Who owns the photo?

Fewski

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I plan on taking some pictures at a local racing event and making a screensaver out of it, for people to download.

My question is, if I take the picture and put it in the screensaver, is that completely legal without the consult of the owner of the car I took the picture of?

Thanks! :)
 
Probably not.

Firstly, you will most likely be on private property (the track)...so the owners can set rules about photography and you don't have the 'right' to take photos like you would in a public place.

Then there is the issue of copyright. If you have company logos in the photos...there is probably a copyright issue. If you have a recognizable person...you would need a model release.

If you were just using the photos for 'fair use'...like reporting...then things may be different...but using the photos for a product is when people can get upset.

I'm not a lawyer...so take my advice as such. The smartest thing to do, would be to talk to a lawyer in your area.
 
I've never had any beef with any company whose name was on a race car, or even any track I've shot at, over ownership or rights issues. This doesn't mean you absolutely won't, but you probably won't.

But I shoot for fun, for myself, and for a site that covers that particular series in a newsish way. I've never tried selling pictures or using them in a product that people could buy.
 
You will run into trouble if you try to use your photos for advertising, or otherwise use the subject's image to promote something. Likewise, any sort of trademark or copyrighted logos are a bad idea. At a sporting event, they have no reasonable expectation of privacy.

If you take photos at the track, the worst that will happen is you'll be asked to leave. You can even take photos on the way out, but you will have to leave the premisis. They cannot take your camera, and your own all the pictures you took. You are not trespassing until you stop leaving, at that point.

Still, the polite thing to do is ask permission where possible.
 
toastydeath said:
If you take photos at the track, the worst that will happen is you'll be asked to leave. You can even take photos on the way out, but you will have to leave the premisis. They cannot take your camera, and your own all the pictures you took. You are not trespassing until you stop leaving, at that point.

Still, the polite thing to do is ask permission where possible.

Most sporting (and I assume racing) venues will have information posted somewhere. Usually it's in small printing on the back of the ticket. It is usually to the effect that you don't have the right to photograph or record anything.
 
Big Mike said:
Most sporting (and I assume racing) venues will have information posted somewhere. Usually it's in small printing on the back of the ticket. It is usually to the effect that you don't have the right to photograph or record anything.

The irony is, you DO have the right to photograph and record. You just can't misappropriate the images, just like normal. Which, for a race car, is an awful big restriction, as many commercial uses for the image would be misappropriation. So you're essentially limited to artistic purposes only.

It stems from reasonable expectation of privacy - there is none, even at a private sporting event. They can, and will, remove you from the property. You still own the pictures, and they can't take them from you.

Even if you break and enter into a house to take photographs, the photos are still yours. They cannot be removed by the property owner. They will be removed by the police, however, to be entered as evidence against you. If you get the images back, or have copies, you can still use those images after getting out of jail for whatever purpose you desire.

One area this does not hold is in cameras and movie theaters, which has specific laws about the subject.
 

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