CafePress and image rights

[StadtApoAchern@xxxxxxxxxxx (DIETMAR FRENSEMEYER)]

I'm in brand business and have many brands myself

Cafe press or beer press or tea press or milk press  -   forget! ...
Copyright means the right for YOUR  personal work  -  if it is kind of WORK  ...
100%. POINT.

Dietmar
1960 fds


-----Original Message-----
From: mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Christopher Hoffman
Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2003 10:11 PM
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: IML: CafePress and image rights

Mark McDonald (tomswift@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) wrote:
> This is the heart of the question.  What is their specific objection?

Here is what CafePress says on their site:

"NO pictures or photographs of products (such as automobiles or toys). Even
if you own a product, trademark laws still prohibit you from selling
merchandise featuring pictures of it. For example, you cannot take a picture
of your car and then sell t-shirts or mugs with that picture."

I imagine this is to prevent someone from selling something that promotes a
current product, like a Dodge Viper t-shirt, without licensing the rights to
the name and likeness. Then again, this happens all the time, though few big
companies go after every little vendor of t-shirts and floor mats.

It cannot be that they are so misinformed to think that it's illegal to take
a picture of anyone's car (yours or one parked in public) and then use that
image for your own gain. Everyone owns the copyrights to pictures they take
automatically (you don't have to register them, you can just claim the
copyright), unless one is working for hire for someone else, in which case
usage rights are usually negotiated beforehand. We do this all the time in
the car-brochure business with our hired professional photographers, and
it's amusing to see websites and car dealers use our shots without
permission (OK, maybe amusing is not the right word!)...

Anyway, a picture of a classic car is not covered by the same issues (nor
any used car... otherwise you could never put a photo in a for-sale ad!). I
will contact CafePress on Leslie's behalf (with her permission already
granted) and see how they respond. I'll keep the List posted...

Until then, perhaps we should hold off on the further discussion on this
issue on the List.

Thanks, all.

Chris in LA