“Haven’t I taught you anything? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can’t see where it keeps its brain?” The preceding quote is by J.K. Rowling from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Interesting concept. For over three decades we have unfortunately regularly referenced cases […]
Back To The Future – Again
Feb 21
As a follow up relating to our “Back to the Future” article, Ed recently took the deposition of an employee of a large consumer company which maintains a stock library of photographs used by/or submitted to it for potential use over the years. Various documents were needed by it of and concerning an image, containing […]
This Churning Ain’t Butter
Feb 16
After reading a recent hot case being debated online this week, we noticed a photographer saying his legal costs to pursue his case would be $50,000. We’ll address that in another article, but we thought it would be good to inform about some of the costs of litigation. Auto mechanics, stockbrokers, builders, and countless other […]
Often times an ad agency will seek to obtain a license to use a photo (or a model’s image) and describe that intended usage as, “One year, consumer print advertising”. That seems fine and dandy but if the model’s agent or the photographer has no clue as to what publications the client is intending to […]
Those who sell space in magazines and newspapers well know how to maximize the value of advertising in their products. It is their job to sell advertisers on the wisdom of buying space in their product, which we hope will include lots of your photographs. Unfortunately, photographers have traditionally failed to educate themselves on the nuances of […]
The public’s demand for certain types of imagery is seemingly insatiable. Celebrity driven Star magazine for example, receives over 750,000 images per month from a variety of sources including stock agencies, photo syndicators and individual photographers both professional and amateur. They don’t discriminate, you got the shot, they want it. Web sites concentrating on gossip and […]
No topic we discuss attracts more attention than that of the need to obtain written, signed model releases. Broadly speaking, the need is motivated by the desire or need to employ the photographs in connection with the sale or promotion of any product, service, company or organization (whether a for profit enterprise or otherwise). In […]
Location Booby Prize
Jan 19
Here’s another high profile example of why we preach that obtaining property and location agreements is a wise practice. Photographer Allen Henson has been working on a photo project featuring topless women in public places. The New York Daily News and countless other media outlets have covered his exploits for obvious reasons – puns intended. On […]
A Federal Court has just upheld warrantless border searches conducted at or near our nation’s borders. These searches may include an examination of the contents including photographs contained in your camera, smart phone or digital device. If you are a photojournalist returning from a stint in say the Middle East, be prepared to be detained […]
The act of taking funds out of the cash register and diverting them for some illegal, unintended or illegitimate purpose is commonly called “skimming”. One who is caught engaging in such activity at say a casino, often disappears for eternity. A “defalcation” is an amount of funds misappropriated (a/k/a “stolen”) by a person trusted with receiving […]
