Magazines and copyrights.?

Question

I have a friend who has taken an important photo that in my opinion should be sent to a magazine. However she refuses to do this. I feel SO strongly about this that I would send the photo into a magazine myself, but I have been told that I have no right to do this as she has not given her okay for the photo to be printed and that she could sue any magazine that would use it.

She HAS posted the photo all over on-line (which seems a bit hypocritical to me, and while we are friends we have been arguing over this point.) If a photo is posted on-line at public communities and websites, would a magazine have the right to take it and use it?

Thanks for the replies, I had a feeling that this was the case.

She did tell me that I could pass the photo around to people that I trusted, but I suppose that this still isn't the same as handing away your copyright.

Other people on-line have taken her photo and uploaded it to their sites. She hasn't said a word about this, but she doesn't like the magazine idea.

It is her mistake to make, I agree. But it is a shame.

Answer 1

Even though you may be correct that the photographer is making a mistake, it's the photographer's to make.

The photgrapher has a copyright as of the moment she snaps the picture. The magazine can not legally violate that copyright, no matter what other uses the photographer has made of the picture.

Answer 2

She, as the photographer and creator of the image, owns the copyright unless she was working for someone else at the time. Then it depends on her contract.
The fact she has posted it online doesn't alter the fact she has the copyright, and it doesn't change the fact that anyone needs her permission to publish it elsewhere.
What you could do, in my opinion, it to alert a newspaper or magazine to the image. Tell them you want anonimity, and suggest they contact her to say they had seen the image on the web and want to know more.
Public communities are exactly that - public - so your friend will never know the tip-off to the media came from you. A lot of newspapers and magazines search public blogs and forums for information as part of their newsgathering operation.
Good luck.

Answer 3

Not without her consent. She has the right to post the photo all over the web, but no one else may take that photo and use it in any other purpose without her consent.