# Are Street Scenes Legal To Sell



## chole (Mar 26, 2011)

I live in the Atlantic City area and have lots of good quality photos of the boardwalk, casinos, and streets, can I legally turn my photos into posters and sell them?

thanks


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## Big Mike (Mar 27, 2011)

Welcome aboard.

Best to check with a lawyer in your area....but for what it's worth, I'd say that yes, it's probably OK.  The catch being that you aren't mass producing the posters.  You also may have to be careful to watch for trademarked logos and such that you might catch in the photos.


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## LarissaPhotography (Mar 28, 2011)

Check out this guy's blog for some great info on street photography - Eric Kim Street Photography Blog | Tips, Techniques, and Inspiration
He's covered legal issues in the past, so you might check the archives for useful info.


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## KmH (Mar 28, 2011)

chole said:


> I live in the Atlantic City area and have lots of good quality photos of the boardwalk, casinos, and streets, can I legally turn my photos into posters and sell them?
> 
> thanks


What it boils down to is the defintions of editorial and commercial usage. Like Mike mentions, there is a line where an editorial use can become a commercial use just because of the volume of distribution.

Sell prints of your photos to individuals locally is an editorial use. You could even have your photos for sale in several gift shops as editorial usage.
Selling prints of your photos to individuals by having Wal-Mart distribute them regionally or nationally would likely be considered commercial use.

Online is not a reliable place to be seeking legal advice.


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## kashar (Mar 28, 2011)

I don't think it is ethical to sell street photo, if people are prominent in that pictures because every one have rights, but still better to check with your local lawyers


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## Snyder (Mar 28, 2011)

kashar said:


> I don't think it is ethical to sell street photo, if people are prominent in that pictures because every one have rights, but still better to check with your local lawyers



You should take a Comm Law class...


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## c.cloudwalker (Mar 28, 2011)

Ethical or not is a matter of opinion, not of law.


Now, the short answer is yes. Sell them as art and you're not likely to have a problem.

But the longer answer is no. When you talk about posters, the next question is how many? Art is limited (very limited) editions. Posters usually are not.

And yes, there is a middle ground. The editorial world. Study that one carefully because the US is Sue-Happy country. But don't study it here, too many would be lawyers here.


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## PhotoWrangler (Mar 28, 2011)

What happened to taking pictures from public property? If she is on public property, and her view from public property includes a McDonalds sign, why couldn't she mass produce those images. Are we supposed to avoid looking at things because its in public view?

Just curious, as I haven't a clue....


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## Big Mike (Mar 29, 2011)

> What happened to taking pictures from public property? If she is on public property, and her view from public property includes a McDonalds sign, why couldn't she mass produce those images. Are we supposed to avoid looking at things because its in public view?


I'm no lawyer, but I think the issue is that logos, like the McDonald's sign, are copyrighted.  It's obviously not so that people don't look at it...but you don't 'make a copy' when you look at it.  
However, when you photograph it and make prints/posters, you are making copies of it....which goes against the copyright.


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## KmH (Mar 29, 2011)

Trademarks/logos cannot be copyrighted in the US, that's why there are seperate trademark stautes.



> *How do I copyright a name, title, slogan or logo?*
> Copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases. In some cases, these things may be protected as trademarks. Contact the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, 800-786-9199, for further information. However, copyright protection may be available for logo artwork that contains sufficient authorship. In some circumstances, an artistic logo may also be protected as a trademark.


 http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html#title

As always, it depends if the use is considered editorial or commercial. Trademarks in a photo used for editorial purposes pose no legal issues.


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## skieur (Mar 29, 2011)

Big Mike said:


> Welcome aboard.
> 
> Best to check with a lawyer in your area....but for what it's worth, I'd say that yes, it's probably OK. The catch being that you aren't mass producing the posters. You also may have to be careful to watch for trademarked logos and such that you might catch in the photos.


 
Photographing a trademark does NOT violate that trademark, because there is no "passing off" which is necessary to constitute trademark violation under the law. To put it another way taking a photo of the Coke logo does not violate trademark, unless you proceed to put your photographed Coke logo on a bottle containing brown drink that you made up, yourself and then tried to "pass it off" as the "real thing"

I should also point out that copyright does not apply to all works in the same way.  A building may be copyrighted but that means against someone using the same plans, arches, or other unique archietectural elements in their own building.  It does not mean that you can't photograph the building and use it in a publication or in some other non-architectural manner.  

A release is only required for advertising use and whether you have a release or not, it really does not prevent you from being sued.



skieur


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