Copyright and web sites

[AllFramed]

I would like to post some pictures of completed framing jobs on my new web site. It has occurred to me however that some of the work contained therein may be copyright sensitive. For example I have recently framed some small Picasso prints, could I put pictures of those on my site or are the prints copyrighted?

I see from a recent thread that kev@frames posted a link to a definitive view of copyright but would be interested if anyone had a quick answer before I dip in to the detail.

Thanks
Tim

[Perfection]

That's an interesting one! Here's my take on it:

If you're posting photographs of your work, ie of something you've framed, then you're not infringing copyright by including a photograph of the original image. You would actually only be infringing copyright if you were offering copies of the work for sale. As the photographs are purely to demonstrate examples of your work, there's no danger. Just one point though, as your client has paid you to frame the prints, I would seek their approval to include photographs of their framed prints on your website - even though you're ulikely to name your client. I had a similar issue when I was a wedding photographer, even though I held the copyright on the photographs, I still always asked if I could use them in my sales/marketing.

Hope that helps a bit

P

[prospero]

Good point. It is courtesy to ask the artist's permission first. But that's not always possible. You could always photoshop a 'spoiler' onto the image. If there was any comeback, the copyright owner would probably issue a 'cease and desist' order before launching into full-on litigation.

But if in doubt, don't.