Webb Aviation

Copyright policy


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If you would like to buy a Licence to reproduce one of my photographs you will find prices on my Licence Price page. You can purchase through the shopping cart in the Main Gallery or simply send me an email. No image may be reproduced without buying a licence first. All images on this website are � Jonathan C.K.Webb and may not be copied,saved, hotlinked or reproduced without permission & Payment. All rights are reserved and all moral rights are asserted. 

Webb Aviation is not a charity or source of free images. The images on this website have cost me �251,692.90 and  I earn my living by selling usage rights to my images. To reproduce my images you must first purchase the digital file and licence. This is for both commercial use and non commercial use. Unauthorized use is illegal and can incur significant damages. Depending on the individual case , in the UK, I charge between double and 20 X my normal price for unauthorised use of my work. Contrary to web myth, this is backed by UK law and these higher price "uplifts" are based on recent court decisions. Talking of court decisions, the Copyright Wild West days of the UK are over with the introduction of new procedures at the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (the IPEC). For small business and individuals in the creative sector copyright is now easily enforceable. I have tried them out myself and the result was the copyright infringer was ordered to pay
�1800.00, six times my normal price, plus costs. In my case the copyright infringer was a Limited Company and the directors were found to be personally liable for these damages. This case was also featured in the May 2019 Journal of the Royal Photographic Society in an article entitled"know your rights" about how to enforce copyright for photographs.  ( Click here for a case report )

Update 2018: its seems many people haven't got the message: to use my photographs, you have to pay for them! As a result in April 2018 I was back in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court with another case which you can read about here. The short version is it cost one company �2851.42 for using one of my photos illegally. Don't do this, its much cheaper to buy a licence beforehand than infringe copyright and pay damages many times  more !


Honest, paying  customers have nothing to worry about copyright. I do not have complex terms or difficult to understand limitations and restrictions. Payment of one "flat rate"  licence fee per image covers almost all use by that customer. To clarify, here is a summary of my copyright policy:

Specially Commissioned aerial photos;

Customers specially commissioning aerial work will receive a non transferable, non exclusive,  licence as part of the job and usage rights are transferred to the client once the images have been paid for in full. This allows the commissioning customer to reproduce the images in any quantity they wish unlimited by time or geography. With commissioned work only, a credit to webbaviation is not mandatory although it is welcomed where given on a voluntary basis. It should be noted that these image usage rights for commissioned work are non exclusive and does not preclude us from further use and resale of the same or similar images. ( It is normal for us to make interesting images available for resale in our gallery) If you need confidentiality  I am very happy to handle confidential work, just tell me what you need at the time of ordering. The licence is non transferable so you cannot transfer reproduction rights to a third party without my written consent. That includes social media sharing which is not covered by your licence. Double licenses are usually provided at no extra cost, where I am working for an agent such as a marketing firm or architect who is working for a specific end client, thus giving both the end client and the agent full independent usage rights. Occasionally there may be a special condition / variations to my standard terms (eg a mandatory requirement to be credited as author which is our typical practice for book and magazine commissions) These variations will in all cases be discussed with the client before the assignment is agreed.

Licensed stock aerial photos ;

Customers Licensing stock images also receive a non transferable  licence and usage rights are transferred to the client once the images have been paid for in full. This allows the licensed customer to reproduce the images in any quantity they wish unlimited by time or geography. My stock photograph usage rights are always non exclusive and I will continue to offer the same image to other customers. For stock images , unless you have paid extra for uncredited use, the reproduced aerial photo must have a credit adjacent or within the image containing the word "webbaviation.co.uk" eg "copyright webbaviation.co.uk" or " www.webbaviation.co.uk. If the credit is omitted the price is double the standard price. This is a non transferable licence so you can't give permission for a third party to use the image. That includes social media sharing which is not covered by your licence. The Image Copyright Meta Data must not be removed even if you have paid for use without credit. this is necessary to prevent the image becoming a so called Orphan Work. .If you require an image to be licence in more than one name then please email me.

 


All aerial photos on the webbaviation website are copyright of Webb Aviation and are protected by copyright law and are not to be saved or copied in any way. All other online work including all code, web pages, forms, menus, buttons, gifs are copyright protected and may not be copied or reproduced without written permission. If you would like to reproduce a stock image you can buy a licence for reproduction, click here for more information on prices This is a business and selling licences to use my images are how I earn my living and feed my family. Over the last 10 years the images in my gallery have cost me �251,692.90 , mainly the cost of chartering aircraft but also the costs of Cameras webhosting computers etc. These costs must be paid for by selling licences to use the images.

