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Comment by chii | Hacker News Reader

> Who owns the copyright when you ask someone to take a photo of you using your phone in a tourist location?

because you asked and they complied, there's a work contract between said photo-button presser and you. The implicit agreement is that you own the copyright to the photo, and the consideration paid is a word of thanks from you.

Now on the other hand...if you dropped your phone, and a stranger with no prior interaction picked it up, and pressed the button, then you can argue that they own the copyright.

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> Now on the other hand...if you dropped your phone, and a stranger with no prior interaction picked it up, and pressed the button, then you can argue that they own the copyright.

If they've performed an Unauthorized Access to a Computer System then they may want to drop any copyright claim.

Precisely.

> because you asked and they complied, there's a work contract between said photo-button presser and you.

That's not how contract law works.

> The implicit agreement is that you own the copyright to the photo, and the consideration paid is a word of thanks from you.

Even if there was an otherwise valid contract, with this as an implicit term, you can't transfer copyright ownership from the actual author by implicit agreement: "A transfer of copyright ownership, other than by operation of law, is not valid unless an instrument of conveyance, or a note or memorandum of the transfer, is in writing and signed by the owner of the rights conveyed or such owner’s duly authorized agent." (17 USC Sec. 204)

> because you asked and they complied, there's a work contract between said photo-button presser and you

No, this can't happen, because there is no consideration.

> and the consideration paid is a word of thanks from you

Nope. You can call it consideration, but that won't make it consideration.

consideration doesnt have to be money.

No, but it does have to exist. A private word of thanks isn't enough to even rise to that level.

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