Commercial Use or Personal Use: Hey guys, I am a little confused here on this topic. Here is the situation. A few days ago I went to Longwood Gardens. Now on the back of the ticket...

Averar13 Loc: Norristown, Pennsylvania

Hey guys, I am a little confused here on this topic. Here is the situation. A few days ago I went to Longwood Gardens. Now on the back of the ticket there is a statement. I'm not sure if you guys can read that. But in the middle there it states that you can take photos for personal use. But not for commercial use. Now I'm scratching my head here. If you are the one taking the photo, and it's your photo from the moment you snap it, shouldn't you be to decide what you want to do with that photo? Also, say if you are a commercial photographer for a magazine, etc????
What do you guys think on this topic??

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Mercer Loc: Houston, TX, USA

It occurs to me the commercial establishment has a right to limit activity on their private property, including commercial use of their property; specifically in this case, photography for profit.

...just a thought.

Mercer

Averar13 Loc: Norristown, Pennsylvania

Mercer wrote:

It occurs to me the commercial establishment has a right to limit activity on their private property, including commercial use of their property; specifically in this case, photography for profit.

...just a thought.

Mercer

Makes sense. Now that you mention that, I think that's one reason probably why I didn't win a contest for Pop Photo Magazine. Since I used 3 photos I took from Longwood Gardens. Pop Photo was probably going to use a winning photo commercially for one of the TV show.

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

Averar13 wrote:

Hey guys, I am a little confused here on this topi... (show quote)

Longwood and any other venue have the right to impose any restrictions that they want on your entrance. If you want to shoot something for professional (or commercial) use, you must contact them in advance to make arrangements for entrance. This is a fairly common requirement. Basically, you are allowed to take personal photos of the exhibits there and of people in your party, as long as you are not doing professional portraiture, photographing for any commercial use (as the "Gardens" do not want to appear to be endorsing any product or service. If they catch you selling photos of, or commercializing them in any way, they will seek legal action. The Battleship New Jersey, and many other private and semi-private venues are the same way (as well as most concerts and other events)

donrent Loc: Punta Gorda , Fl

You can take ALL the pictures you want for your personal use of the Space Needle in Seattle, but without written permission you cannot use any for a commercial venture, which in my opinion is really stretching ownership a long ways.................................

ottopj Loc: Annapolis, MD USA

Would anyone want a picture of them self used for commercial purposes and receive no remuneration? I think not!

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

donrent wrote:

You can take ALL the pictures you want for your personal use of the Space Needle in Seattle, but without written permission you cannot use any for a commercial venture, which in my opinion is really stretching ownership a long ways.................................

Photographers also MUST be careful in photographing other buildings for commercial use. Many commercial buildings have been patented and copyrighted by the owners and or the architects and they require licensing (usually a fee) for the commercial use of an image containing their buildings. As a worst case, they feel that if you use the image of their building without their permission and you are sued by a tenant or passerby, they can protect themselves in court by claiming that you were using the image without permission and against the law.

OldEarl Loc: Northeast Kansas

donrent wrote:

You can take ALL the pictures you want for your personal use of the Space Needle in Seattle, but without written permission you cannot use any for a commercial venture, which in my opinion is really stretching ownership a long ways.................................

Court decisions---this is a matter of common law rather than statute--back them up. It may vary by jurisdiction. If I planned a magazine story about the place I would contact the management and get permission as well as interviews--I would want to do it that way. Note here, there are a number of public domain sites--like National and state parks--where there is no such requirement.

02Nomad Loc: Catonsville, MD

Longwood Gardens is one of my favorite places to visit. I had been told that it had been the property of DuPont, but had been donated to the state of Pennsylvania. Don't know if this is true.

Ka2azman Loc: Tucson, Az

ottopj wrote:

Would anyone want a picture of them self used for commercial purposes and receive no remuneration? I think not!

If you don't want your picture used , wear your ugly face while there. Then they will 'trash can' 'round file' that photo. LOL

tjphxaz Loc: Phoenix, AZ

ottopj wrote:

Would anyone want a picture of them self used for commercial purposes and receive no remuneration? I think not!

And yet, the back of the ticket states the Gardens may take pictures of you for "promotional purposes."

OldEarl Loc: Northeast Kansas

tjphxaz wrote:

And yet, the back of the ticket states the Gardens may take pictures of you for "promotional purposes."

You are under no compulsion to wander around the Gardens.

Bob Werre

I've been involved in several situations over the years where photographic locations have been disputed. I've been told that permission was not granted for shooting a building, yet a quick phone call to the Chamber of Commerce will get a similar view, 'cause now it's for the good of the city! I've been stopped several times by mall security even though I've been hired by various stores within the mall. Then I've been hired by mall management but the individual stores have objected. There are only a few buildings that have been trademarked or otherwise off limits for commercial photography--CN tower, Flat Iron Building, CSX building are a few. There was a big dispute over a tree at Pebble Beach? and the Rock n'Roll Hall of Fame that went to court big time.

tjphxaz Loc: Phoenix, AZ

OldEarl wrote:

You are under no compulsion to wander around the Gardens.

Nor will I. :)

Averar13 Loc: Norristown, Pennsylvania

Everyone makes a great point. I completely forgot about the trademark purpose. I was looking at it, at the perspective as if you take the photo, then you could do whatever you want with that photo. Another thing I have an issue with is that Longwood Garden states on their tickets that they take pictures of people there when they visit and they use those photos for things such as TV commercials, but my thing is that usually in Portrait Photography, I learned that you should get a written consent from your model to take their photo and use that photo. So my point is why doesn't Longwood Gardens get written consent from those people they photograph? I would assume that someone can say "ok I want to sue them for taking a photo of me without my written consent and used it commercially"