Many creative professionals give up their rights to their professional portfolios when they sign employment contracts without realising it.
A developers’ guide to GPL
If you are looking for a clear developers' guide to GPL, Richard Brest has published a terrific guide to GPL with WordPress developers in mind.
Which contracts photographers should consider using
Which contracts your clients should sign A photographer asked a great question about contracts recently: I would like to redo my contracts. Would like to know what do you get clients to sign before a shoot? Disclaimer: This note is a fairly broad overview of many of the major themes you, as a photographer, should... Continue Reading →
No, you can’t unilaterally opt out of Facebook’s terms and keep using it
Facebook has updated its terms of service and data use policy recently and the changes have upset many people. I've started seeing more declarations of users' intention to opt-out of provisions of Facebook's terms and conditions. These sorts of declarations seem to be legally binding with their fairly legalistic language but they don't work except... Continue Reading →
No photos of Cape Town Stadium, please, it’s protected
You may have heard that photographers are not permitted to take photos of Cape Town Stadium. The issue came up at the 2014 Advertising and Marketing Law Conference and I asked IP attorney, Hugh Melamdowitz, about the ban. It turns out that copyright in the architectural drawings of the stadium were assigned to the City... Continue Reading →
Could it be unconstitutional to block access to the Pirate Bay?
A recent Dutch court handed down a fascinating ruling which sided with ISPs who were under pressure to block the infamous Pirate Bay. What is really interesting about the ruling is that the Court found that ineffective blockades infringed ISPs' rights under the European Charter of Fundamental Rights: In its ruling the Court states that... Continue Reading →
What “public domain” really means
Have you ever caught yourself arguing that you can use some content you found on the Web because it is in the "public domain"? Don't feel silly if you have even though you likely misunderstood what the term "public domain" means as a legal term which is very relevant to content use.
Hypocrisy, ignorance and the #HummingbirdGate controversy
The allegation that Euodia Roets is a hypocrite for misappropriating RW Scott's photograph as the basis for the sketch she contends Woolworths, in turn, misappropriated ignores a few important issues. First, was Ms Roets' sketch actually an infringement of RW Scott's photograph? Secondly, Woolworths' failure to comply with the Creative Commons license Wikipedia applies to its content could have profound implications for Woolworths. Lastly, this debate highlights a remarkable degree of ignorance of the law in the digital marketing and creative industries.
A Few More Thoughts About the @Woolworths_SA #HummingbirdGate Controversy
I thought I'd explore some of the legal themes that have emerged from this #HummingbirdGate story even though the story has since developed further and doesn't seem to be quite what everyone assumed it was in the first place. Two major legal themes are copyright infringement and unlawful competition.
