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By Root 4067 0

you would have both parents sign a minor release; however, a signature of one parent should suffice. The problem arises because of the possibility that one parent might attempt to rescind the granting of the release after the fact. This issue arose once when a popular celebrity couple was divorced, and the mother of the children became a reality television star and signed releases for her children to appear in the show. The father decided to try to preclude that, and the question became one that went to court. In Figure 19.2, you will see an example of a minor model release that I used for an assignment that included both mother and child. The mother also executed an adult release.

Property release. When a piece of property is photographed, getting a release from the owner can be beneficial. However, I am not aware of any legal precedent that demonstrates that a property release or the suggestion of a lack of a property release resulted in litigation. Consider that perhaps you photographed someone who lives in a one-of-a-kind tree house. After the shoot, you make a few images of that tree house, and then, in turn, a financial institution wants to use that image for the purposes of promoting a product or service offered, with the tag line "unless you live in a tree…" or some variation thereof. The challenge here is that the homeowner's identity may be associated with that, and a good lawyer could try to make a case out of it. However, property releases also apply to other things you may own. For example, when I photographed a restored antique car, I secured not just a model release from the person, but a property release for his vehicle as well. To be safe, securing property releases, while a best practice, has no precedent-setting cases to date. Figure 19.3 shows the property release for the car in that shoot.

Figure 19.1

Figure 19.2

Figure 19.3

Trademark release. Although you will likely never see a trademark release, you may see it in the form of a trademark license, and I want to discuss both variations here. When, for example, I photographed the vehicle that I obtained a property release for (as referenced a moment ago), there was a risk that the owner of any trademarks that appeared in that photograph might have a case to be made against me. If I photograph a person, and that person is wearing a Nike logo, the appearance of that trademark in the photograph would likely require a release. Trademark releases come into play often in movies, and almost all manufacturers of products grant releases for their products to be used in movies and television because of the potential benefit from the free advertising and/or brand awareness that ensues. In fact, this type of brand awareness has become so valuable that companies often pay a significant fee to have their product or logo in a movie. However, in most cases, the manufacturers want to ensure their product is appearing in a positive light. Further—and this may fall between trademark and property issues—if you are using a product in an advertisement, it may be best to call up a prop maker and commission the item be made for you for the shoot. One colleague of mine once commissioned a New York City umbrella maker to make an umbrella for a high-profile shoot a number of years ago, in order to avoid the risk that the umbrella manufacturer would object to their product appearing in the ad campaign that this photographer was working on. In the end, the legal department of a corporation that owns a trademark is going to be the one signing off on your use of the image, and that will likely be a major undertaking.

Here is how a trademark license agreement might begin:

Licensor owns and/or has the right to license certain "Licensed Properties" (defined below) and other intellectual properties contained in; used with, or associated with the "Licensed Images" (defined below). The Licensed Properties have, through extensive use and advertising around the world, achieved widespread fame, celebrity, and goodwill among the trade: and among the general public, are associated