The people inside the booth, who presumably choose clothing, sitting
position, etc., are contributing to a non-fixed arrangement, which is not
subject to copyright protection until the photo booth snaps the picture. It
is the photo booth that "fixes" the arrangement into a tangible expression.
However, I agree that an argument can be made that the person pressing the
button is responsible for "authoring" the photo, since this situation is
really no different than a photographer snapping a picture. (Are we confused
because the person snapping the picture and the subject of the picture isthe
same person?) The fact that the picture takes place in a booth doesn't seem
to change the analysis, and in the end, someone has to click the button. If
it's the sitter, as someone suggested, she would hopefully be an employee of
the family and therefore the resulting picture was taken within the course
and scope of employment (although the arguments against this position are
obvious) - owned by the people in the booth. Otherwise, the person in the
booth usually presses the button, and would claim that they "fixed" the
copyright and therefore own it.
To respond to the below message: How can you say that there is no "discernable authorship." What's the difference between someone that sets up a tripod and camera that clicks off pictures every time someone walks by and asks for a picture to be taken. Are you suggesting the photographer wouldn't be entitled to copyright protection for those pictures simply because the camera was fixed and the pictures occured on request? I don't see the logic. And to suggest that a compilation of information listed in a logical order (i.e., Feist) is similar to photographs doesn't make sense either. I believe there is sufficient law to demonstrate that a photographer can walk around a city block, snapping away pictures every ten feet and each of those pictures would be subject to copyright protection. The arrangement of information is very different than the composition of a photograph, despite the concept that you are merely capturing "facts."
Brock Shinen, Esq.
> Actually, I would disagree. I doubt the photo-booth operator could be
said
> to be the owner as there is no discernable "authorship". The booth
accepts
> your money and at a regular interval takes four or five pictures
> automatically. There is no creativity on the part of the operator, no
> judgment as to the positioning of the lens or the timing of the photo. My
> suspicion is that the Feist decisions would prevent the booth owner from
> owning any copyrights at all. In fact I would argue that the true author
> would be the participants in the photo as they are the ones who are
> creating the poses and the positioning in the photograph itself. The
booth
> really just provided the mechanical means to create the picture.
>
> Rob Jones, Esq
>
>
> At 03:05 PM 12/22/2003, Brock Shinen, Esq. wrote:
> >Although I have yet to address a case involving a photo booth, my
instinct
> >would be that the photo booth owner owns the copyrights, just as a
> >photographer would own the copyrights in photos in a studio. This is a
trick
> >question in one regard, however, because the copyright owner would be
> >essentially prohibited from using any of the copyrights it owns as a
result
> >of privacy laws, i.e., misappropriation of a person's photo for profit. I
> >would think a court would extend this to include commercially indirect
uses
> >such as promotion and marketing.
> >
> >Brock Shinen, Esq.
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Rich Stim" <rich[_at_]nolo.com>
> >To: "CNI-COPYRIGHT -- Copyright & Intellectual Property"
> ><CNI-COPYRIGHT[_at_]cni.org>
> >Sent: Monday, December 22, 2003 8:05 AM
> >Subject: [CNI-(C)] Photo booth copyrights
> >
> >
> > > Who, if anyone, owns the copyright in an image created by a photo
booth
> > > machine? The subject? The person who pays?
> > > Any thoughts are appreciated.
> > > Rich Stim
> > >
>
>
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Received on Tue Dec 23 2003 - 21:45:18 GMT
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