A very excellent article by Andrew McIntyre Coin Photo Copyright

I don't generally worry much about it. Everyone knows my photos when they see them. Helps to have the same background all the time.

Ditto. At least until I break this coaster and have to find a new one. (I use one of those hard ceramic-like coasters that are supposed to absorb, with a cork bottom. Makes a very good contrasting background for most copper and silver colored coins.)



Back to the article, very good reading. I am notorious for snatching images from eBay auctions, websites, etc., for future personal reference. I have never really worried about violating copyright laws, as the images never leave my HD. At least now I know that I don't have to worry.

Excellent article. Thanks for posting it.

In case you were wondering, here is a clause from the OmniCoin agreement related to image rights.

1. By clicking "I Accept" you grant to us a right to display and store on our servers your digital images and descriptions in your listings. You will retain the rights to all images, textual descriptions and commentary.

For personal use there's never an issue, since no one will ever know. If you ask beforehand then you'll enver have a problem when publicly displaying the images either.

The main thing I have learned from this article and the debates that usually ensue is that this whole matter is very uncertain. If you ever went to court the outcome is probably going to be variable as well.

If you don't want people swiping your pictures it may be difficult to get the swiper to stop.

Which is why you want to ask unless you have pockets deep enough to prevail in court. I am past president of an organization (not coin related) that received a letter from an attorney ordering us to remove an article from a publication on the grounds that it was libel (it questioned the academic interpretation of data as presented in another gentleman's academic publications) and had a negative economic impact on the gentleman's consulting business. We would have been open to a lawsuit in the absence of a response. I hired the best legal firm in the state of California that specialized in the rights of the press, the right to respond to statements in print, libel law, slander, etc. Our response cost us $1,500, but it closed the case.

If you use someone else's photograph in a publication (not your personal use at home) without permission and they ask you to stop (withdraw the publication, pay for the images, etc), you have the choice of taking your chance with the court if they have an attorney which means you lose if you don't defend yourself or pay your money and take a chance on how the court would rule. Either way, its not worth the risk or the cost when seeking permission is easier and the right thing to do.

I don't have experience with a photograph of a coin, but I do have experience with a publishing company using my images (pictures of prehistoric art on Easter Island) without permission. I did not know they had done so and would not have known had they not sent me a letter informing me they were using the images in another publication under the previous copyright release I had signed. I hadn't signed a previous release with them (they took the images from another publication by another press where I had signed a release). They claimed they had the right to proceed in response to my first inquiry that they pay me. They sent me check for standard accepted publication rates (based on size, number of images used, etc) when I sent them an invoice demanding payment.

Would I have won? Probably, but I would have had to sue in England. Very expensive for me to recover $800. Could they have ignored me? I think they decided it wasn't worth the risk and they did the right thing.