Legal Use of Photos
This is a question that has been asked multiple times among faculty and
staff members campus-wide. Many have excellent photos that they would like
to use for promotion of their department via the Web, printed brochures, booklets,
etc. Yet, they worry that they may not be able to use them without a signed release
from the individuals in the photos.
What are the rules?*
You must have a release:
- if publication is for commercial appropriation ("right of publicity") of
the subject's likeness without the subject's consent. Obtain a release if you are
publishing a celebrity’s image for commercial purposes. To establish a violation of
the right of publicity, a non-celebrity must show that the publisher used some aspect
of identity or persona without permission in such a way that he or she is
identifiable, and the use is likely to damage the commercial value of that
persona.
- if publication casts the subject in a false light, defined as the public
dissemination of highly offensive information about a person with knowledge of
falsity or reckless disregard for the truth of the information.
- if publication is an unreasonable intrusion, defined as the intentional
invasion into a person's physical seclusion (as in the subject's home where the
subject has an expectation of privacy) or private affairs in a manner highly
offensive to a reasonable person.
- if publication is a public disclosure of embarrassing private
facts, defined as a dissemination that (a) would be highly offensive to a
reasonable person and; (b) is not of legitimate concern to the public.