Copyright law restricts the legal right to copy photographs to those who have permission. Permission can only be granted by the copyright holder or their agent.

'Copy' in this context includes making prints, publishing or distributing photographs in any medium, or making copies of files and distributing them electronically. It includes plagiarism, the taking of a photograph based on another. If the copy resembles the original image closely enough to be recognisable as a copy of the original, copyright has been infringed.

Thanks to international agreements, copyright law is broadly similar in most countries of the world.