From: "Jim Hahn" <jhahn@wchsm.org> Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2010 12:33:05 -0700 Subject: RE: Photo Collection Use Message-ID: <A2C2F0AA32B02243B731BEC62DBF7453047C1E03F8@EX-BE-015-SFO.shared.themessagecenter.com>
Bill -
I'd be wary of loaned pics being put up with "owned" pics. Without a signed
release, they could always come back and say, "I loaned them for YOUR use,
not your use in selling to others for profit. I want the money you made fr
om my images!"
Also, even if they gave you a postcard or other image - these things may st
ill be copyrighted or other people's property. You could have what legal ex
perts call "exposure" for liability if someone comes back later and shows t
hat the person who gave you the object did not have the right to give it to
you. You lose your benefit because it rests on an underlying illegal act -
what legal experts call the "fruit of the poison tree." You cannot claim t
hat you just didn't know - ignorance of the law is no excuse, as they say.
If, however, you have a signed release that includes the signatory's affirm
ation that they attest that the image is their property and they alone have
the rights to it and they are transferring or sharing their rights to/with
you, then you would have some (but still not absolute) coverage. Applying
a standard of "did the organization, given its resources, apply a reasonabl
e level of caution/care" would seem to lean to a determination in your favo
r given your use of the signed release.
We have dealt with these issues with photos for national news media such as
the Associated Press. They won't use a photo often which might have questi
onable ownership issues in play. However, if I send them a picture and say
I personally snapped it for the purpose of giving it to them, then they are
amenable.
I am not an attorney, but I would recommend only posting/selling pictures y
ou own (you took them, they will gifted to you from an estate, etc.) OR one
s for which you have a signed release for either giving you ownership or sh
aring ownership with you.
While this may limit your available offerings in the short-term, it respons
ibly protects your organization through what we call "due diligence." As w
ith anything, what you are doing is Risk Management, because you can never
achieve absolute Risk Avoidance. :)
Good luck, Flikr sounds like a good option. :)
________________________________
Jim Hahn, CFRE
Director of Development & Marketing
WAUKESHA COUNTY MUSEUM
101 W. Main St., Waukesha, WI 53186
(262) 521-2859 ext. 228, jhahn@wchsm.org<mailto:jhahn@wchsm.org>
(412) 716-1880 cell-note area code
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________________________________
________________________________
From: localhistory-request@listserve.uwec.edu [mailto:localhistory-request@
listserve.uwec.edu] On Behalf Of Bill Schuette
Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 1:06 PM
To: localhistory@listserve.uwec.edu
Subject: Photo Collection Use
We are putting our photo collection images on Flickr (a photo sharing Web s
ite). We have set the parameters so that they can't be downloaded.
We feel that if people can see a photo they are more likely to order a copy
, than if they just read a description.
That as background, we have thousands of images in our collection that we h
ave scanned from people who have loaned us their old pictures, postcards, e
tc.
We did not have them sign a release of rights paper at the time.
My question is, can we place these collections on our Flickr site so that p
eople can order copies?
By allowing us to make copies of their images, did they, in effect, give us
the rights to those photos, to use them as we saw fit?
Bill
Sauk County Historical Society