Expert: Don Wood - 11/24/2005

Question
I'm typing up a biz plan & I have a legal question. If I see a picture of a celebrity I want to use, do I contact the copywrite holder to obtain a license so I can use it to my liking? Is there a contract I need to sign for just one simple photograph? If I’m able to obtain a license, does that mean I’m entitled to print it as many times as I want, sell it at any price, modify the photo & then sell it at any price? Is there a website where I can purchase photographs of celebrities to be used in my material. This is a for profit biz.

How do paparazzi auction their unique photograph to the media? Do paparazzi email their photos to media people on their contact list & get a bid in response? How does it work? What actions can a paparazzi take if the media people use a digital photograph sent to them by a paparazzi for a bid without paying the paparazzi?  

Answer
Anybody's picture may be used only with their permission which you must obtain in one way or other. Generally, you must recompense them in some way. The release which they will sign is a legal contract. If it doesn't stipulate the uses then you could do with it what you wish, providing you do not use it in a lewd or socially unacceptable situation.
That being said, people can be photographed in a news situation and said pictures can then be used in a news article. I have no knowledge of the workings of the paparazzi but in general, anyone can take a picture to a news outlet, and the supermarket tabloids do qualify for this, and and sell it to the highest bidder. After the tabloid realizes that you have a talent for getting what they need, they will give you assignments for particular articles they're running. A tabloid that promises to pay a photographer but doesn't would soon go out of business because no one would bring anything to them. The same would hold true of the more main-stream press. A photographer owns the pictures he takes and releases them to a newspaper for only certain conditions. You might Google for photograph copyright laws to get the complete story.
Thanks for asking, Happy Thanksgiving.
Don