04/10/2025
Many people engage the services of photographers for their photoshoots, weddings, house opening ceremonies and so on without knowing what right they have and the rights of the photographer over those photos.
Know this today, the photographer has legal rights over your photos more than you do and he can decide to use your photos to do whatever he so please for as long as it's legal.
According to section 2(1)(c), Section 2(2) and section 108 of the Nigerian Copyright Act of 2022, the law protects the photographer as the owner of the original intellectual property (photos) and he has rights over the photos.
As long as the photos were originally created by him, he recorded them either in digital or print version, he captured the images, including decisions about lighting, angle, editing and timing, he has copyright over the photos. This is because the photographer would bring his own creativity to the final product.
***What is copyright?***
Copyright is the right to copy a specific property in an original work. It gives you the right to reproduce, adopt, distribute, perform, and display the work. These include photos.
***Can you claim rights over your photos taken by the photographer?***
You cannot claim rights over your photos except the photographer gives you copyright through a formal agreement or exclusive license.
This means that if you don't want the photographer to use your photos for things you did not agree to, you have to sign an agreement with the photographer, asking him to give you the rights he has over the photos. If he refuses to give you the rights, there is nothing you can do because they belong to him.
Under section 10(1) of the Act, the copyright holder, being the photographer has exclusive right to post your photos, share them to the public and publish them and there is nothing you can do against him because he did not transfer his copyright to you.
***Why did you then pay the photographer if he has rights over your photos more than you do?***
What you paid the photographer for, is for him to use his creativity to take photos of you and share them with you. Nothing more and nothing less.
***Can you sue for the use of your photos by people?***
In line with section 37(1) of the Copyright Act of 2022, you cannot sue anyone who uses your photos because you do not have copyright over them.
Only the photographer can sue anyone who used the photos without his consent. You can only sue if the photographer gave you copyright over the photos through an agreement.
In a recent case of Ubom v. Globacom (Nig.) Ltd. [2025] before the Supreme Court, Ubom sued Globalcom for the unauthorized use of her photographs on national billboards promoting a competition. The Supreme Court held that Ubom did not show that she has original rights over the photo that was used or that she got copyright from the original owner and so she cannot sue for the use of her pictures under copyright law. You see the law is the law even if it's your face that was used.
The takeaway from this is that the use of one’s photos without consent may not always amount to copyright infringement, but it can ground a claim for breach of contract.
As the person in the photo, you can only approach the court under section 37 of the Constitution on right to privacy if your photos were being used in a manner that goes against your right to privacy but you go explain tire because you are not the original owner of the photo.
You only have copyright over the photos you took with your phone and can sue anyone who uses your photos without your consent.
Ignorance of the law is not an excuse!
