Are images on NewcastleOnHunter copyright?
Every image on NewcastleOnHunter.com bearing our watermark is copyrighted to this website.
There is no system of registration for copyright protection in Australia. Copyright protection does not depend upon registration, publication, a copyright notice, or any other procedure, but is free and automatic.
A photograph is protected by copyright automatically from the moment it is taken. As a result of international treaties most foreign copyright owners are protected in Australia, and Australian copyright owners are protected in most other countries.
Can I use images from NewcastleOnHunter.com?
Unlike many public libraries and museums - custodians of heritage that is the property of everyone, yet charge like wounded bulls for non-profit reproduction – NewcastleOnHunter licenses you to re-publish images from this weblog under these conditions:
- If they do not contain our watermark, they are not ours to give
- If they contain the watermark "Newcastle On Hunter" then you are free to use then in any way EXCEPT:
- Steal them *
- Use them commercially **
* Stealing means removing the watermark and/or claiming the image is yours.
** Commercial use means making money from our images by selling or reproducing them in advertisements or any other forms of for-profit printery, marketing, design, etc. — unless you are advertising this web site ;0)
In return for publishing we insist on a courtesy mention, but really would love a web link back to this web site. The HTML code for doing this:
<a href=”http://newcastleonhunter.com” title="Blog on Newcastle, Australia" target="_blank"> Image courtesy of NewcastleOnHunter.com </a>
You may vary the text displayed by the above code (" Image courtesy of NewcastleOnHunter ") to suit your page.
- Or you can use the image on your site as the link.
- Please do not hot-link to my pictures, but place the image on your server.
- Deep linking is OK.
Why don’t we use more photographs from public sources?
As a not-for-profit website we find publicly-funded institutions manage public property with a "user-pay" policy, especially against those who wish only to bring these pictures off the shelves into public view, to non-commercially highlight or illustrate articles of historical interest.
And not insignificant fees, either. This from the Newcastle City Library:
Reproduction Fees – Internet
Pictures held by Local History sectionNon-commercial up to 3 months $35.00
3-6 months $49.50
6-12 months $66.00
Well, excuse me for paying my taxes to build and maintain the library, then being "priced out of the market" by an ideologically-fashionable economic model.
Does this mean we cannot use historic material in exactly the way such collections are intended – for social and historic illumination and sharing?
Gladly, some Australian museums (and public utilities) resist such socially-corrosive monetisation of public infrastructure, such as the enlightened NSW State Library:
Unless otherwise stated, you may access, download, print, reproduce and distribute content on this website for individual or non-commercial use provided that the copyright ownership is acknowledged.
