Photos enjoy copyright. But it would be absurd if I could take a
snapshot of Big Ben and then sue every Nikon-carrying Japanese
tourist who took a photo that happened to be similar to mine. But
what if I put some real effort into my photo? There was an
interesting decision in the UK recently involving something
that's all the rage now – black and white photos of some
iconic city scene, with one feature being bright red. In this case,
the photo was of a bus driving over a bridge, with Big Ben and the
Houses of Parliament in the background. All in black and white,
except for the bus which was bright red. The owner of the copyright
in one such photo (there are in fact many and, as a pedant of my
very close acquaintance points outs, some contain elementary
errors, like a bus going south over the river marked
'Piccadilly Circus') sued a photographer who came up with
something that was very similar.
