As we, the Monroe Times staff, have become more diligent in posting full photo galleries to our website and Facebook, we wanted to educate readers on proper use of the Monroe Times photos. While we love that you’d like to use them for game day promotions, college announcements — National Signing Day is February 7— or general sharing on social media, our photos come with precaution.
All Monroe Times photos are protected by copyright. That means any copy, reproduction, distribution, publishing, display, performance, modification, derivative works, transmissions, or any exploitation of any such content, without the Monroe Times consent is subject to legal repercussions. To avoid a sticky situation, we’ve laid out a couple key points to understand copyright.
What is copyright?
Copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives the creator of that work the exclusive and legal right to copy, distribute, adapt or display that work. Simply put, the author of said work has the sole right on how their work is displayed. Copyright ensures that another person or party does not pass the work off as their own. If a person or party uses or reproduces a copyrighted piece without the permission of the author, they are committing copyright infringement. Copyrighted material is usually signified by a watermark.
What is a watermark?
A watermark is a logo, image or text placed on photos that signals to a viewer the image is protected by copyright. In the instance of Monroe Times photos, that is our logo, which can be found at the top of our paper, on our website or on our social media.
What constitutes copyright infringement?
While copyright infringement is the reproduction of a protected work without the permission of the author, it can take multiple forms. For example, if you as a parent, player or fan take a sports photo and share it in such a way that the watermark is not visible — whether through deliberate removal or cropping — that is copyright infringement. This applies to Facebook/Instagram profile pictures, game day posts or other promotional content. If that is the case, we advise tagging the Monroe Times in social media comments and the photo itself. While this form of copyright infringement is not as serious, a larger problem arises with the exchange of money.
What are the repercussions of copyright infringement?
If you as a parent, player or fan use a sports photo as a profile picture or as part of a social media post without giving proper credit — the watermark is not visible and you did not tag the Monroe Times in the comments or the photo itself — we will kindly ask that you do so. The repercussions for this type of infringement are simply a request on our end to give proper credit.
However, our legal team becomes involved with the exchange of money. If you pay a graphic designer to create a college announcement, senior poster or any other creative work using a copyrighted photo, you are subject to legal repercussions. On the first occurrence, we will explain copyright rules, how they were broken and give a warning. We will also ask that you pay for digital rights of the photo, which is $24.95. If copyright infringement continues, we will issue a cease and desist letter.
What is a cease and desist letter?
A cease and desist letter explains in detail that copyright infringement has taken place and identifies which work was infringed upon, when the infringement occurred and where, a demand to cease and desist (refrain from) further infringement with a deadline included and warning of legal action if demands are not met. If taken to court and found guilty, parties can face civil consequences such as fines and the cost of attorney fees.
Why does this matter?
After reading all of that legal jargon, you may wonder, why does it matter? It’s just some photos from my local newspaper; they put it out there for everyone to see anyway.
Believe it or not, photographers are artists, too. We put a lot of time and money into our craft. Personally, our equipment — camera and lenses — cost upwards of $2,000. We took classes on photography and photo editing. We get credentials for floor access, putting themselves in just the right spot for that perfect shot. Finally, we put countless hours into taking the photos and editing them.
Simply put, there is far more behind-the-scenes work that goes into the final image you see posted online or on social media. Give photographers some love by respecting their copyrighted work.
If you need further clarification on any of the aforementioned points, please do not hesitate to reach out! We want to foster a positive relationship with our readers and viewers and allow them to continue to use our photos properly.
— Natalie Dillon is the sports editor of the Times and can be reached at
ndillon@themonroetimes.com.
