When copyright isn’t enough

Saturday, Jul 17th, 2010 in The IPWS Blog by Alan Murphy | 1 Comment

I got a call from Bray based social photographer Charlie Sharkey recently. The Sunday Independent was looking for photographs of Sean Fitzpatrick and his wife. Charlie had a suitable picture but was concerned about releasing the pictures. I started by declaring my lack of legal qualifications but that unless he signed an agreement stating otherwise he did indeed own the the copyright. I did express a concern that the banker’s wife could claim injury under an invasion of privacy or some similar grounds as the image was taken in their home at a private family function.

My concern was enough to make Charlie phone his solicitor who suggested that he seek a letter from Independent Newspapers that would indemnify him from any action taken against him. When Charlie asked the reporter for such a letter the paper’s legal people declined and they went to look for the images elsewhere. I know this because they rang me immediately after they hung up on Charlie.

Moral of the Story – Beware of making a few quid from newspapers who will happily hang you out when the dirt hits the fan.