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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