Amateur photography as a work of authorship
Code: OBPR00053
Question
Is every photo a work of authorship? For example, if I take a photo of a street, publish it and someone uses it, for example in a marketing leaflet, without my knowledge, has copyright been infringed?
The answer
Not every photo is at the same time a work of authorship. Photos as works of authorship must fulfil the conceptual characteristics of a work of art (documentary or reportage photos may be such). Photos as works of authorship must show signs of the creative mental activity of the author directed towards a distinctive immaterial expression (the creation of its reproduction), in which the personality of the author of the photograph himself is also manifested.
A photo produced by hand or a photo of a particular place from a holiday does not enjoy copyright protection because it lacks the creative intellectual activity (consisting, for example, in certain lighting, the use of certain camera functions characteristic of the camera, the individual point of view of the photograph) which clearly distinguishes such a photo from photos (of the same shot) by other photographers.
Simply put, a photo must show the photographer’s distinctive personality, individuality and creativity to be an author’s work. Only such a photo is protected by copyright.
Answer according to the current legal status valid on 10/11/2022.