[Artemisia] Sage cover art

[Ken and Mindy Wilson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sondra Gibson" <sgibson at edulog.com>
> First, I don't think you are correct about photos.  As I understand it, a
> photograph is the property of the person who *takes* it.   I know there
> have been numerous times I've found myself in a newspaper or on TV, while
> doing some kind of demo or even something at the local fair, and have
never
> signed a release.

I feel that this strays towards my areas of experience, so I'll chime in a
little here-
There are different rules depending how an image (I'll count both video and
photographs the same)
is used and the context of it's creation. For example, images taken of you
inside your own home without your knowledge or consent falls under a very
different category than images taken of you putting on a public display in a
public area. Likewise, images that are packaged  as entertainment and/or
sold for profit fall under different rules than images that are used for
news or commentary. Either way, the burden lies upon the person contesting
the use of the image to show that the image should not be used in the way it
is being used. There's no 'video police' that will come and take away the
video of someone who dosen't want it used. Basicly what happens (assuming
that a simple request is declined) is that the person who dosen't want their
likeness being used in an image by someone must bring a civil suit against
them. If the judge finds for that person, they can make the image creator
stop using the image, turn over the image, pay damages, whatever. Likewise,
there's no one that will come around and say "you can't use that, you don't
have a release". A release is somthing that an image producer uses to help
protect themselves from liability for using a person's likeness in an image,
but it's certainly not *required* by any law or anything.
Given that out group's events are more-or-less private functions, it
probably is a good idea to get permission from the people in the photograph
if you're going to use it for a publication. However my own experiences and
training would suggest that unless the image was signifigantly altered, or
was used in a manner that could be considered defaming to the person in the
image, they would have a difficult time bringing suit against a non-profit
educational group for using it as artwork in a publication.
Again, my experience and training, your milage may vary.
-Marcello, who sometimes earns a living producing television.