The first two areas to consider are:
Journalists seek the licensing for the images, videos, and audio files they use from sources like Reuters, AP, Getty, or perhaps a freelance photographer, videographer, or audio recordist.
Journalists can't just use the images, videos, and audio files they discover without permission. For newsworthy photos, the photographer expects compensation to grant that permission.
If you're the one engaging a creator for these tasks, it's essential that you clarify and document these permissions in advance and document the agreement. You need to maintain a record of the origins and ownership if the file in the metadata for the digital assets works best for journalists. For best practices, you want to supply authorisation to use the digital assets when downloaded by the journalist.
As for personality rights, which are relatively universal worldwide, editorial use is protected. Personality rights are less of a concern for you and journalists unless how these assets are used in PR falls into a grey area of "commercial use".
"Commercial use" varies by region, with the restrictions commonly found on use in advertising. If you use someone's digital asset to advertise a product they don't endorse, you engage in libel. This is why photographers get model releases when making images for commercial use. As a commercial business, it is best to have a Digital Asset Management solution connected to your online newsroom to manage this process and to reduce the risk of your PR team making mistakes.
Copyright attaches as soon as a work of authorship is created. It does not require the author to file any special paperwork, as do patents or trademarks. The work can be literary, written, dramatic, artistic (photographs, video, audio, infographics, etc.), musical, and other works.
A copyright holder has four exclusive rights (17 USC Section 106):
Copyright does not apply to:
Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect how these things are expressed.
Works in the public domain:
In the United States uses of images, videos and audio files may fall under the Fair Use" Doctrine, Section 107 (17 USC Section 107) of the Copyright Act states, which states:
The fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.
In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use, the four factors to be considered shall include:
This article serves only as an opportunity to make you and your team aware of the legal and ethical responsibilities of applying and providing digital assets in your PR strategies. It also provides an introductory guide to journalists' duties to their publishers. Do not use this as a definitive guide; instead, seek independent legal advice on creating a policy that applies to your collections, usage and jurisdictions.
