Selling the image of a politician, celebrity, athlete

[hmiles619]

What are the legal limitations/restrictions for selling the image of a politician, celebrity, or athlete for non-editorial, commercial purposes?

Do these restrictions change if the individual is not necessarily the focus of the picture (ie. Famous football quarterback in a huddle)? If they do change, where is the boundary?

And finally, what legal documents need to be signed or agreed upon before a sale can be made legally?

[bigjon0107]

I am not sure about the celbs and politician aspect of the question (it should be fine if it was in a public access area), but you are not allowed to sell photos of athletes without written consent of the school/team. Like at A&M, they have everything down to their color of maroon copyrighted....selling the image for non-editorial use would be considered violating the copyright. Also, selling pictures of a collage athlete may risk their eligibility, even if they have no idea what you are doing. There was recently a lawsuit/court case (something along those lines) that was just settled about that issue. That is at least my understanding of it. And just as a note, you wont ever (hardly) get that written permission from the university/team :)

[AndrewSA]

if you are selling the images, it is a commercial purpose. It doesn't just mean advertising ads, etc. I guess the line is if you are making money off the image, you can't do it without permission.

[bigjon0107]

Originally Posted by swinglight

if you are selling the images, it is a commercial purpose. It doesn't just mean advertising ads, etc. I guess the line is if you are making money off the image, you can't do it without permission.

If they are being used for editorial reasons, it is perfectly legal to sell them for money. How do you think the papers get all their images the staff photogs did not take? They usually purchase the rights from the AP or some other source (Getty Images, other individuals, etc...). If what you said were true, freelance photographers would not exist. You also can sell them for personal usage. You just can not use them to promote something (product, cause, etc..).

[ShaneKislack]

Originally Posted by swinglight

if you are selling the images, it is a commercial purpose. It doesn't just mean advertising ads, etc. I guess the line is if you are making money off the image, you can't do it without permission.

This is wrong, Swinglight. I can sell images to newspapers for editorial use all I want.

[GypsyHighSide]

Originally Posted by hmiles619

What are the legal limitations/restrictions for selling the image of a politician, celebrity, or athlete for non-editorial, commercial purposes?

OP was asking about non-editorial or commercial purposes. I believe Swinglight was addressing the original question.

Rob

[bigjon0107]

Well if you want to get technical, Andrew's post was not about the original topic either, it was already established though your quote that it is going to be commercial usage...not asking for a definition of what it is

But the blanket statement that Andrew said was wrong. My (and i am assuming Michael's) purpose in writing a response to the post was to clear it up for any other readers who may take it as a general statement about all public figures' (or anybody) pictures, and think they cannot sell any of their images at all.

*Note: Please dont take this as any type of personal attack, i dont want to start something that i did not mean to.

[AndrewSA]

Roger that. Obviously newspapers use people's images for editorial purposes without their permission. I guess it needs to be clarified what the original poster is going to do with the images?

Sell prints at a game?

Originally Posted by bigjon0107

Well if you want to get technical, Andrew's post was not about the original topic either, it was already established though your quote that it is going to be commercial usage...not asking for a definition of what it is

But the blanket statement that Andrew said was wrong. My (and i am assuming Michael's) purpose in writing a response to the post was to clear it up for any other readers who may take it as a general statement about all public figures' (or anybody) pictures, and think they cannot sell any of their images at all.

*Note: Please dont take this as any type of personal attack, i dont want to start something that i did not mean to.