We live in an age where everybody seemingly has a camera with them on their phones or devices. It's just so easy to take a picture of something or someone and put it on our website or social media feed. And if you do get that perfect picture, you may want to incorporate that photo onto your website or advertising material.
But not so fast. Because if the picture you took has people or their property in it, you could get into trouble, if you don't have a photo release.
Yes, You Need a Release
Many of us already know that you can't just walk out in public and start taking pictures of people and publish those photos without a release.
But many people believe that if they are taking pictures of their own employees, or perhaps of a business function, like your business' picnic or charitable event, that the pictures you take, and everybody in them, are fair game to be used in whatever marketing material that you want, wherever you want to use them.
That's not how it works. It doesn't matter who you're photographing or where. What matters is what you are using the photo for.
If you use it for any commercial or business purposes, you must have a photo release from whomever is in that photo, or whoever owns property that may be pictured in your photos.
It doesn't matter that you aren't selling the pictures themselves for profit; if the pictures are being used, directly or indirectly, to further your business purpose (for example, on a billboard or on your social media feed that promotes your business), you need to have a release.
Public Places
It doesn't matter if the person is in a public place and can be seen by the world. The question isn't whether you have the right to take the picture—if they're in public, you do—the question is what do you have the right to use that person's likeness and image for?
Remember that releases need to be signed by parents, if someone in the picture is a minor. And owners of any property you may put in your pictures, need to sign releases as well, as people have a right to profit off of and to control dissemination of property they own, as well as their own personal likeness.
No Release Needed?
There are limited situations when you don't need a release.
Anything being used for newsworthy or news reporting purposes doesn't require a release. And any photo you take just to keep for your own use (for example, just so you have a "history" of your company's office party) doesn't require any kind of release.
What's in a Release?
If you do use a photo release, it should have the subject sign and provide his or her date of birth and other identifiable information. The release should specifically say that the person or the property could be used for marketing or for profit in commercial advertising materials, and the subject should agree that he or she does not get to share in monies derived from the use of either one.
Releases should not just cover the picture, but anything that is derived from them—for example, if you put the picture in a collage, or enhance it with some kind of artwork, that s derivative work, that you want covered by your release.
.Speak with a Chicago business litigation attorney at Ellis Legal at (312) 967-7629 to help with your business with its legal issues and problems.