Re: Newbee & Online Photo Legalities Question



So, you think I could take your photo (in public), put it on T-shirts,
sell
them without a release from you and have no worries?

I said nothing about selling T-shirts. I said that
there is no problem selling *pictures* to anyone.

DBE's correct in that it would be a problem. It doesn't matter if the
medium of the "sale" is cotton or paper. It is a problem to sell an
image without permission.

That is not true. What matters is whether it is for
commercial use, comes under "fair use", or is for
educational or private use.

It very obviously would *not* be a problem to sell
pictures that you take at a public sporting event (i.e.,
where admission is free) just because there are
recognizable children in the picture! Do you doubt that
a freelance photographer can take pictures and then sell
them to the newspaper, and that the newspaper can
publish them? All without any "release to authorize"
either the taking of the image, the selling of the
image, or the publishing of the image? It's done every
day!

Can you provide credible cites to support your claims?

If it is not for commercial use, you can publish it or
sell it for eductional, news, or private use. It all
comes under the "fair use" in copyright law, and there
simply is no issue of privacy if taken in public
(assuming certain other restrictions are also met, none
of which have specifically to do with children or
parental concent). See item 3:

http://www.photosecrets.com/law.use.html

This web site goes into some detail explaining what you
cannot do, and does not indicate anywhere that the above
sales of images at a public event would be either an
invasion of privacy or a copyright violation. It is
simply perfectly legal.

http://www.rcfp.org/photoguide/intro.html

Here's the real kicker though:


http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/andrewkantor/2006-08-11-photography-rights_x.htm

"For example, if you shoot individual kids playing in
a school football game, you can't try to sell those
shots to the parents; the kids have a right to the use
of their likeness. You can sell photos of the game in
general, though, and any shots where what's happening
("A player celebrates a goal") is more important than
who's doing it ("Star running back John Doe takes a
momentary rest").

Sound like a gray area? It is if you're planning to
sell the pictures, but not if you're simply displaying
them. And if you're using them for news purposes, all
bets are off ? you can pretty much publish whatever
you want if it happens in public view."

Hence, it *is* legal to take pictures that show
individuals as part of a game, and those pictures can be
sold to virtually anyone. HOWEVER, that particular
lawyer is saying that if you take, at a publicly open
sporting event, a picture that is clearly *just* a
picture of one individual player you cannot sell it to
the _parents_, absent concent from the child.

--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska) floyd@xxxxxxxxxx


The newspaper scenario muddies the waters as they are protected under the
First Amendment. If the newspaper wanted to use these photos to promote the
paper, they would need a release.

In any event, the burden is with the publisher and not the photographer
even though the photographer is normally the one who gets the release.

One must also keep in mind the privacy laws can change from state to state,
especially regarding minors...

Imagine this scenario, A photographer takes shots and a sporting event and
the returns to the next game selling prints,t-shirts, coffee mugs, buttons
etc. etc. in a kiosk outside the venue.

Is he within his rights to do so without a release from those depicted on
these products? Is any one product different than the others? Is the print
okay but the t-shirt not...

How about a photo CD?






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