This will be a slightly different post looking at the issue of ownership of photographs.

What is Ownership?

I know this may sound like a silly question but it’s far more complicated than most imagine. Ownership or, if you prefer, ‘private property rights’ are something we all take as a given because we have been taught the concept from birth. But that’s all it is, it’s a concept, an idea, a notion in our heads reinforced by our legal system. It really doesn’t exist in the real world.

I know this sounds a bit crazy but let me take you through a few examples to try and illustrate this. Imagine you go into a shop and buy a pen. Legally, you would now be the owner of that pen. Now lets say you leave the pen lying on a table and somebody comes up and comments that they like said…