Real Estate Photography and Copyright Issues
Nowadays, photography plays an important role in the real estate industry. Beautifully taken images are used for property marketing on different channels online and offline. In short, today, without professional photography, you can’t do well in real estate.
However, a proper understanding of copyright is crucial for real estate firms, real estate photographers, real estate agencies, and property listing websites.
Must Visit: Real Estate Photography Services
In this context, I will highlight the idea of real estate photography and copyright issues. So, Let’s discuss the concept of copyright and copyright issues.
Copyright: What Is It?
In the real estate world, photos have been used to deliver information to clients for renting and selling purposes. Although, we have misinterpreted the idea of using images from any website and use them without taking permission from the owner.
When a photographer takes photos of a property, the person has immediately become the owner of that photo. Now it’s the photographer’s choice whether they allow someone to use that picture or not.
Copyright is a legal term that refers to a person’s ownership of the goods they create. For instance, a photograph, a novel, an article, and a painting are also part of copyright. A person who publishes that work will automatically become the copyright of that work. However, without copyrights, you are not allowed to use the thing of a different person.
Copyright Issues and Legal Penalties
Copyright includes copyright infringement. Copyright Infringement happens when someone is exploiting another person’s original work without any permission. Such as using someone’s copyright real estate photograph on your website is unethical and will be charged with copyright infringement. Infringement of copyright is one of the most common copyright issues. Copyright issues occur when someone uses works protected by copyright law without permission, infringing on the copyright holder’s exclusive rights, such as the right to procreate, publish, exhibit, or conduct the copyrighted material.
You can use the DMCA protection badge on your company website for protection. By following the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), you can reduce the risk of copyright infringement.
Infringement of images will lead you to serious consequences as it includes penalties to the one who committed copyright infringement.
- The infringer is obliged to pay the whole amount of damage and actual profit lost to the copyright owner.
- The infringer is responsible for all legal bills and court costs.
- The infringer may face criminal charges and go to jail.
How to Avoid Real Estate Copyright Infringement?
Sometimes, it happens that real estate agents intentionally or unintentionally violate copyright infringement. Here, I would suggest a few tips that would help you in avoiding copyright infringement.
- Proper understanding of the US Copyright Act of 1970 is necessary to avoid violating copyright infringement.
- Using a third-party image on your company’s website requires written permission from a copyright owner rather than having verbal permission.
- All the real estate images are copyright protected, so avoid using social media photos on your website. Sometimes real estate agents use any public photo unintentionally. That’s why it is better to hire a professional photographer.
How Much Can I Legally Use Real Estate Photos?
A professional photographer gives you a license to use their photo. It requires various packages depending upon how long you will use that image. In addition, you are not allowed to share the images with the other consumer before getting permission from the photographer.
Final Thoughts
In the above article, we have discussed real estate photography and copyright issues. Proper knowledge of licensed real estate images will be beneficial for your business. In addition, always remember to have a license on your real estate image to limit the risk of copyright infringement.
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