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Photo publishing copyright issues...

by DavidO
13 replies
Is it legal to publish a photo of someone on your website without their permission? This person is a public figure whose photo is published elsewhere on the web.
#copyright #issues #photo #publishing
  • Profile picture of the author WD Mino
    If they are a public figure that is fine there are a ton of images online concerning those kind of people just look at how many capitalized on obama stuff before he was elected

    -WD
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  • Profile picture of the author Paul Guilfoyle
    I'm not a lawyer but personally I would be very careful with this. If there is any question that the person supports or endorses your site you could get in big trouble. Public figures tend to have deep pockets and are not shy of taking legal action.There may also be implications from the new FTC regs re endorsements from personalites.Have you looked at this? Like me you are based in the UK but especially if we have US based consumers I don't see we're exempt from this.

    If you really want to do this you should take legal advice from an IM expert lawyer unless you have no aversion to risk whatsoever.

    Paul
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    • Profile picture of the author DavidO
      Paul, your comments make sense. I will ask permission to use the photo because the way I'm using it could imply an endorsement. There's a good chance of a "yes".
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      • Profile picture of the author WD Mino
        Ohhhhh..
        Yeah ok that is a good point I never thought of that

        sorry for the above post disregard I was thinking something different altogether.

        -WD
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        "As a man thinks in his heart so is he-Proverbs 23:7"

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      • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
        Banned
        Originally Posted by DavidO View Post

        Paul, your comments make sense. I will ask permission to use the photo because the way I'm using it could imply an endorsement. There's a good chance of a "yes".
        If it implies an endorsement, you need more than permission to use the photo. You need the person to be actually endorsing the product and permission to say so and use the photo. It's just the same with logos. I've had numerous emails from ad networks stating that use of logos on your pages or ads is no longer permissable, that you cannot imply endorsement.
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  • Profile picture of the author activetrader
    Originally Posted by DavidO View Post

    Is it legal to publish a photo of someone on your website without their permission? This person is a public figure whose photo is published elsewhere on the web.
    From the little I know as a pro model, the copyright owner is the photographer. He or she owns the copyright.

    Look closely... does the photo contain a valid copyright notice?

    If so, the copyright owner (if has a problem) will first send you a cease and desist letter.

    Then if you don't comply (meaning if you don't take the picture off of your site, the copyright owner can elect to sue you for damages or for injunctive relief meaning that to get a court order to have the picture taken down). And even before they send you a cease and desist letter, they will likely attempt to get you on DMCA to your hosting provider first.

    This is NOT legal advice and should not be construed as such.

    For info, check out http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html

    This is concerning the US law
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    • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
      David,

      There are two legal issues here.

      1)Copyright/ownership of the image. There are almost no current "public domain" photos. They are generally the property of someone and you need permission to use them. The owner is usually the company or person who took the photo, not the subject of the photo.

      2)"Right of publicity." This is a law in many U.S. states (and probably elsewhere in the world) that states that the subject of a photo has the sole right to commercially exploit their own image. You need their permission to use their image for your commercial gain. This means that even if there were such a thing as a copyright-free image of Oprah Winfrey, you still could not use her image to enrich yourself, by using it in advertising (directly or indirectly) without her permission.

      Even dead people have right #2 for quite a number of years. That's why you cannot legally use Elvis Presley's photo in your business logo.

      The fact that these principles are widely ignored doesn't mean it's legal to do so.

      I'm not a lawyer, but the above gives you a framework for further investigation.

      Marcia Yudkin
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  • Profile picture of the author Pat Lovell
    Originally Posted by DavidO View Post

    Is it legal to publish a photo of someone on your website without their permission? This person is a public figure whose photo is published elsewhere on the web.
    The simple answer is NO

    As a photographer and someone who gets paid for taking photos, I can give you a couple reasons.

    1. The photographer owns the copyright to the image

    2. The person in the photo should have signed a model release (if the photographer did his/her job correctly) and the release may not pass on any rights of use to anyone other than the original photographer. There could be many other issues in the release as well.

    You wouldn't believe how many of my photos I find because people grabbed them from Google Images. When contacted they thought they were perfectly fine using the photos because they found them on Google. I've learned to protect my photos much better now.
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    • Profile picture of the author kumar
      Originally Posted by Pat Lovell View Post

      The simple answer is NO

      As a photographer and someone who gets paid for taking photos, I can give you a couple reasons.

      1. The photographer owns the copyright to the image

      2. The person in the photo should have signed a model release (if the photographer did his/her job correctly) and the release may not pass on any rights of use to anyone other than the original photographer. There could be many other issues in the release as well.

      You wouldn't believe how many of my photos I find because people grabbed them from Google Images. When contacted they thought they were perfectly fine using the photos because they found them on Google. I've learned to protect my photos much better now.
      Hi Pat,

      Is there any way you can find if someone is using your
      copyrighted images? Google alerts, tracking codes etc.?
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      • Profile picture of the author Pat Lovell
        Originally Posted by kumar View Post

        Hi Pat,

        Is there any way you can find if someone is using your
        copyrighted images? Google alerts, tracking codes etc.?
        I use certain name files, image protection and embed a watermark in my photos when displayed. If I put a photo on a site for display, sale or a contest, I always give a low resolution and embed my name and copyright into the photo file info.

        So, if the image is viewed using iPhoto, photoshop, etc.. you can see the type of camera, the settings you shot with and your name and contact info.
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        • Profile picture of the author dljmktg1
          Michael Jordan is currently suing a couple of Chicago businesses for $10,000,000 for wrongful use of his image in a way that could imply an endorsement. (And this was in ads to honor his induction to the hall of fame)

          Google it for details.

          But any kind of implied endorsement could get you in big trouble.


          Dan
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          • Profile picture of the author Pat Lovell
            Originally Posted by dljmktg1 View Post

            Michael Jordan is currently suing a couple of Chicago businesses for $10,000,000 for wrongful use of his image in a way that could imply an endorsement. (And this was in ads to honor his induction to the hall of fame)

            Google it for details.

            But any kind of implied endorsement could get you in big trouble.


            Dan
            The easiest way to know that you are using an image correctly... informed written consent.
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  • Profile picture of the author WD Mino
    Wow did i give some bad advice I am so sorry.

    I thought this was in reference to you know a site selling something I don't know I feel stupid but I am glad the fellow warriors stepped up Gee how dumb can ya get.LoL

    sorry David I thought I was giving good advice

    I learned something
    -WD
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    "As a man thinks in his heart so is he-Proverbs 23:7"

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