What happens when it is unclear who holds copyright in a digital image?
Access to digital images or ownership of image files does not convey ownership of copyright. Indeed, the image creator themselves may not always be the copyright holder. This can arise through two situations: • The person who created the piece of work was employed at the time, and the work was created as part of his/her duties. In this situation the copyright owner is the employer. • The original creator may have sold, given or bequeathed the copyright to one person, but sold, given or bequeathed the physical object to another person. In this situation the owner of the physical object does not own the copyright, the person who bought or was given the copyright does. The onus is upon the potential user to make sure that they research copyright ownership carefully.
