Do I need to get a lawyer?
By rebelmel
@rebelmel (1386)
United States
April 11, 2009 1:26pm CST
A few nights ago I went to the Gza (of Wu Tang) show and ended up getting a TON of awesome shots of him performing, and I was invited backstage by undergroundhiphop.com to come hang out. I took a few pictures up there, too, and even a few with gza, which he gladly smiled in. I got invited to hang out with him at the hotel after the show, and was told to give my number to the manager and he would call me with directions. The manager then tried to grab me, so I decided just to go home. When I got home, I saw that I had a missed call from the manager, who said that I was not allowed to post any of the pictures I had anywhere, and I needed to give them to him. Is that okay to do? I wasn't going to post them for money or anything, I am an active photographer and I photographed a live performance and subsequently photos WITH gza after the show.
Can he do that? Should I speak to a laywer, just to be sure I wont get in trouble for posting photos?
3 responses
@benny128 (3615)
•
11 Apr 09
unless camera's were not allowed on the live performance and signs were posted you will be fine,
dont worry about it the shots are owned by the person taking the shots so technically you own the copy right as was taken in a public place with no signs saying you cant.
If there was signs saying no photography and you did then the pictures would be the property of the theatre and not yours thats when the legal issues become a problem.
1 person likes this
@trickiwoo (2702)
• United States
14 Apr 09
Legally they can only stop you from taking the photos. They can't tell you what you are and are not allowed to do with the photos once you've taken them. For the live concert photos, make sure the venue didn't have any no photography rules. Sometimes these will be printed on the ticket, posted on a sign at the location, or on the venue's website. As for the photos you took backstage, if they allowed you to take the photos then you're good. If anyone told you to put away the camera or that you weren't allowed to take pictures, then I wouldn't recommend posting them. But if they allowed you to take the photos, then there really isn't anything they can do about it.
A friend of mine was recently in a similar situation. He's a filmmaker and he was making a documentary. He filmed interviews with the employees at the location where the film was shot, and had asked for permission to film there. After the film was completed, the owners didn't like the language and some of the content of the film and didn't want their name associated with it. They asked him not to release the film. My friend really wanted to enter the film in a film festival, so he wasn't sure what to do. He sought legal assistance and was told that if they allowed him to film in their location, then there was really nothing they could do about it afterwards. Once they gave him permission to film, they couldn't go back and say what he could and couldn't do with the footage he filmed.
@rebelmel (1386)
• United States
14 Apr 09
Thank you for your help! I don't think the venue has any signs about not taking photographs, and I didn't exactly have a ticket, either, because I used to work with one of the bartenders on staff and was just let in for free. I was never told to put my camera away at the time, and I feel that I would have been if it were an issue. I was legitimately front and center of the concert, so if I wasn't supposed to be taking photos I feel like something would have been said to me.
I then got invited backstage by someone who was filming an interview for a hip hop website, and I decided to take a few pictures (with GZA) and also film the interview. Nothing was said to me at all, from anyone. There were only maybe ten or fifteen people backstage, too, in a very small room, so it's not like it went unnoticed or anything. I think that the manager was just angry because I wouldn't let him grab me. Because at the end of the night Gza asked me to go to his hotel and hang out with him and his girlfriend!
When I first asked people about this they thought that maybe Gza was doing something incriminating backstage because, i mean he is in the wu tang clan, but the worst picture I got was him drinking a heiniken, and I don't even think that one came out too well.
