Definition of copyright infringement by the U.S. Copyright Office:
As a general matter, copyright infringement occurs when a copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner.
This is pretty clear what it means.
However, to some “artists” it’s a relative term when it comes to using one (or more) of your images for their artwork.
In these instances it is highly recommended to have your images already registered for copyright as an attorney will ask you first if you did so. Registering your copyright will make it a lot easier to find a lawyer who might even take the case on a contingency basis. Furthermore the more severe the infringement is, the more likely it is to receive a settlement down the road.
Additionally it has to be mentioned that a concept or idea can NOT be registered for copyright. Only the image that you created is registered and that’s that.
In very few instances Getty Images won cases where photographers used images from Getty as “inspiration” and re-shot the image. But this isn’t happening too often and furthermore requires litigation in court which is very costly.
As soon as you find one of your images being infringed by someone else do some research and check if you can get an attorney to take the case. The bigger the infringement the higher the chances to receive a settlement out of court.
In small cases where someone “just” violates licensing terms (i.e. used the full resolution image in their blog) either contact the stock image agency that sold the image or contact the administrator/owner directly to ask for a valid license if in doubt. Otherwise prepare a claim for copyright infringement and email it to the web hosting company to have the infringing material removed.
P.S. I’m not an attorney and this information is not intended to be interpreted as legal advice. This article is supposed to be helpful to you in order to protect your copyright. Always consult an attorney to get professional advice!
I believe it would be considered copyright infringement, yes.
My interpretation is that you didn’t pay any licensing fees to copy any tracks to your iPod or computer. I don’t think the library fees are covering that.
I’m not a copyright attorney, so it would be best to ask somebody who knows these laws very well.
If I go to the public library and check out various cd’s with the purpose of importing them into my itunes, would that be considered copyright infrigement?
Usually if a musician (band) plays music that was written by someone else and the musician (band) makes a profit from that (directly or indirectly), the musician (band) should pay royalties to the original author of the music. Normally no one can just make money from other people’s music. An intellectual property lawyer will be able to give you professional advice on this issue.
If someone plays anothers music that is copywritten, and makes a profit on that material, on a regular basis, is that person infringing on that copyright and what can be done to stop it?