Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Illinois

Re: The need for model releases

You will need releases from (a) the entity creating the production, or (b) the performers being photographed, or (c) preferably both. You own the photos/videos you produce, since you are the author/photographer and are not an employee of Park & Rec and are not specially commissioned pursuant to a written work for hire agreement. However, your work may be a derivative of the performance and/or performers' performances, and thus, when sold, commercial copyright infringement. More facts about what the Park & Rec, production company, and actors have, respectively doen to protect the performances from copyright infringement. My guess is they have not done their copyright protection properly and that you should have room for your own copyrightable activities. The deciding factors are the actual facts, which I would need to know specifically before giving much more than the general principles above.

Call if you want specific advice

Re: The need for model releases

I believe that you would be ok to take pictures and sell them back to participants subject to: (1) receiving written approval from the park district to do so, (2) the park district's including of something in their literature about you providing the service, and (3) you limiting the sale of each photograph to its corresponding subject(s). While you would probably be ok even without such limitations, it is usually better to error on the side of over-cautious.

Generally, a release is needed when you are appropriating a person's likeness for profit. This is done to protect a person's privacy as well as to prevent someone from profitting off another's image without their approval.

However, in this case, the people are in a public setting, which one could argue give's them less expectation of privacy. For example, public figures (i.e. actors, politicians, etc.) get their photos taken most of the time without releases because they're in the public eye... thus deserving of somewhat less privacy than the average citizen.

Furthermore, in this case, you are only selling the photograph's back to the people themselves... not to anyone else... so even though you're profitting, it's actually conditional on the subject's decision.

Both of these facts are how Great America gets away without releases on the log flume/roller coaster shots... along with a notice, if you look at the really small print on that billboard, that you're being photographed.

Hope this helps and good luck!