Are you familiar with real estate photography and copyright laws in Australia?
Dan Dasilva is a Youtuber and an internet “entrepreneur” (the word is used almost everywhere nowadays), and he was successfully sued by a photographer back in the year 2017. But why?
Because probably he did not have much idea about the photography copyright laws. He had to learn it the hard way. He used one of the images that he found from a Google search, and he did not give credit to the photographer. As a result, the legal copyright owner of the image sued Dan because he was using the photo without permission. He had to pay the photographer $37,000, which covered the penalty for using the image as well as court fees.
If someone faces a similar kind of situation, most probably that person would try not to make the mistake again and say something like: “I now know I shouldn’t use images I find online. It’s my fault, and I’m going to be much more careful about image use from now on, and you should be, too.”
However, that was not the case with this guy. He uploaded a video on Youtube where he tried to explain how he was the “victim” here. In a nutshell, he said it was not mentioned on the images that those could not be used without permission. Also, the internet is full of “malicious people” who upload pictures just to sue people for stealing those.
According to an article, Dan calls this a “business model” of the photographers. The way he was blaming the photographers, it was pretty much evident that he had no idea of the fact that images are copyrighted even if there was no copyright statement with the pictures.
Also, in this article, John Aldred said that even when Dasilva’s lawyer asked him not to put the video on the internet, he did, which was another “stupid” move. Moreover, he also stated that people should stop stealing others’ work if they don’t want to be sued for copyright infringement.
Here comes the question: Why do people tend to think just because something is available online or appears on Google search results, it is free?
As one of the articles from Photo Claim explained, “Dan Dasilva’s example only shows how crucial it is to keep on educating Internet users and searching for stolen photos online. Image theft is still a pressing issue. “They also said a very crucial thing that should be understood by people while downloading images from the internet and using them that is copyright is acquired automatically when the work is created. Therefore, it is not a good idea to steal someone’s work.
So, how do copyright laws in Australia apply to real estate photography?
The fact sheet “Photographers and Copyright”, published by the Australian Copyright Council which said:
“It is generally an infringement of copyright to deal with a photo in any of the ways exclusively reserved to the copyright owner without the copyright owner’s permission unless copyright has expired.”
Now you might ask what the real estate agents usually do? They basically do two things—
1. They get property listings from other agents and keep on using the same image. It is clear that they did not pay for those images. Sometimes, they find common photos of the same apartment or complex and continue to use them. In a nutshell, they use images from the internet, and they do not seek any approval from the photographer before using the pictures.
2. The real estate agents find local area images that have been taken around the property. They tend to think they can use these images for free. They might find out similar listing where a professional photographer has taken the images, and they save those images to use in their listing.
In both cases, the agents are technically breaking the rule. They are basically stealing. It might sound very blunt, but that’s what they are doing.
How can a real estate agent use photos without breaking the legal rules?
An agent can do two things to avoid these situations:
1. The agents can click the photos of the property by themselves. But here, the problem is the images will be of low quality unless a professional photographer clicks them. As a result, it might devalue the property in front of a buyer.
2. They can hire a professional real estate photographer. The agents will get the images they require, and the photographer will give them permission to use the images for listings for a particular period of time.
Let’s say you pay a real estate photographer to take photos of a property, will you be able to use those images forever?
Unfortunately, NO. You cannot use those images forever unless your photographer gives you permission to do so. They will let you use the image whenever and wherever you want, but for that, you have to pay them a higher price for that one particular image.
For example, you might want to use a photo for the marketing purpose of a single home for 3-4 months. In that case, you will have to pay the cheapest rate. That is because you will only be using the images until the property is sold. However, if you plan to use the photo for, let’s say, 4-5 years, the charges will increase as well.
A photographer will charge you extra when you are using an image for an extended period of time
Real estate photographers and videographers who work professionally need to ensure they are not doing anything that might cause their business any loss. Running a photography business can be highly expensive. According to Thomas Kuoh’s video, if the photographer charges you a fixed fee for unlimited use of the image and again for making the image freely available, the cost would go up. Therefore, to keep the cost down, they charge according to the use of an image.
In the video, Thomas also explained that if a business is using his photographs for marketing purposes, then it is not a direct return on investment. However, when there are high-quality images on a website, it makes the potential customers trust your product and services. So, as a photographer, he is providing value to the business; hence, he should receive his fees alongside licensing (and, of course, the free advertising, wink!).
The Bottom Line…
In conclusion, it can be said that you should never use anything from the internet just because it is “free” because you never know what a “free photo” from Google or Yandex can cost you. When it comes to real estate photography, you should understand using free photos might violate copyright laws and get you in trouble. So, hiring a professional real estate photographer to take photos and then buying a photo license for those images would be the best option.
Image Credit: https://unsplash.com/@bp_miller
