In a brief essay titled Orphan Works: A Rant, posted on ©ollecanea, Kenny Crews presents an interestingly common example of how a common encounter results in an orphan work.
“…I kindly handed the camera to a total stranger, requesting a photo of the whole gang. The stranger complied, took a picture, and handed that camera back to me. I might own the camera and stored image, but the tourist who just drifted back to Iowa composed the picture and evidently under the law owns the copyright.”
It is extremely unlikely to become an issue for those of us who are on either side of the camera in this situation, but the potential is there. An absolute stickler for copyright would need to have a release form handy, or limit their use of the photo to that allowed under the fair use section.
Now we understand that these situations reflect a favor without any expectation of payment, but it is interesting that in the current legal environment we would need to recognize these possibilities. What if it were to turn out that one of the people was (or is about to become) famous, and the photograph is later featured on the cover of a national magazine? Then the photographer might become interested in the fine points of copyright law.
