To expand on the previous thread I was told a similar story about buildings and businesses although I am not sure how far from the original situation it really is. Perhaps someone can confirm this but I heard that a business successfully sued a photographer because their building was cleary identifiable (by their sign?) in a cityscape that he had shown along with others. I'm guessing that the photograph was not flattering or gave a negative impression of the area. Had anyone heard of this or something similar? It seems far-fetched.

-- Andy Laycock (agl@intergate.bc.ca), May 07, 1999

Answers

It's an interesting question. I'm not sure about buildings.

I do know that the owners of the Pebble Bach Golf Club have managed to copywrite a cypress tree on their property that over-looks the Pacifc and that they control the use and reproduction of that tree's image.

Mystic Seaport in Connecticut is really really tight about the use of cameras on their property and again, they control the rights to any images made there etc.... How either of these organizations pulled this off, and exactly the legal standing of this issue I don't know. I imagine a copywrite lawywer could help.

I always wonder about the owners of the 4 or 5 victorian houses on a hill in San Francisco that line up nicely with the S.F. skyline in the background. How do they feel about seeing their houses all over the country/world in magazines, etc.?

For that matter, what about the reproduction of an image of a made object - a work of art? As I recall you're allowed to use someone else's work as long as you modify/alter it by a certain percentage. What that percentage is and how you determine it I have no idea. Didn't Helmut Newton and Claudia Schiffer sue, or attempt to sue the pants off someone who used images of thiers/them in a work of art? O. K., I suppose I've wandered off topic here, but it's something that has always intrigued me in an academic rather than practical sense. I recall reading anbout a sculpture that was based on a famous photograph and that the sculptor or museum in which the sculpture was exhibited, forbade the use of cameras and camcorders in the exhibit.

Ever been to those local/regional art/craft shows where the up-tight artists have little signs saying that photography of their work is strictly prohibited?

-- Sean yates (yatescats@yahoo.com), May 14, 1999.