Images as derivative works

Watch where you aim the camera – or rather, where you upload those memories of little Gertrude squeezing her Jabba the Hut doll. Even a photograph of a temporary art installation in Italy or Paraguay could land you in trouble. Yes, you pushed the shutter and thus own the copyright on the image. But make sure no one else holds rights on a creative work within it: then you need permission.

Before you panic, check out Wikimedia's great breakdown. Down the page, its casebook walks you through various scenarios, from sculptures to cave paintings and souvenir replicas of the Venus de Milo.

US law – and most first-world nations' – permits artists and photographers to sell representations of structures permanently in the public view. Egypt, however, recently tried to copyright the Sphinx and Giza's pyramids in a move that sparked much hilarity. Even the bill's author – Ashraf El Ashmawi, legal consultant to the antiquities council – finally admitted he wouldn't take the global witch-hunt to a micro level. "If you have a small shop and your trade is very limited, I will not take money from you," he told National Geographic.

"But if you are a big company, like some of these Chinese companies that make a lot of money from the replicas of antiquities ... according to the law, I can take the fees."

Thanks, fella. I'm glad to know blogger Marie Javins won't be extradited for posting her obligatory sightseeing snaps...

Some areas, like Peleliu (one of Palau's 16 states), may try to levy a commercial photography license on anyone associated with the media, however vaguely. On my last trip there, I was presented with a surprise $50 permit, instead of the usual $3 day-visitor one. I explained I wasn't shooting art for my Sport Diver article – or, indeed, any other at that rate. I offered to leave my cameras in the government office even. The bureaucrat insisted all journalists had to pay, but couldn't accept my credit card on site (the island's pretty rough and ready). Would I swing by the office in Koror?

Like hell.

(I did make a deal with Des, my local guide, that he would email me if his company might be fined for this, then I'd pay the tab. So far, so good.)

Anyway, as a blogger, you may wish to fly under the radar in some areas to avoid these hassles. An official on a five-square-mile state like Peleliu (pop 700) may not understand the nuances of "diary-style blog" versus, say, shooting stock for Getty.