Development of Creative Commons licenses

[jonathon <jonathon.blake AT gmail.com>]

Javier wrote:

> First, the law: I don't know about your jurisdiction, but in Spain any work

That was when I wrote:  "The specific law regarding model releases
(for whom and what), depends upon the jurisdiction that one is in."

> either law or norm says street photographers can't publish their work

Several places in New South Wales, Australia have tried outright
banning of public photography.  Spain used to send people to gaol for
photographing certain buildings, or other quasi-public places.

> The rule of thumb should be to only seek the release when the law 
> explicitly demands it.

It is always easier and cheaper to obtain permission, than defend a lawsuit.

>Our job of stopping copyright creep starts at home.

Most copyright creep occurs when an organization claims royalties for
copyrights that they do not own.  Or, more rarely, a legitimate
copyright owner denies being the actual copyright owner.

> As to the photo of a public personality such as Tiger Woods for publication
> in an encyclopedia (which can be said to be about current events), I would

If Tiger Woods is either a public figure, or a limited purpose public
figure, then you probably won't need a model release for a photograph
that is used non-commercially.   You will need one for commercial
usage.
If Tiger Woods is a private figure --- which a good lawyer will be
able to successfully argue --- then a model release is needed for both
commercial and non-commercial usage.

> I have published some photographs in newspapers

As a general rule of thumb, newspaper are exempt from most model
release requirements.

> of public artworks.

Seattle Symphony made that mistake.  Fortunately for them, all they
had to pay was statutory damages.Had the artist been more copyright
savvy, Seattle Symphony would have been out a lot more than the
estimated US$50K they incurred for legal fees.

> Stefanie: I suggest you get the advice of a copyright-friendly lawyer in

+1

Local laws vary considerably.   Not just from country to country, but
also from province to province within one country.

>that the publishers do, as they will be needing to do it in bulk (or
not at all).

US publishers usually require that the author obtain all of the
clearances that are required for material that the author uses.  They
then verify that the granted permissions were intended.  (Though in
the past decade they have gotten much sloppier about this part of the
copy edit process.)

xan

jonathon