Trying to understand ownership of photos, and hoping someone can explain it to me. Is the owner of photographs the person who takes the photograph? If you use the photograph on your web site without permission (or at least give credit to the person who has taken the picture) are you in violation of Copyright?

In the US the photographer is the owner of the copyright. Canada's copyright laws might be different.

I am guessing you used images without the proper permission from the photographer. Only a big deal if he registered the images before publication with the US Copyright office. If the photographer did you could be liable for a monetary penalty to the photographer.

If the photographer did not register the images he would have to prove actual damages. Most likely the photographer did not register the images. 99.9% of Pro Photographers do not.

If you have photos used without permission I would take them down or come up with an mutual agreement with the photographer and get permission.

I make my living as a Pro Photographer. I do not photograph show dogs but I have been in court protecting my copyright against illegal usage (and won).

Professional photographers own the image. If you use it without permission on your website, facebook page, or advertisement that is copyright infringement- even if you give them credit or the photo clearly says proof. This is a big problem in the equine world and many photographers are taking a stand. I know of some who will contact you and have you take it down and then refuse to photograph you in the future. The usage fee on digital images is usually minimal so it is always the best bet to contact them and purchase the use of the image. :)

Thank you.. No it is not something I have done, I was informed that someone is using photo's that I have taken. I would not have minded if they had asked and given me credit for taking them. I also do not want them sold or freely given for public use. From what I have been told they are basially promoting them as their photos.

I am not guessing. I had licensed images I took to a national restaurant chain for 3 years. When the time came due they renewed the license for one more year. Then when that year was over they declined to license the images. The problem was they continued to use them. I offered them the same deal as before, they refused, I sued.

Since my images were registered with the US copyright office, when their bean counters got all the facts they paid me 3x what I originally asked for.

The OP posted they took the photo and the person did not give them credit or asked for permission. Though she might own the copyright and has legal ground to stand on, logically the only thing that can be done is request credit or money or take the photos down. Suing would be a waste of time unless someone was using the photos for monetary gain and you can show actual damages in court. An example of damages would be if you took a photo of a dog and Coca Cola used that photo for a National Ad. That would be infringement and you would have a case. A friend using your photo on their website without permission, actual damage..... not much.

OP.my advice is to give the Infringer a call and work it out. If they refuse and continue to use the photo, at least on the web, you can call their Web Host and let them know and they will take the website down. You can look up the WHOIS info on the web and see who the host is.

I am sure there is copyright info on the web if you search. In my business where I take and license images for commercial use, we are well aware of the copyright laws in the US.

I once gave permission to someone to use the photographs I had taken. She put them on her website, okay, but never mentioned me...in fact gave photo credit to someone else!!!

I would only use someone who says, you ask me to take photos, you paid for the photo's. They are now yours. Do with as you like. Hey, they have your dogs in the picture, right ?

Call me an idiot, but anytime a friend asks me to take a picture of her dogs and I do so, I don't charge them, and I don't care if they use the picture.

Who cares if you're just an amateur photographer? No one cares who took the photo!

Now if you're a pro and charging, that's a different story.

"Who cares if you're just an amateur photographer? No one cares who took the photo!"

Who cares? I do. What it really comes down to is manners and common courtesy. Putting pictures up on a website is world wide publication. It does not matter if I am a amateur or a pro, it is my artwork...amateurs win photo contest and sell photos, cute photo's are used in calendars, cups, tee shirts and so on. Putting a photo up on a website and not giving the photographer credit is misrepresentation. The photos were taken here at my home and were recognizable enough by someone to contact me to let me know they were being used. It's easy enough to email someone and say "I like this picture you took, can I use it on my website?" and easy enough to put near the picture "Photo courtesy of__" or "photo taken by __".

BTW....I may be having some of my photographs published in a book and the author had me sign a statement that I was giving my permission for them to be used. I was told credit would be printed under the photo.

Non-commercial use. To me this is to mean the photos I took will not be sold and have money made off of them. I only grant this copyright to my clients. They are free to share their photos with their friends and use them on their websites or facebook, etc. I sign my photos, but discreetly. I get paid for taking the photos, I really don't care who uses them and for what purpose other than to make money off of the actual photo. I also don't care if people give me credit or not. My job is to take a great photo of their dog. If they make money off stud fees or sell puppies from it, I did my job. For web images, my clients get a low resolution file. Most of my work is of this type. None of these types of files are suitable for reproduction, so no issue there.

I also sell my photos to publishers and am paid well for it. I do sign a use form with them giving them permission to use the photos for a specific purpose. I do not sign these photos. However, if it is in a print media (book, calendar), I am usually given photo credit.

There is another side to the photography debate as well. This is the subject. If the subject is of someone's recognized property including dogs, you may not use that photo without first obtaining a model/property release form from the owner of the dog. So even though the photographer may own the copyright, if someone else owns the dog and you want to sell that photo, you must first obtain permission from the owner.

I do seriously think that some photographers have too large of an ego, get greedy and have control issues. I guess my greatest satisfaction is getting a good shot and knowing that others like it. I do not concern myself with the petty stuff. The internet is very hard to control who uses what.

It would seem that you are now aware of your options from a legal standpoint. It's up to you to establish your expectations when you take photos and make them known to the people to whom you give them.

Last weekend, I found one of my photos used in the catalogue of a big dog show by one of the committee members. It would have been nice to have been given credit, but it was still gratifying to see it chosen. Every year, I make the calendar for our training club using photos taken of members' dogs. The club pays for the printing and sells the calendars at a small profit - it's a contribution and I enjoy every minute. There has never been any charge: my ego gets the privilege of their appreciation.

However, in one instance, I was really taken aback. At a show, my husband and some friends were looking at new photos I'd taken when a well known judge came up to ask if she could have high resolution copies for her new book. Sold on Amazon, the hard cover book is written by two retriever breeder-judges and comprises 200 photos of retrievers. The only two full page photos with no text in the entire book are mine and, yes, credit has been given.... to my husband!!!