A while back I looked at model releases and the uses of them, so now it’s time to turn our attention to issues of property. Property releases are often misunderstood by both photographers and the general public, particularly because property, by itself, doesn’t have legal rights. Unlike people, buildings, cars and other objects don’t have any right to privacy or reputations to protect. However, the association that the property has with a person’s identity could impact on the person’s rights.

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Two very useful, and for the professional photographer essential, books that deal with issues of releases are Best Business Practices for Photographers, Second Edition
and the ASMP Professional Business Practices in Photography, 7th Edition
. Both of these mention that there aren’t really any precedent-settings cases in dealing with these issues of property.

Returning to the association of identity theory, if you used a photo of someone’s house or car in a way that was readily identifiable, and the publication thereof caused the property owner to be shown in a negative way, they may choose to take legal action under defamation laws. ASMP give an example with a picture of a house being used in an article about drug users even though the house used is not connected to drugs in any way. The owner could see it as defamation of character and could sue.

Images of property and the need for releases are very different from the requirements resulting from trademarked objects. This is an issue that most people seem to get mixed up. Anything can be trademarked and if it is, the need for explicit permission depends on the end use. I’ll take a look at trademarks in a future post.

Although there appears to be no legal precedent surrounding property releases, it’s still best to get one where possible. After all, you wouldn’t want to be the first person sued over it. There are a number of sample property releases available online that can be downloaded and modified according to your needs. Ensure that the property release you use offers some form of future-proofing. It’s no good getting a release for a house from the owner if he then sells the property and your release doesn’t bind the future owner. Make sure that your wording covers this possible eventuality.

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