Copyright question

[GNdome55]

I have a quick question about posting photos on the forum. Are we infringing on any copyrights by posting reference photos from say, Rails.net or someone’s personal photos on photobucket? Like many of you I have been gathering reference photos for work on my route. I know that in this day and age on the Internet, people tend to ignore copyrights whether stated or unstated. I just want to be clear on this before I end up posting someone’s Arizona vacation photos on this forum. I did read the code of conduct but I’m just not sure about this.
Gordon

 

[airtime]

Hello Gordon,

I am not too sure about the copyright issues over the internet as it is a bit of a minefield in various country's, however, with regards to internet photo's, If they are not mine, I will post the photo, and underneath the photo, I mention with thanks to the author and then mention the authors name, and I also promote the website where I got the picture from by listing it, underneath the photo. This I believe is just courtesy to the original creator of the photograph.

Hopefully another one of our forum friends may be able to post further information below, which might help you more.

Hope the above helps

Joe Airtime

 

[BLACKWATCH]

I would just state the theme of the pics, plus an explanation as to the relevence, then give a
link to the site the pics are on. That way no copyright is broken & the owner gets the credit of a
visit for their site.

 

[GNdome55]

Thanks airtime and BLACKWATCH. That seems simple enough and is the right thing to do. When I do image searches for my route, more often than not the images come from rail fan related sites. Sometimes when I search for specific terrain photos I end up with what are probably people’s photos from their travels through the southwest United States. Unfortunately I usually grab the reference photo I’m interested in without paying attention to where it came from. I was going to put up some shots of some rock details from the Painted Desert in Arizona. I’ll go back and get the info to give credit. On a side note, I took tons of photos when I lived in Arizona back in the ‘90s. After several moves I’ve lost or thrown most out. It’s too bad that was in pre-digital camera days. Now it’s so easy to store and categorize photos without taking up a lot of space.
Gordon

 

[Red_Rattler]

If they are not mine, I will post the photo, and underneath the photo, I mention with thanks to the author and then mention the authors name

In this case, you still need the authors permission, unless they state otherwise. Stating the authors name makes people think that that author(s) have given permission for you to post their photo.

For several reasons (of which I won't go into) I will usually not grant permission.

 

[airtime]

Hello Red Rattler, I do agree with what you say, as these are my thoughts entirely, as I find it common courtesy and good manners to seek permission.

However I did encounter this a few times when I worked in the media industry, were the author was either unavailable, un-contactable or deceased.

In all the media places that I worked, I was informed that if an item, logo or picture was placed onto the internet, then it can be used in other places, either in print form or on another website, as long as reference and thanks were given to the original creator of the item, along with information of where the original item came from, this is how the media industry get around a lot of copyright loopholes, using the freedom of information act, stating that if an item was or is placed onto the internet, it it is then shared with the world freely and is available for public access to use or view at anytime.

Hope this helps

Joe Airtime