Naturalistic Photography for Students of the Art.

by P. H. Emerson

The “author” of a photograph seems to be the person who actually groups the sitters, and “is the effective cause of the picture.” An agreement is made with operators to obviate this reading of the law. “A photograph taken from an engraving is ‘an original photograph’ within the section.” Thus a photographer cannot copy the photograph of an engraving in which there exists copyright.

The nature of the right.

The copyright given by the act is “the sole and exclusive right of copying, engraving, reproducing, and multiplying the photograph and the negative thereof, by any means or of any size. The fact that there is copyright in a representation of a scene or object does not prevent other people making an independent representation of such scene or object, but a photograph of groups so arranged as to exactly resemble a picture would be an infringement of the copyright of the picture, for if in the result that which is copied be an imitation of the picture, then it is immaterial whether it be arrived at directly or by intermediate steps.” Photographers should pay great heed to this clause. For if a photograph or photogravure be so arranged or grouped as to resemble another already copyrighted, the law has been infringed. This is a most wholesome fact, for the veriest fool can go and arrange a picture after an artist has once shown him how to do it, for as in all art the originality is to select a beautiful scene in nature, there lies the difficulty.

Registration.

The photograph is not protected until it has been registered, and if the picture is pirated before registration there is no remedy except in special cases.

Photographers should then register the first print they take from their negatives. Making lantern-slides from copyrighted photographs or photo-etchings is of course an infringement of the law, and should be severely dealt with.

Replicas.

“If a picture or photograph is painted or taken on commission as the copyright (unless reserved) is in the hands of the purchaser, the painter or photographer may not paint or produce a replica.”

Remedies for infringement.

Penalties. “For each offence the offender forfeits to the proprietor of the copyright, for the time being, a sum not exceeding 10l. When several copies are sold together, the sale of each copy constitutes a separate offence.” It will be seen that a photographer could be ruined if a sale of say 1000 copies could be proved, and serve him right too.