Many people are unsure what this copyright notice means so to clarify you are not allowed to do anything with my web images other than view the images within a browser. Anything else is a violation of copyright and is illegal in both national and international law. You cannot save the images (yes I know its easy to do but its illegal and theft just the same as bashing me on the head and running off with my wallet ! ) You cannot print the images . You cannot link the images so they appear on another page (called hot linking- see below ) Some people have said they thought it was OK because they were only saving it for private use. This is not true either legally or morally (would you be happy if someone stole your car but it was "only for private use") 

 

Stock image prints;

All stock image prints are protected under copyright law and are not to be copied or reproduced in any way. If you would like to reproduce a stock image you can buy a licence for reproduction, click here for more information on pricesWhen you buy a print it is only the print and not a license to reproduce.All unauthorized copies of prints whether for your own use or for others are illegal, even a single photocopy or scan.

 

Linking and Hot linking

If you wish to link to any page of the site we are very happy for you to do so and encourage other website owners to do just that provided it is to the full URL address of any complete page and not directly to an image alone ( a practice known as hot linking ). All hot linking directly to all images and graphic is illegal, and not allowed. For example if you are interested in archaeology and want visitors to your website to view the picture of Stonehenge  then you need to link to the full page thus

https://www.webbaviation.co.uk/aerial/picture.php?/2897/category/133

and not just to the individual image. Putting our image on another web page is copyright theft just the same as if it were saved and copied.

If you are still unsure as to any aspect of copyright my legal representatives will be only too happy to clarify the matter further.

Unauthorized reproduction is illegal and can result in severe penalties.  Many infringes say that the cost of buying professional photography is "too expensive" or their use is only a small use. Well if that the case why not take your own photographs, its not rocket science. If you only need a simple  snap then any competent amateur photographer can manage it. I have even written an article giving guidance on how to take aerial photographs . The one thing that is certain is that stealing somebody else's photograph is not going to save you any money.


Orphan works: Non of my images are Orphan Works. All of my images will show up in a diligent search. My images are registered with the US Copyright office and other places.

Extended Collective Licencing schemes : I hereby contract out of any and all extended collective licencing schemes. All of my work is excluded from the CLA licencing schemes.To use any of my images, you must obtain permission directly from me and pay the fee that I choose.


Educational use : The UK is introducing an exception to copyright for educational use by schools colleges and universities. The amendment specifically excludes work that is commercially available.  All my pictures are commercially available which is the point of this website. That means non of my images are covered by my exception. Any educational establishment wishing to use my images should purchase  a license to do so.


Cyber-shoplifters will be prosecuted!



Copyright web myths

Looking around the web, many people seem to be confused by copyright and getting your legal advice from internet forums can be a costly mistake. If you make use of copyright works, you should read the Copyright Designs and Patents act 1988, which is online at the government website here and the Governments Intellectual Property Office has produced a guide to copyright here. Here are some popular copyright web myths which a  quick reading of the act will show you to be untrue:



Myth 1 ) If an image does not have copyright information on it then it has no copyright protection : Wrong, photographs are automatically copyrighted from the moment they are taken and the copyright holder does not need to write anything on or near the photograph. This web myth stems from other countries but my images are governed by the law in  Britain and Germany where no copyright notice  is needed. Many people say I should write copyright on the photograph which in most cases I do but I am not legally required to do so and this is not possible for my customers who have paid for their photograph, nor can I control other websites which have stolen my image and published it on the internet.

Myth 2 ) Copyright notices must have a �  and year : Wrong: as above copyright exists even if there is no copyright information shown at all. This myth stems from old  US laws but we are not in the USA and UK law applies.

Myth 3) If its on the internet its " in the public domain" and therefore free to use : Wrong " in the public domain" in copyright law has a very specific legal meaning and merely displaying an image in public does not put that image " in the public domain " . Public Domain images in the UK would be images taken more than 70 years since the death of the photographer, ie Copyright Expired.

