UK Copyright query of buildings in photos ?

I have been asked by a client to photograph a series of buildings - for argument sake we will say football stadiums, although this is not the brief.

If I take photos of these buildings from a public place and then my client sells them would I / they be in breach of any copyright issues. The prints would be sold due to the brand of the building ie liverpool supporter buying Liverpool club image etc etc.

I must again iterate that my brief is NOT football stadia, but it does demonstrate the senario.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Regards

Andy

I have read fairly recently of a case of an architectural firm trying to claim breach of copyright against a photographer who photographed a building which they had designed, but as far as I am aware, they failed as the photograph was taken from a public area (a park). The photographer was actually photographing a building next to it (for the owners use) & the fact that the other building was in the shot didn't seem to be relevant.
It would be worth checking it out further to see if there is any risk though.

Just realised that I need SCOTTISH view point not English ....

Cheers

Andy

You may be more likely to fall foul of copyright should any identifyable brand / trademarks be visible and you are shooting for commercial use.

Nightstalker wrote in post #11880316
You may be more likely to fall foul of copyright should any identifyable brand / trademarks be visible and you are shooting for commercial use.

So if the brand / trademark is clearly shown (which it would be) then there could be some copyright issues even though I am taking the picture from a public place?
so how does one go about resolving this ?

Cheers
Andy

Nightstalker wrote in post #11880316
You may be more likely to fall foul of copyright should any identifyable brand / trademarks be visible and you are shooting for commercial use.

You sure?

Gary_Evans wrote in post #11883981
You sure?

I am unsure too - what if a photographer takes a photo of a ferari in front of a Mc donalds store -two very well known logos etc. I dont think either would have a leg to stand on would they ?

Cheers
Andy

slartibardfast wrote in post #11894395
I am unsure too - what if a photographer takes a photo of a ferari in front of a Mc donalds store -two very well known logos etc. I dont think either would have a leg to stand on would they ?

The issue is usually down to what purpose they serve in the image. If the scene is a street scene, which happens to include them, then there would probably be no problem.

However, if you were to photograph a Ferrari as the sole subject of the image, then use that for selling posters commercially, you are potentially going to run into problems. That is because you are trading on the design of the Ferrari (i.e. the picture is being bought because of the car and not just your photography skills). Ford went through a period of throwing lawsuits around a while back, primarily targetting those exploiting the Mustang.

Computer games have to get a license from the manufacturers to use a particular car in their games, which is why the cheap ones use generic car designs as they don't want to pay to use accurate ones. Similarly, model cars have to be produced under license etc.

Going back to the OPs situation, the images are intended to sell because of the building (he uses the example of football stadia, to sell to fans) and so they could claim that he / his client was trading on the name and trademarks of the football club.

If you intend to go this route, I would suggest that you discuss it with a lawyer well versed in this area first. Any information you get on a forum such as this cannot be relied upon.