Celebrity / Singers on Iphone covers legal or not?

[DaVillen]

Hey Guys,

I noticed that on eBay/Amazon there are lots of sellers who are selling Sublimated Photo's on Iphones of Celebrities and Pop singers like Justin Bieber. Is this even legal? I notice these sellers have been around a while and some have sold hundreds of these sublimated items. Anyone know the law on this?

[hillcraft]

I think that it is a very difficult question to answer from a legal standpoint - let's say you attended a Justin Bieber concert and you took the photograph yourself, may you use it? Let's say you took a photograph of a plane landing, may you use it, or, lets say you took a photograph of the local school play, may you sell pictures of kids to their own parents. So, why would one be allowed to sell pictures of kids to their own parents but not of somebody who happens to be a celebrity. I think the issue lies in the copyright of the photograph itself, if you took the photograph then you can do with it as you see fit (within reason of course) otherwise you are violating the copyright of the person who took the photograph. I think that whomever is unhappy about it would have to sue the person who is doing it. What are the chances of Justin Bieber's PR company sueing a little guy for printing his picture on a phone cover.

[Renniwano]

The same chances as Disney sueing the little guy for putting their images on products..

Just because you are a little guy.. it doesn't mean that you aren't going to get caught - so if you are wishing to use images *no matter who/what they are* my advice is to make sure that you get the commercial licence to print them..

Little guys if sued don't tend to have the same money to back them if they do get caught..

[hillcraft]

hmmm...so can I print a picture of Justin Bieber if I took the picture myself? Can I print a picture of a kid and try to sell it to his mother?

[Justin]

I'd be careful to make sure you have parental permission to photograph a child.

[hillcraft]

Ok, what about photographing a sports event at a school, lets say the kids play soccer and you take a photograph of the game, can you print it? What I am getting at is that copyright is a very problematic topic. Copyright rests with the person who takes the photograph, the question is then what are the rights of the person in the photograph. Millions of photographers make a fortune through selling their photographs of celebrities to the tabloids, kids and all (I'm of course not talking about the idiots who take inappropriate photographs but just the run of the mill happy snaps). Copyright law in South Africa is a little bit different, the copyright of the photograph rests with the person or entity who commission the photograph, not with the photographer. Lets say you see your tennis hero walking down the street and you take a photograph of her. You now print mugs and sell them - are you infringing her rights. In the UK lots of businesses are making a fortune from the new baby, I am very sure that each and everyone didn't ask permission to do so! Look, I don't have the answers, I can only speculate based on what I see...

[Paul]

copyright is different and permissions are different.
Taking photos at the school football game gives you copyright. You are the owner of the photo. you are the artist. you are the person who took it. but permissions of selling this work different story.
I am a photographer. I take loads of photos of people. they pay me. but i am still owner of them. but can i reproduce them? can i sell them to fashion magazine? mother care new catalogue? NO. As i would need permission of the person who is on this photo.

[hillcraft]

But then what about the photographers that hound celebrities, I am sure that they do not get permission.

[Paul]

they sell digital file :) is newspaper the one who publish faces :wink:

also...

If you sell photograph with JB to newspaper. newspaper will publish it. with some news. "Justin Bibber farted"
This is news. some people want to read this and some people don't. but is a news.
But if newspaper start to sell merchandise ie. mugs and key rings with same photo of JB to make profit then i am sure JB would be taking them to court next day.

[socialgiraffe]

Missing the point here a bit guys.

If you take a photograph of JB at a pop concert and the use that for commercial purposes you ARE infringing copyright. It will clearly state somewhere in the venue that photographs are not to be taken for commercial purposes. It may even say that in the programme. Cameras were even band at some venues but this has obviously disappeared due to smart phones etc.

If you take a picture of JB out walking his dog in a public place or venue that does not have the legal notice then you CAN use the photo for whatever you want, its yours (the merchandise is generally not copyright as you can not copyright a mug, but you can copyright the image printed on it).

official press photographers pay to take pictures at a venue in much the same way as they do at a football match.

I do have a bit of an insight to this as I supply many artists (including the said JB). Most music merchandisers do not chase the little guy because it creates hype and interest of the artist and has proven to generate more cash for them. There are however a couple of others that will jump on you as quick as they can to prevent anything being printed without their permission. Please don't ask as I will not tell :-)

You are more likely to get collared for stealing images from royalty free websites where they have scripts running to check websites. It has happened recently to my ex business partner scum who has been asked by Getty for £1500 for using an image on a website that has had less than 100 hits. Such a shame LOL!!!!!

[parada print]

Hi,
I have seen this post and it has given me a smile, I sell these products that you are talking about and have just has a lot of fun with Trading standards over all this. I managed to sort it all out and I am fine to sell the products with the images on But one thing I did find out. If I add the name of the person then this is in breach of intellectual property rights and is a no no.


Hey Guys,

I noticed that on eBay/Amazon there are lots of sellers who are selling Sublimated Photo's on Iphones of Celebrities and Pop singers like Justin Bieber. Is this even legal? I notice these sellers have been around a while and some have sold hundreds of these sublimated items. Anyone know the law on this?

[hillcraft]

Thanks Pau & Socialgiraffe for clearing it up...

[Stitch Up]

they sell digital file :)
If you sell photograph with JB to newspaper. newspaper will publish it. with some news. "Justin Bibber farted"

You should rephrase that to - Justin Bieber's a fart

[socialgiraffe]

You should rephrase that to - Justin Bieber's a fart

:smile::smile::smile::smile::smile::smile::smile:: smile::smile::smile:


If I add the name of the person then this is in breach of intellectual property rights and is a no no.

That's very interesting parada and the first I have heard of such a thing. If I get chance I am going to ask one of the official merchandisers about that comment as I am not convinced trading standards are correct about that. From my understanding if you add "UNOFFICIAL MERCHANDISE" to the description then there is no confusion and property rights are not breached.

[HedleyLamarr]

I thought you couldn't copyright a name?

[ASLCreative]

There was a recent court case Rhianna V Top Shop concerning just this - "setting aside privacy or copyright issues, celebrities do not have a general right to control the reproduction of their image"

http://www.out-law.com/en/articles/2013/august/rihanna-and-topshop-passing-off-ruling-highlights-need-for-retailers-to-check-celebrity-business-activities-says-expert/

[pisquee]

You can register a name as a trademark, and if this has been done - ie, If "Justin Beiber" is a registered trademark (or even just a trademark, or seen to be a "brand" rather than just a name - "Justin Beiber" may not even be his real name, and therefore more seen as a trademark/brand) then if you put "Justin Beiber" on a mug (or other merch) then you could be in problems if the sale/product title implies it is official, ie "Justin Beiber mug" instead of "mug with photo of Justin Beiber on it"