Property Photo Copyright Issues

[NSG]

Background: I take all my own photos, and monetization of the blog is display ads/ affiliate income. (no prints, merchandise, etc). I would consider the website informational.

The Consumer Review Fairness Act provides protection for users to share "in any forum" their honest opinion about a business' product, services or conduct.

From the FTC.gov website:

WHAT KIND OF REVIEWS DOES THE LAW PROTECT?​

The law protects a broad variety of honest consumer assessments, including online reviews, social media posts, uploaded photos, videos, etc. And it doesn’t just cover product reviews. It also applies to consumer evaluations of a company’s customer service.

There seems to be a gray area as to what photographs are actually "OK" to use in a review for "commercial purposes."

For example, all businesses are considered "private" and therefore may make their own rules about photographing on their location. That to me means you need permission (written property photo release) if you intend on filming/photographing at any private business.

So let's say you have a website that does food reviews at local restaurants. Can you legally use the photos taken on their private property? Can you use interior shots of the restaurants?

Yelp / Tripadvisor and other review sites are making gobs of money by using user generated content of photos at private businesses, so I may be overthinking this, but there are some crazy copyright lawsuits out there.

 

[CCarter]

overthinking

WTF dude. People take photos of their food from restaurants, while INSIDE the restaurant, CONSTANTLY and post it on Instagram and social media.

What you are doing is procrastination, period.

You are worried about all the problems that can go wrong. If you make millions of dollars and the FTC comes after you for some photos, #1 you have millions of dollars to fight. THAT IT, PERIOD. Let your fucking lawyers worry about that.

"What if I lose?" "Only losers think like that."​