vancouver fashion and portrait photography

If you've been following my blog you'll have noticed a lot of posts lately about the rights of photographers, copyrights and online rights. I found a site this morning through Michael Geist's blog (Mr. Geist is a law professor at the University of Ottawa) that is promoting the public's interest in technology and information policy. The site is called Online Rights Canada and it is a grassroots organization that believes Canadians should have a voice in copyright law, access to information, freedom from censorship and other issues we face in the online world. Their site just launched this past friday so I'm looking forward to updates on policies that involve both photographers and copyrights in photography.

So far this is what they have in that realm.

Bill C-60 & Photography: Who Owns Your Family Photos
"Bill C-60 purports to "harmonize" photographers' rights with those of other authors under the Copyright Act. In reality, Bill C-60 strips Canadians of ownership of their copyright in commissioned photographs and portraits. Canadian copyright law has historically protected consumers by giving them copyright in commissioned photographs, such as wedding photos and baby pictures. Bill C-60 changes those rules, and it's an unnecessary assault on the interests of Canadian consumers.

Photographers' interests are protected in consumer contracts through payment for their services and control over the negatives. If photographers also wanted to hold the copyright in such photographs, they’d have to bargain for those rights. Bill C-60 flips this arrangement on its head. Under Bill C-60, consumers would have to bargain for copyright in personal and private commissioned photographs."

It'll be interesting to see what happens with this Bill in the new year when legislation gets out of holiday mode and all of it's provisions are back up for debate.