Product shot use
- Started
- Last post
- 10 Responses
- SteveJobs
Got an interesting situation I thought maybe some of you might have dealt with before.
Say you wanted to use a product shot, like a Nike shoe (from their site) or a BMW but removed the logos or any branding just so you had a generic shoe as an image. And say you used this image your ecommerce site template photos or maybe showing someone your handheld device browsing an image catalog and that was the visible image. Something like that where your product/service has nothing directly to do with the photo you're using.
Also, what if you do an illustration loosely based on a product shot? I guess an illustration compositing several source photos would be best but just that much more work frankensteining the whole thing.
- detritus1
There are question marks in here, but I'm not sure I see any questions?
- I'd say that de-marqued photos of Nikes and BMWs would still be brand protected, whereas an illustration of same would be entirely yours.detritus
- ...but then... 'Grumpy Cat wins $710,000 payout in copyright lawsuit'
http://www.bbc.co.uk…detritus - good pointsSteveJobs
- monospaced3
Probably best to just use stock photos.
- I agree but haven't found a stock photo matching my criteria.SteveJobs
- So you need professional shots.monospaced
- Render what you need. That’s what we’re moving toward.imbecile
- ben_2
As detritus mentioned, BMW or Nike's copyright extend beyond their mark ,and removing a logo doesn't make a BMW or a Nike "generic" as the industrial design in some cases is trademarked or patent protected.
If you're talking exclusively of product thumbs off of nike.com or bmw.com, you're likely to be fine, but if you get into any creative photo territory then shit gets real.
Also there's tons of generic shoes and car images online if you take a few minutes to search.
- Morning_star0
It's a really tricky arena to navigate. Most of the larger consumer brands are incredibly protective of images that are campaign specific. Essentially, due to the large investments they put into creating the assets for a new products and services, third party use is considered a serious violation of their copyright. This includes completely de-branded products and even style lines. For instance Bentley sued a third party luxury car reseller for using the haunch and style lines from their new V8.
This is partly a problem of client education. Some clients are completely ignorant of the investment, both time and money, necessary to produce decent bespoke assets or are confused about the legalities surrounding third party assets in the public domain.
There are suppliers out there, that specialise in props that are completely white labeled and i've used their products in both film and stills situations. However, be careful, automotive brands tend to be legal rotweillers when it comes to their assets, especially if it's a newer model.
- uan0
- US Ad law allows referencing competitors in adverts - that image in background is likely either a live street shot, or a mockup entirely made by the agencydetritus
- the difference is that they're not simply lifting someone else's 'creative' and repurposing it for their own endsdetritus
- OTOH, depending on stevejobs' context here (eg. not a national campaign) I'd 'just do it' too. Doesn't make it legit though..!detritus
- uan0
it's full of apple copyrighted material, or isn't it?
- zarkonite0
Copyrights cover derivative works, you have to pay a licensing fee to use all or part of any copyrighted work.
Why not just get a cheap stock shot from iStock?
- HijoDMaite0
Those photos belong to the company. Further, they belong to the photographer unless he is in-house, then they still belong to the company. Don’t even think about it.
There should be no problems with a sketch, but an illustration depicting an exact replica would probably cause an issue.
- Really, an illustration wouldn't be my own work? I know a photo would be ok, or that's what I've read anyway.. hmm..SteveJobs
- An illustration redrawing the copyrighted work would be a derivative, and you need permission, otherwise the original's copyright supersedes yours.monNom
- or you are basically joint authors of the work, which means neither of you can use the work legally without the other's permission. AFAIKmonNom
- SteveJobs0
Thanks everyone. My original post was misleading in one respect. I'm not actually wanting to use a nike shoe or bmw, those were just examples. I only used them because they are big brands.
So maybe the safest route is to create my own work of a product as an illustration and maybe just use a few source photos from competing brands?