Copyright for Photography

Broadly speaking, creators have two types of rights: Economic Rights and Moral Rights. 

Economic rights protect the creator's right to benefit financially from their work.

Creators can assign (permanently) or license (temporarily) their economic rights to another party. They can also waive (give up) these rights all together. The terms of these arrangements are usually set out in legally-binding contracts. 

Moral rights protect the creator's reputation.

Creators cannot assign or license their moral rights to another party, but they can choose to waive these rights. 

There are three aspects to moral rights: 

1. Attribution protects the creator's right to be credited for their work 
2. Association protects the creator's right to not have their work associated with a particular product or cause (for example, an ad for a political party)
3. Integrity protects against damages to the creator's reputation

In Canada, moral rights apply to all works. In the United States, only visual artists have moral rights. 

In the 1980s, Eaton Centre Mall in Toronto commissioned artist Michael Snow to create an installation of 60 Canada geese in flight.

During one holiday season, mall administration tied red bows around the birds' necks. Snow sued Eaton Centre for damage to his reputation as an artist (Integrity) and won.

The creator is usually the first owner of copyright.

However, employers often hold copyright in images taken during the course of regular employment (for example, Langara owns copyright in images captured by its staff photographer in the Communications & Marketing Department). When in doubt, review the terms of your contract. And remember that contracts are negotiable!

Copyright collective societies are non-profit organizations that arrange licenses and collect royalties on behalf of creators within a particular field. There are 38 copyright collectives in Canada. Copyright Visual Arts represents visual and media artists.