sanjay_kothari1

Hi Anilafom, You have the right to put those works up on your site as far as I understand copyright law. Let me clarify. A typical ad campaign is designed by an advertising agency art director or creative director and yet the copyright belongs to the photographer who actually created it. Copyright is awarded to the person who actually creates the work ( not the idea ). Similarly, you are the person who is doing the actual work ( in this case retouching ). The doesnt mean that you now own the photograph but you have rights over the work which you have contributed in creating this derivative work. " A “derivative work” is a work based upon one or more preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted. A work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications, which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship, is a “derivative work”. Chapter 1 - Circular 92 | U.S. Copyright Office The copyright in a work initially belongs to the author(s) who created that work. When two or more authors create a single work with the intent of merging their contributions into inseparable or interdependent parts of a unitary whole, the authors are considered joint authors and have an indivisible interest in the work as a whole. By contrast, if multiple authors contribute to a collective work, each Copyright Basics 3 author’s individual contribution is separate and distinct from the copyright ownership in the collective work as a whole. “Works made for hire” are an important exception to the general rule for claiming copyright. When a work is made for hire, the author is not the individual who actually created the work. Instead, the party that hired the individual is considered the author and the copyright owner of the work. If you havent signed a work for hire agreement, then the work is a derivative work. . Do not expect any support from photographers on this issue as there is a conflict of interest.