Who can sell photos of the Alamo?

[photosbysergio]

I have a photo of the Alamo that I took and had framed for my personal use. I have friends who want prints of it but don't know if that can be done or not. Any advice?

[Daniel Bates]

I am no lawyer, and I don't play one on TPF, but I doubt that selling pictures of the Alamo is restricted.

[CaptainTom]

I am not a lawyer, so this is not legal advice. Given the circumstances surrounding your question it appears on the surface that such an endeavor would indeed balance on the legal premise of copyright as it relates to historic and national parks building and the grounds surrounding those buildings, but limited to such areas as are easily and readily accessible to the general public excluding the areas included in the admission price unless such exclusion is expressly addressed in the super fine print found at the bottom of the admission pass.

Sell the damn pictures. Ever seen a book or a calendar with the Alamo in it?

P.S. I worked for the Federal Government for 13 years, and writing B.S. comes naturally.

[Daniel Bates]

Tom - do I get a cookie for reading your entire second sentence?

[photosbysergio]

Yeah, I want a cookie also. I reread it 3 times and am still clueless. LOL

[Breezy]

You guys are too funny. I was reading it and going HUH lol

[laanba]

Here is an article on copyright, trademark and photography. It is very interesting reading and he does say that small sales like the kind you are talking about will probably not be noticed.

http://www.danheller.com/biz-trademarks.html

I ran across a site that had a lot list of trademark/copyrights on structures but of course I can't find it now.

[chloew]

While such a sale would most likely not be legal, unless your friends are going to report you, I don't think you have much to worry about.

[CaptainTom]

so if I take a great and different picture of the Washington Monument, or the Lincoln Memorial, or the empire state building, and make them into post cards, I am breaking the law by selling them at Walgreens ?? I don't think so. These are in essence public buildings, and images of them belong to the photographer.

[photosbysergio]

Laurie, thanks for the link. Great info.

Christian, I tend to agree with you. I guess I could always give the image to my friends and just charge for the printing? :-)

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

AS long as the Photos were not taken INSIDE of the Alamo there would be no problems at all, this from a TEXAN with roots going back over 100 years. (Yeah we have people here with roots going back over 200 years but we got here as soon as we could).

The above is not legal advice and should not be taken as such.

THERE ARE SIGNS ALL OVER THE PLACE AND GUARDS WITH GUNS- YES THE ALAMO HAS THIER OWN STATE POLICE FORCE- THAT NO PHOTOGRAPHS ARE ALLOWED INSIDE OF THE SHRINE!

So if you commit a crime on the grounds of the Alamo the first layer of police that you deal with are the ALAMO POLICE! DO NOT MESS WITH THE ALAMO POLICE!

[chloew]

Originally Posted by CaptainTom

so if I take a great and different picture of the Washington Monument, or the Lincoln Memorial, or the empire state building, and make them into post cards, I am breaking the law by selling them at Walgreens ?? I don't think so. These are in essence public buildings, and images of them belong to the photographer.

It depends on the building. I know for a fact that you can not legally sell an image of the UT Tower without their permission as the trademark (not the copyright) to the image is owned and defended by UT. I would guess the Empire State building, not being a public building in fact, would be the same. The other examples you list are owned by the US government and different rules may apply.

In all of these cases you are in your legal rights to take pictures of these buidlings assuming you are on public property and you do own the copyright to these images, but that does not give you the right to sell the image for profit. This is goverened by different laws including trademarks.

This is similar to taking a picture of a stranger on the street. You can take the image as they are in public, but you can not sell the image or use it for material gain without their permission.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Christian please post a link to the restrictions that you speak of.

See there was recently a case in the NY State Supreme Court over the shooting of a person on a public street and the photographer won.

[CaptainTom]

respectfully

This is similar to taking a picture of a stranger on the street. You can take the image as they are in public, but you can not sell the image or use it for material gain without their permission.

I think this is an apples and oranges example. Different in that one is an individual right, and one is a trademark question.

[robert t]

Actually they are called the Alamo Rangers and do have some stroke. And correct no photos are allowed in the Alamo.