ASPP's Best Practices for Locating Copyright Owners of Photographic and Visual Art

8/23/2010.v3


Depending on the information you have to begin your search, The American Society of Picture Professionals (ASPP) recommends the following approach to tracking down copyright ownership for works primarily of US authors:

Starting Points:

  • If you have a digital image file, search the metadata (caption, copyright, headline, etc.) for additional source information (Open document in PhotoShop. Under "File", go to "File Info").

  • Searching locally in job folders, download folders, email, invoice records, in-house image databases, chat sessions, etc. could link the image to a project, supplier, or co-worker that could provide additional insight into the image's origin. Also, use the image's creation and/or modification time stamp (Under "File", go to "File Info") to search by date range in the aforementioned places to find possible clues.

  • To enhance local searching on your hard drive, try Google's free Desktop Search application. In addition to a simpler user interface, the application's ability to search metadata within many different document types could be beneficial. http://desktop.google.com/.

For images where the photographer or artist name is known:

  • If known, contact the original stock agency, or successor agency. They should be able to contact the photographer on your behalf or put you in contact with the photographer even if they no longer represent him/her. (If you need helping finding a stock agency, contact the Picture Archive Council of America – see below.)

  • Search for the photographer on one of the many sites listed under "Photography" below.

  • Contact the original publisher.

  • Search by photographer's name at various stock agency sites to try and find the image (or to see if the agency might represent the photographer).

  • Download the add-on (free) product called ImageExchange created by PicScout. This product can connect you to the creator of the work by utilizing digitial fingerprinting technology. PicScout indexes images whose sources are image agencies and photo collections such as Flickr. When you download ImageExchange and do an online search using the creator's name, keywords, or other metadata, images that are indexed by PicScout will appear in your search results with an information icon. Clicking on the icon will reveal information such as who owns the image, a connection to license it, and more information. See http://www.picscout.com/.

  • Contact the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) and use their artist registry http://www.photographerregistry.com/.

  • Contact the Picture Licensing Universal System to search in their artists and licensor registry http://www.useplus.com/useplus/registry.asp/. The registry is due to be live in Fall, 2010.

  • Do a search using the photographer's name in Google, as well as photo-sharing sites like Flickr, to follow leads such as educational institutions where he/she studied, professional organizations, etc.

  • Do a Google search using keywords that give information about the subject of the image and find the image by subject matter (which might then lead you to contact info for the photographer.)

  • If the image is a historical photo of a known location or a historically significant event, contact a local newspaper or historical society. The image could have been published with a story or archived. Often staff of such organizations will know how to locate a creator/copyright holder or will be able to direct you to a source that might have an answer.

  • Contact the U.S. Copyright Office at http://www.copyright.gov/records/ and search the database of copyright registrations (available since 1975). This search is limited as you need to search by title of the work or name of author or claimant; there is no image search.

PHOTOGRAPHY

In addition to the sites mentioned above, the following sites have search engines that allow you to search by a photographer's name.

For images where you DO NOT know the photographer or artist:

  • Look at the context of the use for additional clues. If the work is published in a book or magazine, contact the publisher or author. If it is an advertisement, contact the company and try to find the advertising agency that may have purchased the rights or hired the photographer.

  • Do a search using PACA's (the Picture Archive Council of America) pacaSearch, a web-based stock image metasearch engine targeted to photo buyers/researchers who seek licensable images on the web. http://www.pacaSearch.com/. Keywords and other data related to an image can be used to search hundreds of databases simultaneously for disambiguated search results. At this time more than 70 million images are included. See the tutorial to the engine at www.pacaSearch.org.

  • Search Google Image Search with keywords that use information about the subject of the image and contact the administrator of any sites that come up with the same image (warning: you may uncover uses that were never properly licensed.)

