Field guide · Part 10 of 13

Credit, Attribution, and Moral Rights

3 rules on credit, attribution, and moral rights for architectural and real estate photographers, each with its source.

Educational, not legal advice. Every rule below carries its source and a confidence level, because some of this is settled law and some is contested. The ones marked contested need a lawyer's judgement on your facts, not a rule of thumb.

Rule 41Surprising

In the US there is no general legal right to a photo credit; it is a contract term.

Credit lines are negotiated, not guaranteed by copyright, so if you want a credit you must write it into the license.

The misconception: “They legally have to credit me.”

Source: US copyright law contains no general attribution right for photographs; VARA (17 U.S.C. 106A) grants attribution only to narrow “works of visual art.”

Confidence: High. Not contested.

Rule 42

VARA moral rights almost never apply to commercial architectural or real estate photography.

VARA covers only fine-art works of visual art existing in a single copy or a signed, numbered edition of 200 or fewer, which excludes commissioned commercial photography.

The misconception: “Moral rights protect my commercial work.”

Source: 17 U.S.C. 106A and the 17 U.S.C. 101 definition of “work of visual art,” limited to editions of 200 or fewer signed and numbered copies.

Confidence: High. Not contested.

Rule 43

Stripping your metadata can be its own violation worth $2,500 to $25,000 per act, but you must prove intent.

Removing copyright management information is illegal under the DMCA only when the remover had reason to know it would enable or conceal infringement, a bar photographers have repeatedly failed to clear.

The misconception: “Anyone who removes my metadata automatically owes me.”

Source: 17 U.S.C. 1202; Stevens v. CoreLogic (9th Cir. 2018) and Victor Elias Photography v. Shiji (11th Cir., cert. denied 2023) both rejected real estate and hospitality photographers’ CMI claims for lack of the required knowledge showing.

Confidence: High. Circuit splits exist; requires a lawyer’s judgment.

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