On Apr 3, 2006, at 7:29 PM, graywolf wrote:
You could get someone in a lot of trouble with your logic there,
Bob. The law is not about logic, it is about how things are written
into law, and how the courts have ruled on it in the past. And you
are wrong about that photo on the front of a mass market book too.
You damn well better have a release, but you will because your
publisher is not going to accept the liability involved if you do not.
You need an attorney to dot the I's and cross the T's, but what we
are talking about here is so broad that anyone who has done even a
little reading about the matter should know better than what some
of you guys are saying.
I have a good friend who is a copyright lawyer. He has become quite
wealthy by suing on behalf of people whose copyright or right to
publicity has been infringed. These cases run into high dollars.
I've worked for him as an expert witness on photography in several
cases. Statutory damages typically run into the hundreds of
thousands of dollars, and there can be unlimited punitive damages on
top of that! This is big money stuff, and you don't want to be on
the receiving end of one of these suits, believe me!!!
Bob
