Please…Get My Permission for Photos

Recently I wrote a post for my blog at Blisstree’s Arts and Crafts section, Please…Don’t Photograph My Crafts (without permission).  You may find this applies to the products you provide in your business.  In today’s electronic world, with small cameras, cell phone cameras, and other electronic devices for taking photos and posting them on the Internet, you need to be highly aware of who may be photographing you, your family, your business activities and your products.

Granted, some of this may lead to greater publicity (essentially free promotion) of your business.  However, don’t you want to be in control of what and when photos are taken?  When someone interviews you for a news story, whether for print or online pubication, you’ve given your permission for the photos and quotes.  When someone takes photos without your permission, simply for their own enjoyment, that’s one thing.  But when they post the photos or use them to copy your designs, that’s another and can become a legal matter.

With so much of this being done (either by people who know better or by those simply ignorant of the copyright laws), it’s difficult to pursue it.  Just as when writers publish or blog on the Internet, their work essentially is copyrighted according to US copyright law.  However, many people don’t realize or simply don’t care, so use your work until you get firm about recourse.

Have you run into this problem with your business?  What have you done about the situation?

(Image: sxc.hu)