Study Task 4

There are several ways in which my current and future practice will be affected by copyright:

I often work from photographs, or incorporate photographic elements into mixed media pieces of work, so I have to be careful (and will continue having to be careful) that I do not infringe upon the copyright of the owners of source material I may be using. 

I need to be aware that copyright for musical, literary, artistic or dramatic work, lasts for 70 years after the death of the creator.  

Using social media to promote my work will risk others stealing my work or creating derivative work and ripping me off.

I haven't yet sold any work at print fairs or other similar events, but I intend to start doing this at some point in the future and when I do, I need to be conscious that I still own the rights to anything I sell. 

Whenever I am commissioned to create work for someone else, I need to arrange a formal, legally binding, contract before starting the work to protect my ownership of the work I produce and protect against being ripped off, e.g. clarifying what the work will be used for, for how long etc.  

If in the future, I exhibit my work  physically in a gallery space, or somewhere acting as a gallery space, I still maintain ownership of it. 

I would need to be aware of any contracts and copyright laws active during employment as an in house illustrator if I ever found myself employed in that capacity, although I have always pictured myself working more in the freelance domain so this is less relevant.