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From: none on 6 Jul 2008 21:19
This is actually a copyright and ownership question, but I'm posting it here
because this is the most heavily trafficked photo newsgroup.

Friends of ours called me with some surprise to say that while they were at
a local chain restaurant they noticed some old photos on the wall near their
table. When they took a closer look they discovered that they were photos
from my old high school, some of which were of plays which were done while I
was there. While I'm not sure yet, I'm concerned that some of these may be
photos that I took while I was there. Not only was I in a few of these
plays, but I also took many photos during informal and dress rehearsals. In
some cases the school asked if they could use some of my work for things
like posters and the yearbooks, but in no cases did I ever turn over the
negatives to them for their ownership. If I find that the high school gave
this restaurant permission to use some reproduced photos for which I still
own the negatives of (yes, this is before the days of digital, I'm sorry),
do I have any rights as the original holder of these images?


From: nospam on 6 Jul 2008 22:05
In article <Uaeck.166$0V1.104(a)trndny01>, none <none(a)none.com> wrote:

> This is actually a copyright and ownership question, but I'm posting it here
> because this is the most heavily trafficked photo newsgroup.

actually, you might try misc.legal, since this issue has more to do
with copyrights than it does photography, so i set the followup
accordingly.

based on your description below, it sounds like it's worth at least
finding out what your options are. i'd suggest you contact a qualified
attorney who deals with these types of cases. most will offer a free
initial consultation, where you can find out if it's worth pursuing.

legal advice from a newsgroup is worth what you pay for it (arguably
less), since a qualified lawyer will tell you call one and discuss
specifics and a non-lawyer will probably get some things (if not a lot
of things) wrong.

> Friends of ours called me with some surprise to say that while they were at
> a local chain restaurant they noticed some old photos on the wall near their
> table. When they took a closer look they discovered that they were photos
> from my old high school, some of which were of plays which were done while I
> was there. While I'm not sure yet, I'm concerned that some of these may be
> photos that I took while I was there. Not only was I in a few of these
> plays, but I also took many photos during informal and dress rehearsals. In
> some cases the school asked if they could use some of my work for things
> like posters and the yearbooks, but in no cases did I ever turn over the
> negatives to them for their ownership. If I find that the high school gave
> this restaurant permission to use some reproduced photos for which I still
> own the negatives of (yes, this is before the days of digital, I'm sorry),
> do I have any rights as the original holder of these images?
From: John McWilliams on 6 Jul 2008 22:26
[rpd added back.]

nospam wrote:
> In article <Uaeck.166$0V1.104(a)trndny01>, none <none(a)none.com> wrote:
>
>> This is actually a copyright and ownership question, but I'm posting it here
>> because this is the most heavily trafficked photo newsgroup.
>
> actually, you might try misc.legal, since this issue has more to do
> with copyrights than it does photography, so i set the followup
> accordingly.

Well, that's plain wrong. X-posting is a better way, but sending it off
to a group unknown and unused by 99.6% of the folks here is uninformed.

> based on your description below, it sounds like it's worth at least
> finding out what your options are. i'd suggest you contact a qualified
> attorney who deals with these types of cases. most will offer a free
> initial consultation, where you can find out if it's worth pursuing.
>
> legal advice from a newsgroup is worth what you pay for it (arguably
> less), since a qualified lawyer will tell you call one and discuss
> specifics and a non-lawyer will probably get some things (if not a lot
> of things) wrong.
>
>> Friends of ours called me with some surprise to say that while they were at
>> a local chain restaurant they noticed some old photos on the wall near their
>> table. When they took a closer look they discovered that they were photos
>> from my old high school, some of which were of plays which were done while I
>> was there. While I'm not sure yet, I'm concerned that some of these may be
>> photos that I took while I was there. Not only was I in a few of these
>> plays, but I also took many photos during informal and dress rehearsals. In
>> some cases the school asked if they could use some of my work for things
>> like posters and the yearbooks, but in no cases did I ever turn over the
>> negatives to them for their ownership. If I find that the high school gave
>> this restaurant permission to use some reproduced photos for which I still
>> own the negatives of (yes, this is before the days of digital, I'm sorry),
>> do I have any rights as the original holder of these images?
From: Paul Furman on 6 Jul 2008 22:55
John McWilliams wrote:
> [rpd added back.]
>
> nospam wrote:
>> In article <Uaeck.166$0V1.104(a)trndny01>, none <none(a)none.com> wrote:
>>
>>> This is actually a copyright and ownership question, but I'm posting
>>> it here because this is the most heavily trafficked photo newsgroup.
>>
>> actually, you might try misc.legal, ...

If the photog kept the negatives that doesn't sound like 'work for hire'
and the default is that the photog owns the copyright. I doubt it's
worth suing anyone but you could certainly approach the restaurant with
this claim and ask for credit and or payment. They may not take it
seriously but the copyright ownership seems pretty simple with negatives
in hand. Maybe offer a better selection of interesting prints to give
them a reason to not just be upset that they ended up buying copyright
material illegally because without substantial money not much is going
to happen here. It might be interesting to track down how the photos got
there.

(not a lawyer :-)

>> based on your description below, it sounds like it's worth at least
>> finding out what your options are. i'd suggest you contact a qualified
>> attorney who deals with these types of cases. most will offer a free
>> initial consultation, where you can find out if it's worth pursuing.
>> legal advice from a newsgroup is worth what you pay for it (arguably
>> less), since a qualified lawyer will tell you call one and discuss
>> specifics and a non-lawyer will probably get some things (if not a lot
>> of things) wrong.
>>> Friends of ours called me with some surprise to say that while they
>>> were at a local chain restaurant they noticed some old photos on the
>>> wall near their table. When they took a closer look they discovered
>>> that they were photos from my old high school, some of which were of
>>> plays which were done while I was there. While I'm not sure yet, I'm
>>> concerned that some of these may be photos that I took while I was
>>> there. Not only was I in a few of these plays, but I also took many
>>> photos during informal and dress rehearsals. In some cases the school
>>> asked if they could use some of my work for things like posters and
>>> the yearbooks, but in no cases did I ever turn over the negatives to
>>> them for their ownership. If I find that the high school gave this
>>> restaurant permission to use some reproduced photos for which I still
>>> own the negatives of (yes, this is before the days of digital, I'm
>>> sorry), do I have any rights as the original holder of these images?


--
Paul Furman
www.edgehill.net
www.baynatives.com

all google groups messages filtered due to spam
From: Ron Hunter on 7 Jul 2008 03:33
none wrote:
> This is actually a copyright and ownership question, but I'm posting it here
> because this is the most heavily trafficked photo newsgroup.
>
> Friends of ours called me with some surprise to say that while they were at
> a local chain restaurant they noticed some old photos on the wall near their
> table. When they took a closer look they discovered that they were photos
> from my old high school, some of which were of plays which were done while I
> was there. While I'm not sure yet, I'm concerned that some of these may be
> photos that I took while I was there. Not only was I in a few of these
> plays, but I also took many photos during informal and dress rehearsals. In
> some cases the school asked if they could use some of my work for things
> like posters and the yearbooks, but in no cases did I ever turn over the
> negatives to them for their ownership. If I find that the high school gave
> this restaurant permission to use some reproduced photos for which I still
> own the negatives of (yes, this is before the days of digital, I'm sorry),
> do I have any rights as the original holder of these images?
>
>
Probably. Should you find a picture that you took, and for which you
still have the negative, I am sure the restaurant would be more than
willing to take down that (those) image(s). But wouldn't it be better
to just show them the negative, and ask them to put a sticker on it
saying that you graciously allowed them to use the image? Then everyone
wins.
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