Copyright questions

I have some photo's that I paid a professional photographer to take for me. I want to create some postcards for my business using crops from the images if not the entire image in the background. Can I do this? Are they any legal issues?
Also, I have taken many pictures of people at different events. Are there any restrictions on how I use these images? Can I use these for postcards and business cards?

thanks

Have a look at the terms of service between yourself and the photographer. If in doubt - ask them.

Usually the service a photographer provides you is limited to the initially specified purpose. If you paid him/her for example $300 based onthe fact he/she was supplying you with a pretty family album of and a couple of enlargements for framing and then you use those images for a national billboard campaign for a multi-national corporation there is likely to be a problem!

The short anser is check the invoice/contract that you signed with the photographer for the initial service.

In relation to your second question - that's not really a copyright question. Normally you would need permission from the subject of a photo to publish it if you are publishing for a purpose other than editorial. There was a recent case(I think in the US) of a many whose photo was used for many years by Nestle on the side of a coffee can. He had not provided permission to for his image to be used for the purpose and I understand that either a court found in his favour or the company settled for a sizable sum.

Your best bet - as suggested by the venerable Bob Gross and others (apologies if this is a misquote!!!) is to get a release from the subject as you go when you offer to send them a lovely 6x4 print of them.

Anyway - as I'm not a lawyer, this does not constitute legal advice and will vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. If there is likely to be money at stake - I'd suggest consulting a lawyer in your own jurisdiction (or the jurisdiction in which the arrangement is occuring) for definitive advice.

I hope this is of assistance.

thank you for the guidance