Can recreating another photographer’s composition or pose infringe copyright?
Asked 9/19/2018
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2 answers
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In school, we sometimes recreated famous photos or paintings as practice exercises. More recently, I noticed our wedding photographer used locations and poses that looked very similar to other wedding photos I’ve seen.
At what point does copying another image’s concept, composition, or posing become copyright infringement? Is a newly taken photo always considered a separate work, even if it closely imitates an existing image, or can a photographer violate copyright by recreating the original too closely?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
7y ago
2 Answers
3
In the UK (other jurisdictions will vary), it is certainly the case that a "close" reproduction of another photographer's concept infringes copyright. The most important case here is Temple Island Collections Ltd v New English Teas Ltd in which it was ruled that a photographer had infringed an earlier copyright by reproducing the scene of a red London bus driving past the Houses of Parliament, even though the later photo was an entirely separate construction at an entirely separate time.
More details (including low resolution versions of the photos in question) are available at Copyright User.
Originally by user11371. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user11371
7y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
A new photo is not automatically safe just because it was shot separately. Copyright can be infringed if the later image closely reproduces the original photographer’s creative expression, such as the composition, arrangement, and overall concept.
As one community answer notes, this can happen in UK law: in Temple Island Collections Ltd v New English Teas Ltd, a later photo was found to infringe an earlier one even though it was shot independently at a different time. The issue was that the later image closely recreated the earlier image’s protected creative choices.
That said, general ideas, styles, common poses, and popular locations are usually less protectable than a specific original expression. So “wedding couple at this landmark” is different from a near-copy of a distinctive composition.
The exact line depends on jurisdiction and the specific facts, but the key principle is: copyright protects original expression, not just the physical act of pressing the shutter.
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