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Oldest game console you own?

Does the copyright of a picture of a game console belong to the photographer or the maker of the console?

  • I'm very confused about this ^^' I'm not talking about a picture of you with a console or anything, but a picture were the console is the subject of the picture. Where the picture was taken to document the object.

  • Answer:

    It belongs to the game company since in this case the photograph is a copy, not an original work. In most photography light, conditions, angle, and anything else that the photographer puts in to the work would make it an original piece of work covered under copyright. Point the camera at someone else's work and pushing the button is not creating anything, and would be a violation of copyright instead of being protected by it. Commercial or non commercial does not make a difference. It also may be that the copyright belongs to the game writer rather than nintendo so there could be another entity to deal with. It is not likely that you would have an issue on a school report, but published to the web is another matter. The only thing you might qualify for may be "fair usage". This usually involves using a credited quote. It would not cover derivative works. Many people think this means they can use someone else's work if they give credit, but that is not the case. Because fair usage is so subject to type of use and interpretation, services such as Wikipedia prefer not to get in to the legal debates and make it part of their service agreements to not allow questionable material. The do have some images in the library which are available for usage, so you might check there for what you want.

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The copyright of the photograph (any photograph) automatically belongs to the "author", whether that is the person taking the photograph or the photographer's employer (as a work made for hire). 17 USC § 201 Ownership of initial copyright. Obviously, whoever owns the copyright also has the right to transfer ownership to others. Also, just because you own the copyright of a photo does NOT mean you have any particular right to publish the information that is contained IN the photo (e.g., trade secrets, private acts, photo of a copyrighted painting, trademark, publicity rights, etc), which may also depend upon HOW you want to use the photo. Be aware that there is ALSO the issue of "permission" to even take the photograph, where your photo would be a "derivative work" of the original, which is the exclusive right of the original copyright owner. This would apply, for example, if you were to take a digital picture/scan of a copyrighted poster image, thus making a digitized derivative work in your camera, which could NOT be used, duplicated, or distributed as a "new work" without permission of the copyright owner. For the record, different rules may apply in different countries, and different USA rules apply to photos that were published prior to 1989, or taken prior to 1977 and never "legally published".

bcnu

only persons who use this get the ok from the company first on paper ,to be clips or even being made fun of the game and even that has to get the green light many of the company's on youtube , have there backing if your helping the company not just anyone can get the ok for this clips and photos you cant have on your site unless you own the full rights to it now if you make a fan film or something they can sue you for this , photographer or the maker of the console it goes deeper then that you could be knocking on many many doors for the ok for this ........LOL

rigomortisfx studios

The one behind the camera owns it . . Not the game console that belongs to the game machine manufacture

Lost in time

The photographer, unless he is employed by the producer of the console to take a photo for marketing purposes.

Toe

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