Right of Publicity and Trademark Infringement

[skunker]

What is the name of your state? Texas

Hello,
I run a website that displays photo galleries of WWII photos (taken from National Archives and other government websites). I have been getting lots of requests from people asking me to make available these same images in a high resolution format so they can print or perhaps use them commercially in their own products or whatever it may be. I now want to sell higher resolution formats on my website.

However, some of these photographs contain portraits of generals and other well-known figures (e.g. Doolittle, Eisenhower, Hitler, Bob Hope, etc) and I was wondering if I would be breaking any RIGHT OF PUBLICITY laws. Basically, i want to charge for the download of these images off my website, but I dont' want to be responsible for selling a photo that someone uses in a commercial project. If I were to put a disclaimer of some sort protecting me, am I still liable?

Also, what about trademarks such as Coca-Cola? I have several 1930s/1940s era photographs that feature these logos but were taken from government employees and are in the public domain. Again, I just want to provide higher resolution copies of these photos for download and charge a fee.

 

[The Occultist]

If a photo is in the public domain, then you can do what you want with it. If somebody still owns a copyright, however, then you are not allowed to copy or distribute at all, and a disclaimer will NOT protect you.

As for those logos, you should be fine as long as it does not appear that Coca Cola is supporting you.

 

[skunker]

Thanks,.
The images I have have the following note:

Photographs in this collection were taken by photographers working for the U.S. Government. Generally speaking, works created by U.S. Government employees are not eligible for copyright protection in the United States. However, they may be under copyright in some foreign countries and privacy and publicity rights may apply.

It's the last line I am concerned about ("privacy and publicity rights may apply"). Since I will be charging people a fee to download these high quality images from my website, am I liable for these images that are in the public domain, but could have privacy/publicity rights associated with them? How can I protect myself from this without removing the images altogether?

 

[skunker]

If a photo is in the public domain, then you can do what you want with it. If somebody still owns a copyright, however, then you are not allowed to copy or distribute at all, and a disclaimer will NOT protect you.

As for those logos, you should be fine as long as it does not appear that Coca Cola is supporting you.

Occultist, are you an attorney? Your response to me above seemed too easy I need to talk further about this with some finer details about the photos. I'm thinking I need to see an IP attorney. Do you recommend I do this as the next step or would I be wasting money?

Thanks for your time.

 

[The Occultist]

I whole heartedly suggest finding an attorney that can analyze all pertinent information and would be able to give you a more complete/accurate answer. You're right, I am not a lawyer. What I've said is essentially right, but is about as detailed of an answer as I can give you with my knowledge.

Also, keep in mind most lawyers will not charge you to just sit down with them and explain what's going on, so it really is worth looking into, especially if there is a chance of somebody coming after you. Even if copyrights are in public domain, there could always be some yahoo out there claiming the copyright belongs to him and try to take you to court over it, and no matter the outcome of the trial, they can be pretty costly for both parties. Good luck.

Oh, and perhaps somebody else on the board will be along shortly that can offer more insight. (they usually show up more quickly when I've said something that is incorrect