money from these pictures, as far as we were concerned we were taking our children into the department for a 'fun' morning and coming away with some images for them to keep and for the hospital to keep to put up.
Please help, feeling really annoyed right now and wishing we pressed on with our original idea! would love to stop him getting a copyright on our pictures!!
Is it too late for us to get a copyright? And if not, how do we go about it?

Huge thanks in advance for anyone that can help!

iamana1ias

kirstym01 wrote: »

Hi everyone, I'm really sorry if this is posted in the wrong place but didn't quite know where to put this question!

Here goes.....

Back before xmas we took the children into daddys work (the xray department in the hospital) as they were having an art day, so basically the kids could take in some toys to be x-rayed and see the x-ray result of them, we were told the best pictures would be selected to go around the hospital, particularly the childrens ward to make children feel better and a bit more at ease when going in for x-rays.
We had some fantastic pictures of a very popular recent Disney film which we were given a print of the picture as it was from our childrens toys. At time we thought it would be a brilliant idea if we could sell these pictures to Disney as it was something different, but we didn't do anything about it and didn't tell anyone our thoughts.
Now we have just found out the guy that ran the art day is trying to get a copyright for these pictures..... can he do this? We were never told he was going to try and make money from these pictures, as far as we were concerned we were taking our children into the department for a 'fun' morning and coming away with some images for them to keep and for the hospital to keep to put up.
Please help, feeling really annoyed right now and wishing we pressed on with our original idea! would love to stop him getting a copyright on our pictures!!
Is it too late for us to get a copyright? And if not, how do we go about it?

Huge thanks in advance for anyone that can help!

The person taking the pictures has the automatic copyright. In this case I'd assume that to be the organiser rather than the radiographer. As the 'subjects' of the photo you have no rights to sell the pictures at all, nor can you 'get' copyright without the photographer/organisers' permission.

maninthestreet

You can't claim copyright on material you didn't produce/create. If the guy who ran the art day created these images, then he may well own the copyright - but who was he employed by? If he is an NHS employee, then the NHS may own the copyright.

TonyMMM

Copyright in any art work,whether it is a piece of music, writing or a painting or photo, normally stays with the person who "creates" the work unless there is some other agreement in place.

Freddie_Snowbits

AS the Hospital is Private Property, you need permission to take photos there.

From a good site regarding photography

http://www.sirimo.co.uk/category/ukpr/

Unless agreed beforehand, the copyright remains with the originator of the work.

Though I believe there may be issues if you photograph toys that maybe copyrighted elsewhere!
There maybe problems though with

maninthestreet

iamana1ias wrote: »

The person taking the pictures has the automatic copyright. In this case I'd assume that to be the organiser rather than the radiographer. As the 'subjects' of the photo you have no rights to sell the pictures at all, nor can you 'get' copyright without the photographer/organisers' permission.

You can sell copyrighted material, as long as it's the original, not a copy you have made e.g you buy a book, read it, then sell the book onto someone else.

Mark_Hewitt

kirstym01 wrote: »

Hi everyone, I'm really sorry if this is posted in the wrong place but didn't quite know where to put this question!

Here goes.....

Back before xmas we took the children into daddys work (the xray department in the hospital) as they were having an art day, so basically the kids could take in some toys to be x-rayed and see the x-ray result of them, we were told the best pictures would be selected to go around the hospital, particularly the childrens ward to make children feel better and a bit more at ease when going in for x-rays.
We had some fantastic pictures of a very popular recent Disney film which we were given a print of the picture as it was from our childrens toys. At time we thought it would be a brilliant idea if we could sell these pictures to Disney as it was something different, but we didn't do anything about it and didn't tell anyone our thoughts.
Now we have just found out the guy that ran the art day is trying to get a copyright for these pictures..... can he do this? We were never told he was going to try and make money from these pictures, as far as we were concerned we were taking our children into the department for a 'fun' morning and coming away with some images for them to keep and for the hospital to keep to put up.
Please help, feeling really annoyed right now and wishing we pressed on with our original idea! would love to stop him getting a copyright on our pictures!!
Is it too late for us to get a copyright? And if not, how do we go about it?

Huge thanks in advance for anyone that can help!

I'm not sure what the Disney pictures relevance is here? Can you explain further?

As for copyright, as others have said, the photographer always retains the copyright unless it's specifically assigned over to you. Even when prints are supplied to you, that's all your entitled to and have paid for, the photographer retains all other rights.

My Dad used to be a professional photographer, and if he was doing work such as this then the standard charge for giving up copyright was 3x the entire invoiced amount of the original job.

paddyrg

However, this is pretty moot, Disney are insanely controlling of image rights, and you owned toys not image rights, so even though the radiologist probably owns the moral rights to those images, nobody will be able to exploit them commercially with Disney, and if Disney hear of commercial exploitation they *will* come knocking for the unlicensed use of their copyright.

pulliptears

paddyrg wrote: »

However, this is pretty moot, Disney are insanely controlling of image rights, and you owned toys not image rights, so even though the radiologist probably owns the moral rights to those images, nobody will be able to exploit them commercially with Disney, and if Disney hear of commercial exploitation they *will* come knocking for the unlicensed use of their copyright.

This.

If these are images of Disney toys then Disney owns those image rights. Disney are notoriously protective (and rightly so).

Sponge

paddyrg wrote: »

However, this is pretty moot, Disney are insanely controlling of image rights, and you owned toys not image rights, so even though the radiologist probably owns the moral rights to those images, nobody will be able to exploit them commercially with Disney, and if Disney hear of commercial exploitation they *will* come knocking for the unlicensed use of their copyright.

I would be surprised if the Radiologist owned any copyright. I'd be willing to bet it was the department he works in, or simply the NHS, that owns it. He's using their equipment, in their time.

But as you say, Disney will probably have the trump card.

paddyrg

Sponge wrote: »

I would be surprised if the Radiologist owned any copyright. I'd be willing to bet it was the department he works in, or simply the NHS, that owns it. He's using their equipment, in their time.

Yep, you're probably right - but it'll come down to his contract with his employer, which we're not party to. He may still retain some moral rights unless explicitly waived. But it really is moot ;-)