According to TMZ, Bradley Cooper owns the copyright. Even though it was Ellen's phone/camera, once she hands it to Bradley, he is the photographer. How would he retrieve the original if it lives on Ellen's phone? If you saw it happen on the telecast, Ellen organized the selfie, and had every intention of taking the picture, when Bradley took the phone to extend it out further to include more people in the shot. Might be an interesting court fight.

http://www.tmz.com/2014/03/04/ellen-degeneres-bradley-cooper-oscar-photo-twitter-pic/

I think the generally accepted practice is that when someone sets up the shot and someone else just pushes the button, that the setter-upper owns the shot.

Exactly. The creator/owner of the copyright and material possession of the image is the person who plans/create the shot.

Even if it was my phone that took the picture, Elen would still hold the copyright.

In these terms, the person who pushes the button, even if it owns the equipment does not have any rights, except maybe to charge for the "rental" of the equipment and the work of pushing the button.

I'm guessing Samsung had an agreement that would give them copyright to the photo.

Good point! This is Hollywood. Everything is fake. Might not have been as spontaneous as it appeared. Could have been a complete setup suggested by Samsung.

This is Hollywood - And the academy gets a fee for allowing them to have the product placement on the show. Everything is about $$$$$

Quote from: Shelma1 on March 04, 2014, 11:07

I'm guessing Samsung had an agreement that would give them copyright to the photo.

Exactly what I was thinking. I'm sure Samsung had something in the deal that gives them ownership of whatever is captured on the camera.

Kevin Spacey is so good, look at his face

(left-to-right): Jared Leto, Jennifer Lawrence, Channing Tatum, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Kevin Spacey, Bradley Cooper, Brad Pitt, Lupita Nyong'O, Peter N'yongO and Angelina Jolie.

Quote from: Shelma1 on March 04, 2014, 11:07

I'm guessing Samsung had an agreement that would give them copyright to the photo.

Good point! This is Hollywood. Everything is fake. Might not have been as spontaneous as it appeared. Could have been a complete setup suggested by Samsung.

Yes, it was. This was a paid Samsung promotion, followed up the next day by a plug and giveaway on the Ellen show. I'd be willing to bet a photographer or DP snapped the actual photo that was tweeted...doubtful that they would have gotten everyone in and the photo relatively straight if it was a real "selfie."

Howdy,

 From everything I have learned by law the person that pushes the button owns the rights unless there has been a signed agreement that states otherwise previous to the taking of the photo.

So what if the owner of a camera/phone deletes the image against the button-pusher's wishes? I'm guessing the equipment-owner holds the trump card?

Yeah, but there isn't an app to get it onto Alamy or Getty. 

You (Ellen) are paid by Samsung to promote the Galaxy, and Samsung pays big bucks to be a sponsor of the Oscars and for product placement on the show. Look at the photo of them taking a selfie. Look at the selfie that was tweeted. Look where everyone's eyes are looking in both shots...they had multiple photographers and cameras set up for the shot. Whether all the cameras were Galaxies I don't know. But this was a well-planned marketing effort. And the best shot of many was the one tweeted.

Also, note the nicely lit highlights on the hair of several of the actors. Very purposely lit, multiple angles, multiple cameras...

I don't know about multiple cameras - when I was watching, there wasn't anyone else in that area onscreen, and I don't see any other cameras in the rear view.  People never know where to look with camera phones.  Do you look at yourself on the screen, look at the button, where's the camera hole?

There had to be at least one more camera to take a picture of them taking the selfie. Yes?

Poor Liza.



Is there a notated list of who all those people are?

Look in front of the group of actors in the bottom shot. There's a phalanx of cameras facing them, positioned in the aisle below the stage. They're casting shadows in the stage lights. They also had a camera positioned above and behind the group, which is where that rear shot came from. No doubt some or all are video cameras.

This was set up beforehand, with Ellen instructed to lead people towards the bank of cameras and hitting a mark on the floor so they'd be in the right spot.

Here's another angle:
https://twitter.com/nazmraz/status/440406687837454336/photo/1

And the Liza shot:
https://twitter.com/nazmraz/status/440402906227822592/photo/1

Hard to tell, but looks like there are 3 assistants and one camera guy.  Maybe the first image above came from an on stage video camera.