Myth 4) I got it from "X" who said I can use it therefore I am innocent. :  Wrong: the user of an image is liable for its use. Under the legal principle "nemo dat quod non habet" nobody can assign rights to another that they do not have themselves. If you acquired the image from another source, such as your web-designer, you can sue to recover your losses however "nemo dat quod non habet" presents particular difficulties if you source your images from photo sharing or overseas websites where you may not be able to take legal action. Caveat Emptor, that "free picture " may turn out to be very expensive indeed. The "my web designer did  it" defence was tried and failed in my own case of Jonathan C.K.Webb vs VA Events, & Others ( click here for a court report )

Myth 5) I  stole the image but now you have caught me I only have to pay the market rate of 20p : Wrong : you have to pay the value of the stolen image plus additional sums to dissuade infringement and for specific costs such as  recovery costs, legal fees, court costs etc. You may even have to pay the profit you have made with a stolen image.  The value of professional photographs is much higher than most hobby photographs so unauthorized use can be very expensive. If you need a cheep photograph take your own, helping yourself to other peoples images can be a much more costly option. Even if you do not think the image is worth much, you may find the courts take a different view. In my own court case of Jonathan C.K.Webb vs VA Events,  & Others ( click here for a court report ) the defendants were ordered to pay �1800.00 for a  �300 GBP photograph, ie 6 times the then normal selling price, plus costs which led to the defendant being ordered to pay a total of  �2716.00. Crime does not pay ! In another blow to copyright infringers, the directors of the company in this case were found to be personally liable. Commercial copyright infringement is a criminal offence in the UK and many other countries. The "Corporate veil" offers no protection for criminal activity.


Myth
6) We gave a credit to the photographer , so that should be enough : Wrong, professional photographers cannot feed their kids with "credits" and under UK and international law I do not need to. 


Myth 7) We removed it as soon as we knew it was unauthorized, therefore we do not have to pay : Wrong :  This is another myth which stems from American Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) legislation which is designed to protect internet service providers and requires that the aggrieved party first send a " cease and desist " letter. Most infringers are neither an internet service provider, nor in the USA. If you use my image you must pay for it, if you do not want to pay do not use my image!

Myth 8) My use was "Fair Use" : Wrong : fair use is a concept which  stems from a tight list of mainly educational copyright exceptions mainly in the USA. These fair use provisions are tightly defined and most typical image reproduction falls outside of what is covered by the legal definitions of fair use.  Fair use in the UK would include such things as putting a link to a full webpage on your website (but not just the image ) Recent UK legislation updates introduced "fair dealing" but this  still does not allow the free use of my photographs for most uses. I wrote to the  Baroness Neville-Rolfe DBE CMGUK who is the UK Government Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) (Intellectual Property) responsible for copyright and received the following statement regarding fair dealing :-

"When considering a case, it would be necessary for the court to consider whether the proposed use of the copyright work conflicts with the copyright owner�s normal exploitation of their work.  For example, your ability to sell or license copies of your photographs would be normal exploitation.  It will only be in rare circumstances that copying a whole photograph would be allowed under this new law."


Myth 9) I changed the image and made a new work out of it which is therefore my copyright : Wrong: these are derivative works and the original copyright holds good. You also need permission from the copyright holder to make those changes in the first place.

Myth 10) Infringers are all just penniless teenage bloggers, copyright law is only there for big business to get money from ordinary people. Wrong: In my experience its more the other way round.  A large number of illegal unauthorized users of my images are very large multi million or even billion pound concerns who appear to have taken a deliberate decision to ignore copyright in the hope the copyright holders wont pursue it. Right now some of the largest companies on earth are making money from my photographs that they have not paid for. Intellectual property is the cornerstone of the modern economy particularly in the UK where we manufacture much less than was once the case. Most of the countries income comes from intellectual property of one sort or another. Products may be made in China but they are often designed in the UK and because of the protection of intellectual property a share of the profits come back to the UK where through the tax system it is also used to fund public services and the benefits system. Intellectual property is the UKs main source of income after banking. The UK is very good with inventions, science, software, photography, music and film, without protection of intellectual property we will have no money!









And finally an apology that the above copyright section is not the friendliest page on the website. This is because I now have many more images stolen than I actually sell and hot linking has become so bad that at one point my ISP shut down my website completely for several days because of it. Its difficult to write a friendly copyright page when your fridge and bank account are empty but at the same time thousands of businesses are using the images without paying for them. Most people are familiar with shopkeepers moaning that the kids have stolen a few sweets, well imagine if you ran a shop and the kids had stolen everything in the shop and  left just a couple of sweets behind for you to earn your living with. That's the situation that faces online photographers !

 

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