Copyright, rights management and digital images

Copyright is a legal term that describes the rights given to people who create certain categories of work. It applies to all sorts of written and recorded materials:

• software 
• drawings
• photographs
• music
• original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works
• sound recordings, 
• films
• broadcasts, cable programmes
• the typographical arrangement of published editions
• computer programmes
• original databases

If something has the © logo together with the name of the author and the year of first publication (e.g. © Walt Disney 1998), then it is definitely copyright.   But many items that are still copyright will not have these markings.   It is safest to assume that works are copyright unless you have some evidence that they aren't.

On the internet, a 'notify and take down' approach is often used:   if material that infringes someone's copyright is being carried on a service (eg by an ISP), and the rights owners tell the service providers about this, then service providers may be obliged to remove that material as soon as possible.

In many countries, rights holders are getting court orders to require internet service providers to stop people from accessing websites which let copyright material be downloaded without the owner's permission.

Rights Managed Images

In photography and the stock photo industry, Rights Managed, or RM is a copyright license that  allows one time use of a photo as specified by the license- eg in return for a certain fee, and in a certain way.

If someone wants to use a RM photo for something else (ie not covered by the original license) an additional license needs to be purchased.

RM licences can be non-exclusive or exclusive basis.

The four common licenses or business models in the stock photography industry are:

• Rights Managed (RM)
• royalty free
• subscription 
• micro.