First Info-Connect Session on Photography

Organized by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), it is an initiative by the Singapore Government to educate the public on intellectual property. In this case, copyright for images and photographs. Before saying that it is going to be boring, have you ever thought what are your rights or what rights do you have on your photos?

Those black lines are monitor bezels.

Ms Trina Ha

The short discussion session was conducted by the legal counsel for the IP Academy, Ms Trina Ha. I thought the turnout for this event is quite satisfactory with people from various age groups from students to the elderly. I believe some were here for the talk on street photography but nonetheless quite a good turnout.

Most people do not know under what circumstances that they may retain their copyright. For instance; working as a photographer for a company, the company gains the copyright to publish the work but the photographer retains full copyrights to the image. By uploading photos to social media  sites (i.e. Facebook, Instagram), you grant those site permission to use the image in any manner as per their 'terms of use' which many people, including me, do not read.

If your copyright is infringed, you may choose to sue for damages or losses. The infringer may be jailed or fined up to $10,000. According to Trina, most infringers willingly infringe the copyright and most likely willing to settle off-court.

What was not covered in this short session was the Creative Commons (CC) licenses. I am not going into it but you can read it up more here.

Summary of what I learnt from this event:

1) Any image/photo in the internet is subject to copyright. (Right click & save image is considered infringing copyright!)

2) Permissions should be obtained/granted in written form.

3) Crediting the creator alone is insufficient (unless it is under CC).

4) Copyrights on photos lasts 70 years after the creator's death.

5) It is up to the creator to exercise his/her rights.

6) Photos captured/created in the public domain belongs to the creator. (MRT stations are private areas accessible to the public as it is owned by a private entity)

7) There are no privacy laws in Singapore. (Other than the Personal Data Protection Act)

8) Organizers of any event have full authority/right to not allow photography and can even demand the photos to be deleted.

9) Taking photos of slides in presentations is considered infringing copyright (subject to author's discretion whether to stop it or not). 

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