"Scott" <negativespam@nope.com> wrote in message news:9flNb.54402$5V2.66456@attbi_s53...

> I had a spirited discussion with a Blockbuster manager earlier today. I

> had parked on the side of the road opposite the plaza where the video store

> was located, and was taking a couple of pics with my 28mm to get the

> intersection and traffic backup photos for an article I was writing.

> Anyway, in the background was the Blockbuster store. So after a few minutes

> this yahoo comes out of the store, crosses the street and says I have to

> stop shooting as I don't have permission to shoot the store? I was shooting

> the intersection, and yes, the store was visible, but as I was on public

> property and the picture was for a newspaper, albeit a small one (the paper,

> not the picture :) so I pretty much ignored him and kept shooting.

>

> I tried to access Blockbuster online to read about 'clause 15' which is

> what this person kept spouting at me, to no avail. Anyone know of a good

> site that explains where one can and cannot shoot and what one can and

> cannot shoot? (If I shoot a person who is recognizable, I would need a

> model release, unless it is for the news or 'non-commercial'?)

>

> All in all it was amusing, but it did get me curious enough to check.

This is my opinion only, and it should not be taken as

legal advice, but it is my opinion that if the store were

a fairly minor part of the image, that even commercial

use of it may be OK (if NOT featuring or mentioning

the store, and with emphasis placed elsewhere - though

this one may be "iffy", to be on the safe side). For editorial

use, art use, or private use, the store employee doesn't

have a leg to stand on, but can make a fuss (property

owners can insist on releases before use of images in

commercial work), but he was foolish to antagonize you,

encouraging your posting of the above...;-) Similarly,

I once met someone at a grocery-chain parking lot to

shoot some test footage of a lens I wanted to buy (I

was going to take the exposed film inside the store

for quick-processing, make my decision on the lens,

and buy/not-buy it then). As I was shooting the tests

(not of the store, but across the parking lot to the

hillside), an employee came out and asked what I was

doing. I explained my purpose, he went away, and

I continued. Soon about four employees came out,

asked why I had not stopped (I had not been asked to),

demanded that I do, and threatened to call the police.

I acknowledged their right to ask what they did (I

was on private property...), pointed out again that the

film was for lens-test purposes only and would be

disposed of (or they could keep it after I saw it),

to no avail. With one more test frame to take, I

ignored them, fired the camera, rewound it, and

proceeded with the original plan (arguing was

pointless - and further action on their part would

have been obviously foolish and pointless, even

to them). I did not bother to point out to them that I

had featured their store in a very widely-read local

tourist web-site (with "flack" from the competition

for doing so), and that that could change (it didn't...;-).

Sometimes people do not act in their own interests,

but for the wrong reasons...;-)

--

David Ruether

d_ruether@hotmail.com

http://www.David-Ruether-Photography.com