May 7, 2010
Can I Sell This Stuff On eBay? Part II
Can I Sell This Stuff On eBay? Part II By Cliff Ennico www.creators.com Q:"Last week I went to a local garage sale, and there was one family that was selling about 75 carousels of photographic slides some of their relatives took when they traveled around the world in the 1960s and 1970s. I made an offer of $20.00, and they accepted it. When I got home I realized I had bought over 10,000 slides of cities, landscapes and countrysides. I have seen people on the Internet hawking the idea that you can make good money weekly taking photos and uploading your photos to various Websites. You are paid a commission when someone buys a copy of your photo. I guess this would be the same as selling clip art. My question is: are there legitimate companies doing this or is this just another Internet scam? Can I get into trouble doing this?" A:Technically (and legally), the person who takes a photo owns the copyright to it - literally, the "right to make copies" and profit from licensing the image to others. Unless the photographer assigns his copyright to someone else, he or she retains it for the appropriate copyright period (currently very generous, basically the life of the photographer plus 50 years, but you would have to look at the copyright law in effect at the time the photos were taken). Technically, while the family probably had the legal right to sell you the actual physical slides (which were given to them as gifts, or inherited when the original photographer died), they had no legal right to assign the photographer's "copyright" unless they were the actual photographer and intended to do so. If you want to resell the actual slides on eBay, that probably won't be a problem. You will have to make clear, however, that you are not the photographer and cannot assign the "copyright" to them - a simple statement such as "reproduction of these photos without the photographer's permission is strictly prohibited" should be enough. You should also consult eBay's listing policy regarding selling copyrighted material, which can be found at http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/copyrights.html . So what about setting up a "photo bureau" (that's the technical name of the Internet operation you describe) and licensing these images for a few pennies apiece? Here's the law: unless these photos are very, very old (anything pre-1910 is probably okay), they are probably not in the "public domain" as yet - someone owns the copyright to them, and will probably complain, by having their lawyers send a nasty "cease and desist letter", or using eBay's Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) program, if they discover unauthorized sales on eBay or elsewhere; if the photos contain images of persons, they cannot be sold or licensed without the persons' permission - any photos depicting family or tour group members should be returned to the family that sold you the slides; if the photographer is known, he or she should be given credit each time a photo is reproduced - so, for example, "photo by Cliff Ennico"; and if the photographer is not known, then the person who sold these photos to you should be given credit - for example, "photo courtesy of the family of Cliff Ennico" or "reprinted with permission of the Ennico family". The likelihood of anyone complaining is pretty remote in this case, but any reputable publisher or author will not download a photo from a "bureau" unless it has a photo credit and a copyright notice. I would never do this for any of my books, because then the publisher would make me prove that I had the right to reproduce the photo. Anyone downloading photos without proper credits and copyright information is looking to rip off the copyright owner, and any service providing such photos (on the Web or anywhere else) is a "scam". Go back to the family who sold you the photos, explain what you're planning to do with them, and get them to sign a one-page agreement assigning their copyright to you in exchange for a penny or two each time one of the photos is downloaded online. That way you can put credits and copyright notices on these photos and "legitimize" them. If the original photographer finds out and complains that the deal wasn't authorized by him, you will have some legal recourse against the family members who sold you the photos, you can offer the photographer the same deal in exchange for a copyright assignment, or you can simply remove the photos from the Web and go on with your life. After all, you're only out twenty bucks. Cliff Ennico ( cennico@legalcareer.com ) is a syndicated columnist, author and host of the PBS television series 'Money Hunt'. His latest books are 'Small Business Survival Guide' (Adams Media, $12.95) and 'The eBay Seller's Tax and Legal Answer Book' (AMACOM, $19.95). This column is no substitute for legal, tax or financial advice, which can be furnished only by a qualified professional licensed in your state. To find out more about Cliff Ennico and other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit our Web page at www.creators.com . COPYRIGHT 2007 CLIFFORD R. ENNICO. DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC. Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com.

Posted by Staff at 1:50 AM