Copyright laws regarding photography of a public and private university?

[lovetron]

What is the name of your state? North Carolina

I am a part time photographer who also does custom framing. I attended a public university in the state and have many photos that were taken from public streets on the campus of buildings, and famous landmarks on campus. I assume it is ok for me to enlarge these and frame and sell them, but am not positive.

I would also like to take photographs of a private university where all photos would have to be taken from private streets or property on the campus. I assume I would have to get permission from the University, but I am not sure who I would need to contact. Can anyone help me out with these two questions?

 

[divgradcurl]

If the photos are taken from a publicly-accessible location -- such as a street -- you can take the pictures and sell them regardless of whether the buildings are public or privately owned. If you sell the pictures and use the name of university to advertise them, then there may be a trademark issue, but from a copyright and privacy standpoint, there is no problem with you taking the pictures and selling them.

 

[racer72]

If the photos are taken from a publicly-accessible location -- such as a street -- you can take the pictures and sell them regardless of whether the buildings are public or privately owned. If you sell the pictures and use the name of university to advertise them, then there may be a trademark issue, but from a copyright and privacy standpoint, there is no problem with you taking the pictures and selling them.

Not true in many cases. Many colleges and universities hold intellectual copyrights to their buildings. This included architectual elements and building design. You can take all the pictures you want, you just can't sell them. All it will take is a call to the college's legal department to get an answer, that is better than being served with a lawsuit.

 

[lovetron]

Thanks everyone for the answers. After speaking with the university relations department, I found out that we are required to get a license from the Collegiate Licensing Company for most universities. We are now in the process of applying for and hopefully obtaining the license.

 

[divgradcurl]

racer72,

I respectfully disagree. 17 U.S.C. 120 carves out an exception in the protection of architectural works under copyright for pictures and other graphic representations:

"§ 120. Scope of exclusive rights in architectural works

(a) Pictorial representations permitted. The copyright in an architectural work that has been constructed does not include the right to prevent the making, distributing, or public display of pictures, paintings, photographs, or other pictorial representations of the work, if the building in which the work is embodied is located in or ordinarily visible from a public place. "

This pretty clearly would allow someone to take a picture of a building -- from a publicly-accessible location -- and sell it. However, if you take a picture of, say, a university, then sell the picture using the university's name, then you run into trademark issues.