Who Owns Visual Images? Essay Example

In the article “On the Rights of Molotov Man,” Joy Garnett discusses her problems associated with using a photograph taken by author Susan Meiselas as the main subject of her painting called the “Molotov painting” which depicts a Nicaraguan rebel about to throw a Molotov cocktail. This painting was part of an exhibition of Garnett’s work in a gallery in New York City where someone after receiving an exhibition announcement card noticed the similarities between Garnett’s image of the “Molotov Man” and the photograph of the same that was published in Meiselas’ photo essay on the revolution in Nicaragua in the early 1980’s. This was picked up by Meiselas’ lawyer who informed Garnett that she had “infringed upon Susan’s copyright” and that she was “sailing under the flag of piracy” (2007, p. 54), meaning that Garnett had failed to get Susan’s permission to reproduce the original photo of the “Molotov Man,” thus making her a plagiarist and pirate of copyrighted material.

Obviously, Susan Meiselas (and her publisher Pantheon) are the legal owners of the “Molotov Man” photograph, due to appearing in her photo essay book in 1981. Therefore, Garnett did not have the legal right to reproduce Meiselas’ photograph unless she obtained the permission of the copyright holder and paid a fee to the owner for future reproductions. As it turned out, no one ended up getting sued in court because Garnett and Meiselas settled their differences outside of the courtroom.

In the digital age, appropriating images and photos without seeking the permission of the copyright holder occurs far too often, especially on the World Wide Web. According to the Cornell University Law Center, the United States Copyright Act, originally enacted by the US Congress to help protect authors and their materials from being stolen or appropriated without their permission or knowledge, has recently been expanded to include architectural designs like buildings and bridges, computer software (some of which is ironically used to manipulate copyrighted images), the graphic arts, such as found in advertising, motion pictures, and sound recordings (Copyright: An Overview, 2014). The main reason for this expansion of copyright law is the existence of the Internet and other forms of technology that allows individuals to manipulate and re-design photos and other images.

Also, copyright laws provide photographers with the “exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, perform, display, license, and to prepare derivative works based on the copyrighted work” (Copyright: An Overview, 2014). However, the law also allows what is known as fair use, such as when a scholar uses portions of a copyrighted source for a journal article or book and provides the proper citation as to the source as in footnotes or a bibliography. This also includes using a portion of a photo or a simple clipping of an image within the photo as an illustration, provided that the user acknowledges the copyright holder.

In essence then, photographic images are solely owned by the photographer or in some instances by a publisher. However, if these images are sold and/or purchased by an outside party, the buyer becomes the sole owner of the image. But there are also photographic images that belong in the public domain, meaning that they are not protected by copyright and can be freely used by anyone for any purpose. One good example would be a daguerreotype of an anonymous Civil War soldier, due to the fact that the original photographer is unknown or long deceased. But basically, the photographer is the owner, whether a professional photographer or simply someone using a cell phone equipped with a camera.

References

Copyright: An overview. (2014). Cornell University Law Center. Retrieved from http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/copyright

Garnett, J., and Meiselas, S. (February 2007). On the rights of Molotov Man. Harper’s Magazine, 53-58.