Legal Question in Entertainment Law in Illinois

Re: photo releases

You say the pictures would be posted on the internet "so parents could view the pictures and hopefully purchase a poster or canvas print." Even though you may be targeting the parents, can a friend, cousin or even a local business buy a picture? Can anyone view the pictures and will you ever have advertising (like AdSense) on the website? An answer of "yes" to any of those questions means you should have a model release. Just because someone was participating in a public event doesn't necessarily mean that you can sell the person's image for your own profit. There are exceptions, of course, but on the whole the safest thing to do would be to get a release.

Note that if the participant is a minor, the parent should be the one signing the release, not the minor.

David K. Staub, an Illinois attorney