Can I use/sell/license these photos?

I took photos at a sporting event at our local University. There was no contract or anything in place between me and the location. It was just me coming in to shoot for myself. The photos have just been sitting on my hard drive for months. Today I was asked if I had any photos from that day by someone who was doing video that day as the company they were doing video for was interested in getting photos from that same event. The company is fairly big company in town and I won't know until I speak further what these photos will be used for but it could be in anything from print and web.

My question is can I sell/use/license those photos without getting into legal issues?

You should only accept authoritative answers from a local lawyer. Since you don't have your country or state listed-any advice here is just a guess. US Trademark and State Privacy laws allow the trademark owner of a brand and individual people to control its commercial or endorsement use. Non-commercial uses such as news, fine art, and portfolio use are less protected. The protections and controls are on the Publisher of the material, so theoretically a third party publisher like this other company is at risk, not you.

Is it reasonably safe to give images and permission to publish to an outside company to use your photos that contain a university logo in the US? My opinion is yes. Are there some risks? Yes you could still be sued if the images are used commercially, you could be banned from campus, and your reputation in the industry may suffer.

A real lawyer would need much more info to give you a better response.

-Scott

sspellman wrote in post #16820541
You should only accept authoritative answers from a local lawyer. Since you don't have your country or state listed-any advice here is just a guess. US Trademark and State Privacy laws allow the trademark owner of a brand and individual people to control its commercial or endorsement use. Non-commercial uses such as news, fine art, and portfolio use are less protected. The protections and controls are on the Publisher of the material, so theoretically a third party publisher like this other company is at risk, not you.

Is it reasonably safe to give images and permission to publish to an outside company to use your photos that contain a university logo in the US? My opinion is yes. Are there some risks? Yes you could still be sued if the images are used commercially, you could be banned from campus, and your reputation in the industry may suffer.

A real lawyer would need much more info to give you a better response.

-Scott

Thanks for your response. I should have stated I am in Canada.

I have further discovered that this company is a large sponsor of the University athletic departments so seeing the University logo on the company's website or print materials is quite common.

I have tried to contact the Athletic department to find out if there may be an issue but I have not heard back yet.

the flying moose wrote in post #16820563
Thanks for your response. I should have stated I am in Canada.

I have further discovered that this company is a large sponsor of the University athletic departments so seeing the University logo on the company's website or print materials is quite common.

I have tried to contact the Athletic department to find out if there may be an issue but I have not heard back yet.

Given the above then you are probably fine but should make clear in your contract/license that the company is responsible for getting any necessary releases, either from the University or any people in the images. Further more you should have a clause stating that they indemnifying you in the event that anyone sues you as a result of the company's use of the image.

Dan Marchant wrote in post #16820733
Given the above then you are probably fine but should make clear in your contract/license that the company is responsible for getting any necessary releases, either from the University or any people in the images. Further more you should have a clause stating that they indemnifying you in the event that anyone sues you as a result of the company's use of the image.

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