(From digitalcameraworld.com)

What is metadata?

Don’t worry, you’re not alone. It confuses many photographers at first.

The metadata definition generally used is that metadata is simply a set of data that describes and gives information about other data. For photographers, that ‘other data’ is your images. Your digital camera will embed information in each photo it takes that identifies what camera created the file, the exposure information and more.

Read the full article here:
http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2012/02/28/what-is-metadata-copyright-photos-in-4-steps/

Getty Images is appealing a French court decision that could set a precedent affecting stock photographers across the world, BJP has learnt.

The case was launched by Pernette Martin-Barsac and Jacqueline Jeanneret Gris, who are the respective holders of the hereditary and moral rights over the works of furniture designers Charlotte Perriand and Pierre Jeanneret. Both designers worked with Charles-Edouart Jeanneret, also known as Le Corbusier, to create a series of armchairs and sofas that have become iconic items of the 20th Century.

Read more: British Journal of Photography

There is always a debate on watermarking your images, with some saying it ruins images and others insisting that it is an important step to protecting your work online.
If you are happy to post your images online without a watermark then that's your choice, as much as it's others choice to place a watermark.

Lets start with the basic principle:
A watermark is a semi-transparent marking on an image, created to protect the image itself from being credited to another person or becoming an Orphan Work.

Using our resources, have you found your work in use on the Internet without your permission?
A staggering 90% of photographers have.

We love to know and you can add your response to this question on Facebook here:
http://www.facebook.com/questions/360566353962076/?qa_ref=ssp

‎"Ask Before You Take"
Here's an idea for a little campaign, getting people to "ask" before they "take" our work.
You can put this simple statement on your website to encourage people to think first, and you can link it to a further statement that can include your copyright & licence details.
What do you think?

“When I Borrow Someone’s Car for a Couple of Hours I Slip Them Fifty Quid”

Check out "The Telegraphs" attitude toward copyright, and a brilliant photographers response...
http://goo.gl/IjBYT

It's bad enough trying to stop the general public stealing our work, but when it's a fellow photographer... not a very good example of good business practice is it.

"A British photographer exposed for using copyrighted images without permission is up to his old tricks three years on, reports Simon Barber. (Additional reporting by AP's Chris Cheesman)

A professional photographer who in 2009 was accused of passing off other photographers' work as his own - and was investigated by police for alleged fraud - is once again the subject of serious allegations.

On his website Mark Stothard, who is thought to live in Somerset, describes himself as a 'committed, professional, commercial, press and sports photographer with years of experience'.

However, others who knew him in a previous incarnation, as Mark the Photographer described him as a 'conman' and a 'fake'."

Read more here:
http://goo.gl/FP5tn