Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Hello LawGuru,

I am starting a coupon mailer booklet for the area I live and I need some pictures for it. My question is what types of pictures are safe to publish in my booklet? Can I take pictures of buildings or landscaping as long as they are in the publics’ view? Or, is it safe to use photos as long as people cannot really make out where they came from?

Thank you so much for all your help!

Jack


Asked on 5/29/12, 10:31 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Nancy Delain Delain Law Office, PLLC

Hello Jack,

As long as your photos are not of a building that uses its architecture as a trademark of the building itself (e.g., the Twin Towers were such a building; the Flatiron Building is such a building; the Sears Tower is such a building), taking photos of publicly viewable buildings/landscaping is not a problem for you. DON'T use photos taken by anyone else unless you have a release from that copyright holder!!!!!

THIS POST CONTAINS GENERAL INFORMATION AND IS INTENDED FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY. IT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE LEGAL ADVICE, NOR DOES IT CREATE ANY ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP. FOR LEGAL ADVICE ON YOUR PARTICULAR MATTER, CONSULT YOUR ATTORNEY.

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Answered on 5/29/12, 11:24 am


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