[Mgs] photo on ebay

The Roxter rocknatural at gmail.com
Fri Dec 28 21:54:25 MST 2007


Mike Duvall wrote:
> If someone is using a picture of your car there is really not much  
> you can do about it.   As a photographer/video producer/communication  
> professor, I can tell you the following:
>
> Pros get releases just so they don't have to bother with any problems  
> not because everything has a right attached to it.  The right must be  
> proven in court. It is unambiguous that the photographer owns the  
> picture buthat might not be owned is the right to use the picture in  
> some way such as copyright, trademark or endorsement.
>
> If the gentleman took a picture of your car in a public place you  
> have little recourse against him.  If you took the picture, you could  
> ask him to stop but their isn't much of a way to stop him short of a  
> suit.  Ebay will tell you they would be glad to remove it if you  
> provide them a court order.
>
> The closest legal cases to this kind of thing is that companies have  
> tried to stop people from using pictures of their buildings.  They  
> loose.  However -  if you can show that your car in the picture  
> somehow endorses the product, then you own your publicity rights.  I  
> used to be photographer for a worldwide construction machinery  
> corporation and we never got releases from anyone except the people  
> in the pictures.  We did however ask the owners for permission to  
> take the pictures.  The pictures of the machines was not a problem.   
> If the name of the company was on the machine (which we tried not to  
> do anyway) then they could be considered endorsing the product.
>
> I think it is interesting he used a picture that didn't show his  
> product.
>
> About all you really can do is send him an email telling him your  
> uncomfortable with him using the picture.  He will likely ignore you.  
> If you contact ebay, they will likely say send us a court order and  
> we will enforce it.
I tend to doubt this. ebay is supersensitive to these matters. Usually a simple complaint will suffice.


-The Roxter
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