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I need legal / copyright advice!

I have a friend who needs some legal / copyright advice. Back in 1972-1973, my friend took hundreds of pictures at rock concerts (e.g., close up pictures of Jimmy Page ripping it up on stage with Led Zeppelin). These black and white images are fantastic. They are his photos taken with his camera. What is he allowed to do with these images? Can he create a book and sell the book? Can he create posters and sell them? What are his legal entitlements? Where can I find more information about this? Please help!

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 30th, 2004 at 5:51 pm and is filed under GeneralComments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “I need legal / copyright advice!”

  1. jmspool Says:
    December 30th, 2004 at 11:00 pm

    I’m guessing not much beyond admiring them for his own personal use. Concerts are typically governed as copyrights in their own rights, and therefore he needs to seek permission of the conference promoters to use the images.

    I’m not a lawyer (though the rest of my family is), so this advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.

  2. Anonymous Says:
    December 31st, 2004 at 4:51 am

    Hi John,

    While it is possible that your friend is the owner of the copyright of the images he created, there are some other legal issues that may be involved in using those pictures commercially. Here’s a link to some information about copyright and photographs:

    http://www.asmp-nj.org/asmpnjcopy.html

    That doesn’t cover “right to privacy” and “right to publicity” issues that might arise from use of the images in a book or in posters. A release is often needed in instances where someone might be trying to commercially use someone else’s image.

    There may possibly also be a related problem concerning the use of a camera during a concert. Often, the terms of entry into a concert include a prohibition on the recording of images from that concert. This thread from the lessig blog on cameras at concerts is interesting:

    http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/002072.shtml

    It might be possible, with a release from the performers, that he could use the images.

    Of course, the best place for him to get legal advice that he can act upon would be in a lawyer’s office.

    Bill Slawski - http://www.cre8asiteforums.com

  3. John Says:
    December 31st, 2004 at 3:37 pm

    Thanks Jared! Thanks Bill!

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