What type of intellectual property protection is suitable for a photographer’s website gallery of stock photos?

The appropriate type of intellectual property protection for a photographer’s website gallery of stock photos is copyright. Copyright protection automatically applies to original works of authorship, which includes photographs, as soon as they are created and fixed in a tangible medium. This means that the photographer has exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, and display their photos.

Copyright safeguards against unauthorized use of the images, enabling the photographer to control how their work is used commercially or personally. This protection exists intuitively for works like photographs, thus allowing the creator to monetize their portfolio effectively.

Other forms of intellectual property protection do not adequately cover the unique aspects of photographic work. For example, patents are intended for inventions or processes, which do not apply to stock photos. Trademarks protect brand identifiers and logos, which are unrelated to the artistic content of the images themselves. Trade secrets are about keeping specific confidential business information private, which is not relevant to publicly displayed photographs. Thus, copyright is specifically tailored to address the rights of creators in the realm of visual arts like photography.