Copywrite law question

[robinkay6573]

I was not quite sure where to post this question.

I have taken thousands of photos at WDW, some are pretty good. My understanding is photos of park icons (ie the castle, the big hat, Spaceship Earth, the Tree of Life) or photos of rides or characters can not be sold Walt Disney World owns the "rights" to these objects. Is that correct?

If I did sell a photo of the castle is Disney entitled to a cut of the profits?

Thanks
Robin
Lansing, MI

 

[Big Mike]

It would probably be best to ask a lawyer and/or Disney directly. Disney (being Disney) will probably tell you that you cannot do anything with the photos.

One thing to consider is that you were most likely on their property while taking the photos. If so, they probably have the final word as to what you are allowed to do. If you were on public property, that might be different.

 

[dsp921]

Disney owns all the copyrights and trademarks. The pictures are yours, but you can't use them for commercial purposes without permission from Disney. They'd be entitled to far more than a cut of the profits if you sold images of their trademarks. Look at all the unofficial Disney guide books, the majority have no Disney pictures or images in them. Like Mike said, talk to a lawyer and Disney if you want to sell Disney images, my guess is they will not allow it. I think the issue here is more with trademarks than with copyrights.

 

[darin3200]

I doubt you could sell them. Disney is extremely overprotective of copyrights and trademarks to the point of being absurd.