  • To try and find the image by subject matter, search various stock agency sites by keywords, using information about the subject of the image. Three sites that list many stock agencies in one place by subject/type of imagery are:
    Picture Archive Council of American (PACA)
    http://www.pacaoffice.org/ic/paca/devpages/mem_dir_redesign.html?list_type=k%3 A97/
    Stock Index Online http://www.stockindexonline.com/index.php?q=category_search/
    A Photo Editor http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/02/27/stock-photo-agencies/

  • Do a search with the aforementioned ImageExchange add-on product downloaded onto your computer (see first page).

  • Another web-based measure to assist you is TinEye, an engine that uses image identification technology to locate images on the web. The software company Idée is beta testing TinEye, an innovative reverse image search engine that is a fast and revealing way to find other instances of the image on the Web. Even when the TinEye search yields other sites displaying the same image, it's possible that these other instances may retain the image's original source filename or embedded metadata. TinEye uses image identification technology rather than keywords, metadata or watermarks. Go to http://www.ideeinc.com/products/tineye/

  • Digimarc is a product that uses digital watermarks (imperceptible codes embedded in digital content) to track unlicensed uses on-line. Conversely, researchers can look for the Digimarc coding in an image file to obtain information on the image's creator. To do so, open the image file in Adobe Photoshop. Select "Read Watermark" from the Digimarc plug-in menu (Filter > Digimarc > Read Watermark). If the creator is a Digimarc subscriber, you will be presented with the image's copyright information or directed to the creator's web site.

  • Contact PACA directly. PACA has implemented a low-tech solution to assist buyers in finding the creator of an image that does not contain author attribution. When a buyer has an image without copyright information, they simply email a copy of the Orphan Work and send it along with any other relevant information to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it /. The email is validated by the moderator (a PACA staff member) and automatically sent out to all PACA members and affiliated associations.

OTHER PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY ORGANIZATIONS THAT MIGHT BE HELPFUL TO CONTACT

FINE ART

When searching for fine artists or trying to clear rights for works of fine art, the following links are helpful:

  • Artists Rights Society (ARS) http://www.arsny.com/
  • Visual Artists and Galleries Association (VAGA) http://www.vaga.org/
  • Check the WATCH File – Writers, Artists and their Copyright Holders, a searchable
    database of names of creators. http://tyler.hrc.utexas.edu/
  • Check Art in America magazine's August issue, an annual directory of museums, galleries and artists

ILLUSTRATIONS

When searching for illustrators, the following links are helpful:

NEXT STEPS

Once you have exhausted a search using these resources, consult legal counsel about the business risks associated with using the work or not. If you do determine that the risk of infringement is low, be sure to maintain in writing what steps you took to locate the copyright owner and the date you took those steps.

The following sites can give you a better understanding of the legal pitfalls of image use and the advice you need to license images with confidence.

FINAL NOTES

Steps to take going forward in your search will depend upon current legislation related to Orphan Works. Be sure to consult the latest legislation. One place to check is the American Society of Media Photographers' website: http://www.asmp.org/news/spec2008/orphan_update.php/.

It is likely that there will be additional measures, including databases, that will enable searches of images and other technological measures to assist in facilitating the search. For example, image registries are a relatively new concept that are positioned to become a standard business practice. Various companies and organizations have announced products and/or services that will enable image providers to submit their assets to one or more searchable registries. If broadly adopted, image registries could significantly streamline the orphan search process for digitized content. This document will be updated as needed to include other measures as they become available.

This document should not be relied upon to determine if the steps you have taken are sufficient. Since there is no current legislation that permits the use of a work if the owner cannot be located and any legislation will not be retroactive, the fact that you have tried to locate the owner and did not succeed is not a defense to a claim of infringement by an emerging copyright owner. The copyright owner could seek monetary damages as well as an injunction to prevent the future publication of the work in certain circumstances. If the work is registered, the owner can also seek statutory damages and attorney's fees.

 

The American Society of Picture Professional (ASPP) is a community of image experts committed to sharing their experience and knowledge throughout the industry. This non- profit association provides professional networking and educational opportunities for those who create, edit, research, license, manage or publish pictures. For more information go to www.aspp.com or contact the Executive Director Cathy Sachs at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 
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