File under What Next?
A short blog to get back into the swing of things.
According to this article, Walmart has refused to make prints of photos a mother took of her son. The reason, it looked too professional and therefore must have been taken by a professional. They refused to print the image without authorisation from the photographer. Of course, unable to provide said proof as they don't believe she took the photo, they will not print it.
This is another example of crazy fear for loss of another form of control on intellectual property with the arrival of the digital era. Walmart and other third party photo printers should simply take the contact details of the person putting in the images for printing and make them sign a disclaimer. This should remove the onus from them. That way if a professional photographer ever finds out (yeah right), and he knocks on Walmart's door, they can show who received the print and send him on his merry way. Or, maybe the photographers could start to think differently and maybe charge for the actual work they do... taking the photo.
How they can claim copyright on an image of YOU is crazy to me.
posted by Unknown @ 9:08 am
1 comments
1 Comments:
Brad, firstly, welcome back! I was hoping you'd find a way to get to blogging again.
This post topic is pure craziness. I once had photos of my daughter done at a studio. Though I wasn't crazy about the way they turned out, I said I would purchase the proofs ... just as a keepsake. Operative word there was "purchase." Though the cost wasn't extreme, I was sorely disappointed to get the package home and see the studio logo all over the proofs, blocking any clear vision of my daughter's smile. Why didn't they just give these to me? Or better still, why couldn't they have just placed one or even two logos at the bottom and top of the photo? They were going to toss them out anyway!
I think Walmart has lost its corporate mind lately and this post is just further proof.
Great to have you back!
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