photos of someone else's child

[mjconley]

What is the name of your state? Ohio
Can an ex-friend prevent my family from using photos of her deceased son, who was my son's best friend, in Memoriam ads in our local newspaper? We took the snapshots and are in possession of the prints. She's not claiming mental anguish from seeing the pics and ads. She's just mad at us.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

What is the name of your state? Ohio
Can an ex-friend prevent my family from using photos of her deceased son, who was my son's best friend, in Memoriam ads in our local newspaper? We took the snapshots and are in possession of the prints. She's not claiming mental anguish from seeing the pics and ads. She's just mad at us.

My response:

Would you mind if I used the pictures I have of you in your bikini laying next to a beached whale?

Caption reads: "Which one is the whale?"

IAAL

 

[mjconley]

"mind" and "matter"

I "mind" a lot of things in this life; that doesn't mean I can prevent all of them. If your comparison of me to a whale interfered with my ability to live a normal life or earn an income, that would be an issue. This being the real world, however, my question remains - can she own or control an image in our possession because it's her son, if we aren't using it to make money or harass anyone?

 

[JETX]

She cannot control your ownership of the pictures, but certainly can limit your USE of them.... including publishing.

But, there is another issue here.... since the goal of a "Memoriam" is to "celebrate or honor the memory of a person or an event", do you think that would be the result if done against the wishes of the childs family???

Why would you even consider doing this without the families 'blessing'??

 

[mjconley]

photos

Oh, we didn't do it against the wishes of the family. She hit us with this rather vitriolic e-mail AFTER my son had posted the memoriam. It never occurred to us at all that she wouldn't be pleased and proud that people remembered him that way. She's angry over a separate but related issue, which is WAY too sordid to go into here, and this is the only way to hit out at us, through my son. It's a moot issue since we obviously won't publish things solely to offend her; I was curious as to what she imagines her legal standing to be. I really begin to think I strayed into a Dear Abby website here. Doesn't ANYONE know the legal aspects of the issue? I'm perfectly capable of grasping the moral implications.