Know Your Photography Rights and Laws

There is often a misunderstanding of the rights and laws for photographers so here’s a quick breakdown for you.

1. In the UK you automatically have copyright of any photograph you take and no need to apply or pay a fee.

2. Except if you are hired to take photographs then the copyright falls to the employer unless an agreement/contract states otherwise.

3. Copyright in the UK lasts for 70 years after the photographer’s death.

4. For an infringement of copyright a substantial part of the image must be copied, not all.

5. UK Copyright is acknowledged as copyright in 169 UN member states including the US and Europe.

6. You can take a photograph while on public land of anyone regardless of their age or consent.

7. Except if privacy is expected. So for instance, public toilets on public land you can’t go in there and claim it’s “for arts sake”.

8. You can take photos of someone/something on private land if you are on public land. This basically means you can take photos of anyones company building as long as you are on public land. Also, you can take pictures of someone sat in their lounge as long as you’re on public land – go figure.

9. Except if it’s somewhere they expect privacy, such as a bathroom.

10. On private land, the owner makes the rules. They can say whether or not you can take photos even if it’s an arena, cafe or swimming baths.

11. You can photograph the police and any incident and the police can’t stop you.

12. Police officers have the power to stop and search anyone who they reasonably suspect to be a terrorist under Section 43 of the Terrorism Act.

13. Police officers can not delete or destroy images in the process of a search only if there is a court order.

14. There’s only two public places in the UK you can’t photograph or film at for commercial purposes and they are Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square. (Without written permission)

Please remember these are the rights and laws within the UK, they may differ elsewhere.
What are your thoughts? Think this is fair?

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