If you live in the US I’m sure you are familiar with those lighted signs that businesses park next to the side of the road with the movable letters so they can change the message as often as they wish.
Whenever something ‘big’ happens that stirs a lot of public debate and opinion, lots of businesses stop using these signs to advertise their weekly specials and instead put commentary on them.
I’ve got a collection of photos of these signs with their little nuggets of wisdom in plastic letters, and I’d like to compile them into a coffee table book. My question is, can I use those images? Do I have to obtain releases from the business owners if they are identified in the photo? Or since they put these things out into the public eye are they sort of in the public domain?
Wow. I’ve never seen those! I mean, some churches and schools have permanent ones, but I’ve never seen a moveable arrow sign for a business! Maybe they’re illegal in this state or something.
I could definitely see how those things might be against zoning laws in a lot of places. They sort of smack of might-be-here-tomorrow-might-not car lots and such.
There was one in a butcher shop in Detroit a few years ago. It said" you can’t beat our meat"
Then a week later it said You can give us a ticket but you still cant beat our meat.
Public eye and public domain are two separate things. If you are using images for commercial purposes you should be consulting with a lawyer who practices in that field.
A documentary about, say, strip malls would probably include footage of many business signs; it can’t possibly be the case that the makers of such a show would consult each and every business alongside the road to gain their consent to use the footage. Why would a collection of still images be any different?
A documentary is an example of “editorial” use of an image, and as such does not generally require model releases (for people) or property releases (for buildings and such). Similarly a news camera man does not have to get releases for buildings and people in the background of his B-roll. On the other hand, if you’re shooting a movie or advertisement or TV show, you may have to.
Of course, the best plan is always to consult a lawyer who specializes in such things.
This might be a good question to repost to a photography specialty forum like Digital Photography Review. Professional photogs have a lot of experience with permissons, releases, licensing and copyright.