Thursday, March 15, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
Essential Legal Workflow -- St. Robert Seminar
For those of you that missed the St. Robert presentation, click here for a link to a podcast of the seminar.
Or, you can subscribe to the podcast feed and get it into iTunes by clicking here.
You can find a link to the PowerPoint slides by clicking here.
Or, you can subscribe to the podcast feed and get it into iTunes by clicking here.
You can find a link to the PowerPoint slides by clicking here.
Should Photographers Delete Their Pintrest Accounts?
Last month, attorney and photographer Kirsten Kowalski deleted her Pinterest inspiration boards.
In her blog post, Kowalski described why she deleted her account. Basically, it's because the site's terms of use stipulate that those who pin photos to the site agree that they are the owners of the photos or have permission from the owners to post them. The terms go on to say, in all caps, "You acknowledge and agree that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, the entire risk arising out of your access to and use of the site, application, services and site content remains with you." This puts the entire risk of copyright infringement on the end user. And believe me, these stipulations pose real issues for working photographers.
Pintrest requires any user pinning a photo certify they own it. But isn't this really contrary to the site's purpose since it's designed to allow images to be rapidly shared? Sure it is. They're counting on NO ONE READING THE TERMS!
As an attorney, I'm here to tell you that there's very little a Pintrest user can do to avoid infriging on the copyrights of others by pinning/sharing photos you find across the web. The only way to be sure you're not infringing is to only share your own photos. I mean to say that repinning images already on Pintrest counts as an infringement. Scary stuff!
Plus, the DCMA protections given by Congress to IP providers don't filter down to end users. According to Bruce Johnson, an attorney with Davis Wright Tremaine, "The website may have DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) protections for user-generated content. The users don't and could be exposing themselves to a significant legal risk."
Pintrest Insists on Perpetual Non-Exclusive License
Pro Photographers should run from Pintrest because its terms of service provide that pinning/posting your photos on Pintrest release your control over it. In fact, Pintrest gets to alter it and sell it if it chooses.
Specifically, the terms of service provided:
"By making available any Member Content through the Site, Application or Services, you hereby grant to Cold Brew Labs a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to use, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, view, and otherwise exploit such Member Content only on, through or by means of the Site, Application or Services."
With these terms of service, why would any working photogrpher post on Pintrest? It would be just a silly as posting in iStock Photo and not receiving royalties when iStock licensed your downloads.
We'll be watching this one....
In her blog post, Kowalski described why she deleted her account. Basically, it's because the site's terms of use stipulate that those who pin photos to the site agree that they are the owners of the photos or have permission from the owners to post them. The terms go on to say, in all caps, "You acknowledge and agree that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, the entire risk arising out of your access to and use of the site, application, services and site content remains with you." This puts the entire risk of copyright infringement on the end user. And believe me, these stipulations pose real issues for working photographers.
Pintrest requires any user pinning a photo certify they own it. But isn't this really contrary to the site's purpose since it's designed to allow images to be rapidly shared? Sure it is. They're counting on NO ONE READING THE TERMS!
As an attorney, I'm here to tell you that there's very little a Pintrest user can do to avoid infriging on the copyrights of others by pinning/sharing photos you find across the web. The only way to be sure you're not infringing is to only share your own photos. I mean to say that repinning images already on Pintrest counts as an infringement. Scary stuff!
Plus, the DCMA protections given by Congress to IP providers don't filter down to end users. According to Bruce Johnson, an attorney with Davis Wright Tremaine, "The website may have DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) protections for user-generated content. The users don't and could be exposing themselves to a significant legal risk."
Pintrest Insists on Perpetual Non-Exclusive License
Pro Photographers should run from Pintrest because its terms of service provide that pinning/posting your photos on Pintrest release your control over it. In fact, Pintrest gets to alter it and sell it if it chooses.
Specifically, the terms of service provided:
"By making available any Member Content through the Site, Application or Services, you hereby grant to Cold Brew Labs a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to use, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, view, and otherwise exploit such Member Content only on, through or by means of the Site, Application or Services."
With these terms of service, why would any working photogrpher post on Pintrest? It would be just a silly as posting in iStock Photo and not receiving royalties when iStock licensed your downloads.
We'll be watching this one....
Sunday, December 4, 2011
This is My WPPI Video
Thanks to the help of Christine Bonnivier, Owen Cameron, Lauren Barela, Melissa Britt and Missy Hughes under the creative direction of my lovely wife Ann Heidemann, we pulled off a great short film shoot for the WPPI Speakers film contest for WPPI 2012. Here's a link. Hopefully you think it's a funny as I do. My wife tells me that if I think it's funny, it's really not. Hopefully she's wrong this time!
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Jeremy and Kristin -- September 10, 2011
Kristin and Jeremy were married Saturday in Monett and enjoyed the most fantastic weather of the year!! Got out to the Jack Henry campus for a little experience the day time and then back for Mass. Picture-Perfect All Around Day!! Wish every wedding was this much fun!!
Friday, July 29, 2011
1st Place Color at Ozark Empire Fair
Congratulations to my lovely wife Ann for her first place award at the Ozark Empire Fair in the color division. She made this picture responding to Joplin after the tornado with her insurance company, ANPAC. She shot this picture of an unknown man as he surveyed the damage to his Chinese restaurant. His head seems to rise above all of the wreckage and his face looks sad but determined. I love this shot! Good job Ann. Super proud of you! She also won third place color with another image she made on the same day while she was in Joplin. She really captured the mood of what was happening at the time. I was in Joplin last week, and despite the devastation and loss, the people I talked to are really positive and determined to rebuild. There's so much work that will have to be done over the next years, it's hard to imagine.
Friday, June 17, 2011
WPPI U - Atlanta, Georgia
What you didn’t learn in college, you’ll learn at WPPI U. Rangefinder will be hosting a 2 1/2 day workshop with a full slate of classes for emerging photographers. Classes will cover all of the essentials you need to know for your new business from top professionals in the industry. I'll be speaking along with Doug Gordon, Jasmine Star, fellow Missourian Sal Cincotta and others. Attendees will receive a course completion certificate from WPPI and a “WPPI U” t-shirt. Hope to see you there. Registration is now open.
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