Selling Photos from and event with a Contracted Photographer

Do they know your a minor? Seems a bit rash of an email even for directed to a business..one thing you never do is throw around the legal action bomb.

unrlmth wrote in post #9020893
What exactly can they do if I continue to sell them? Can they make me take them off the internet? Can they stop me from giving them away?

May want to contact a lawyer in your area and ask

or you know, just read the thread..i really should get in the habit of doing that myself.

If this even took place in public (no consideration was required for entry) and there were no overt notices prohibiting photography and no prohibitions on any ticket or other means of admission then I'd say you have no obligation to remove them.

However, if the event organizers have a written contract with a photographer and you are efforting to trump that relationship, then there's nothing to keep them from taking legal action.

How bad do you want to do what you're doing?

I'm think that I'm just going to leave the printing off on the album. I'll just be more diligent about finding out about stuff like this beforehand.

And its been good publicity for me and my website. Even if I'm not selling them I still got around 5000 hits today.

unrlmth wrote in post #9022833
I'm think that I'm just going to leave the printing off on the album. I'll just be more diligent about finding out about stuff like this beforehand.

And its been good publicity for me and my website. Even if I'm not selling them I still got around 5000 hits today.

Sweet! Can't argue with that kind of free publicity. I would also stand my ground. I might not sell the pictures, but I would definitely not take them down, unless they could prove that they advertised the "photography is prohibited" deal.

Most exclusive contracts I write talk about commercial use as well as promotional use for websites, if the contract reads anything like mine legal action can be taken against X organizer which in turn could force legal action against you. It seems they requested you take down the images so they have given you fair notice. If you chose to skirt the line then be prepared to face the ramifications of your actions. The fact that they asked you to take them down suggests the contract they have is possible a very binding one with lots of legal language probably similar to most good event photographers and they are written to protect the photographer and hold the event organizer accountable. Good luck in your decision

I think the official photographer has a reasonable claim against you since any pictures you sell are pictures they *didn't* sell - so you've taken profit from them. The reality is that if they decide to file suit against you. your costs to defend yourself will me many times more than any profit you made from the pictures, regardless of the outcome of the case.

Do you really want to defend yourself in a lawsuit over a few prints?

What goes around comes around - since you're in school, your working carrer is still ahead of you. Don't be surprised if sometime in the future you run in to someone who is now involved with this particular event? What if you are being considered for a job at this same photography company five years from now? What if you were being considered for the ofiicial photographer for this very event 10 years from now, but are passed over because you didn't respect the current photographer's official status this year?

Your actions today will be remembered by many for years to come.

Sell away!!!!! They can only ask you not to but can't do anything if you do.

The only legal action that can be taken is the photographer with a contract can attempt to sue the school for them not protecting his right to exclusivity but he wont unless he doesn't want that job any more.

Don't let them scare you.

Even if photography was prohibited it is their job to enforce it once the image is taken it belong to you and you can do what you want with it including selling prints.

Just to point out, technically Smugmug would be the ones that would need to be sued because they are the ones that are actually selling the photos.

Not that there is any basis of a lawsuit, just clarifying.

I still don't think the OP should sell his photos form the event, even though he legally could.

wyofizz wrote in post #9021842
Moral, ethical, dilema.
Continue to sell and you lose your integrity.
Good luck with your life.

Are you kidding? This kid went to an event and took photos of his friends. Turns out the event host had an exclusive contract with a professional photographer.

But that contract does not involve this kid. The contract theoretically obligated the event host to stop the kid (printing on the ticket, posting of notice, intervention at the event) at the time of the event.

They failed. This does not legally or ethically obligate the kid to do anything. The photographer can sue the event host and the event host can post the kids mugshot in their security office as 'undesireable' if they want. That is up to the kid.

But the kid only has practical considerations here, not moral ones.

This is why internet legal advice is so useless. The kid has no contract with either the event or the photographer and cannot be sued by either.

Alleh wrote in post #9026644
The only legal action that can be taken is the photographer with a contract can attempt to sue the school for them not protecting his right to exclusivity but he wont unless he doesn't want that job any more.

I agree with the above portion of the post.
I would like to know exactly what type of photos the OP was taking.
If he was taking sports action shots he is ethically wrong selling them.
He said he didn't know there was a contract photog, is that his excuse for no business license, not submitting sales tax, opening up someone's head with a telephoto lens (no insurance).
If he was taking shots of fans in the stands, I as a contract photog could care less, but that's me.
Legal or not laws are made to protect us from scum and predators, legal is the lowest denomenator. Morals and ethics are at the top of the pyraimid of life.
I can't believe some of the advice I'm seeing here.
Typical advice nowadays, akin to, just because you can do it physically it must be Ok.
Goad the OP on and his next post will be him telling us they banned him from all sports events.

Alleh wrote in post #9026644
Sell away!!!!! They can only ask you not to but can't do anything if you do.

The only legal action that can be taken is the photographer with a contract can attempt to sue the school for them not protecting his right to exclusivity but he wont unless he doesn't want that job any more.

Don't let them scare you.

Interesting. Your advice tells us quite a bit about you as a business person, doesn't it?

Let's see, the OP attends the school. Best guess is that OP will want to attend events there in the future. Might want to take photos at those events, too.

Gee, even if the threats of lawsuits and whatnot are toothless in this case, and OP went ahead and sold a few prints... Doyathink the school might block OP from attending future events, or maybe just block them from bringing in a camera? Or maybe they'll just block everyone other than the contracted/official photog from bringing cameras into school events? Now that would make OP really popular at school!

My $.02 says to talk to the contract photog. See if you can work something out with him. Something of the same sort happened to me (contracted photographer) and a parent from a team at an event. They realized I was the official photographer and approached me about working out a deal with them to see if they could sell the photos that they took. We came to an agreement and now I am going to hire them as a second shooter/assistant for some larger events.

Good luck and hopefully you will do the right thing.

Not sure why you'd want to immediately start stepping on toes and listen to bad advice to sell away maybe making a few dollars for long term negativity. Bad reputations get around just as much as good ones no matter how old you are. Just not a good idea in any sense.

I would question if they can do anything about it - even if legally you're allowed to sell because it's not breaking a law (but violating his contract) they can just make sure you never shoot another event there again when he's contracted or in general if they really want to - student or not.

The reporting process for this states exclusive is they report it to the state board and they take care of it . Photog might not be able to do anything about it but they can - they're legally responsible to do as much as they can to protect the photog under contract (depending what the contract says).

I think in a criminal sense there is nothing anyone would especially taking your age into account. Which is also why you get responses like 'what are they going to do turn off my internet'. If you have even the most minute thought of ever becoming a professional at anything understand business relationships, contracts, being able to work within the rules and commonly except ethical practices are essential to being successful. If they have an exclusive rights contract respect it, if not, well it may not happen this time or next time but someone will come after you and litigate your wallet empty.