Where to get reliable advice on releases and similar legal stuff?

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plnelson

Member
One of the most popular questions on photography and video forums is "when do I need a signed release?" I know the rules for the still photography I do: for my figure and glamour work (pnArt.com) the answer is "always", but when I used to shoot for newspapers, covering demonstrations, riots and strikes, we never bothered with releases because it was news.

For video, I know that for documentary work releases are de rigueur , not only for interview subjects, but for premises and locations, random people who walk by, and pretty much anything else.

My question is, what about the ubiquitous video blog videos I see all over YouTube and Vimeo where they are reporting from some trade show , e.g., CES or NAB, and covering the big stories from the show, talking about whatever the exciting new products are, or interviewing company reps about their newest stuff? Do these follow documentary rules where you need a release from the convention center, the show sponsors, the people being interviewed and every passerby, or does it follow the more relaxed news rules?

Also, what's good reliable source of advice for questions like this other than random posters on internet forums? I know: "a lawyer", but I live in central MA and this is a narrow specialty of the law called "media and publishing law" and they don't have those around here. So what's my second-best option?
 
This isn't advice from a lawyer, but this is a pretty good article from a source that's been around a long time that might point you in the right direction:

http://www.videomaker.com/article/15398-why-do-you-need-release-forms

You need to read the entire article as there are exceptions or clarification of general release issues mentioned up front, later in the article. The author has been in the business for a long time and won an emmy for editing so she probably knows what she is talking about.
 
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Gillvane said:
This isn't advice from a lawyer, but this is a pretty good article from a source that's been around a long time that might point you in the right direction:

http://www.videomaker.com/article/15398-why-do-you-need-release-forms

You need to read the entire article as there are exceptions or clarification of general release issues mentioned up front, later in the article. The author has been in the business for a long time and won an emmy for editing so she probably knows what she is talking about.
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I read the article but she didn't really address my question.

V-log pieces from trade shows and similar events are absolutely ubiquitous on the internet. There are thousands - maybe hundreds of thousands - of them all over YouTube and Vimeo and lots of other more specialized websites. Some of them are commercial, but most of them are just made by non-commercial bloggers and enthusiasts and are just to inform whatever their target community is of the latest developments in their field. We see them all the time in the video community as people report from NAB or CES on cool new stuff. But the same thing happens every day from car shows and medical and healthcare conventions and scientific conventions and conventions of software engineers, UFO enthusiasts, amateur astronomers, magicians, cat-fanciers, carpenters, home builders, you-name-it. Right now there's probably somebody there shooting stuff and interviewing people and it will be on his blog or YouTube tomorrow.

I've been to a zillion conventions myself and I see people all the time walking around with video cameras and mic's and shooting and interviewing and I know they'll all end up on the web and no one has ever asked me to sign a release, although I have been shot and interviewed (at a software engineering convention and a computer graphics convention).

So what's the story on these? Do the videographers need to get releases (and if they do, are they actually getting them in practice)?
 
Not a lawyer, yada yada yada…
What's the end use of these videos? Major advertising campaign with a large audience and large budget? …or your personal instagram feed? In real life I think part of the consideration should be what's at stake. If you're going to put a large budget at risk, you better have everything covered just in case. If all you're putting at stake is a blog post that you spent a few minutes making, are you going to spend hours running around trying to get releases signed? Unless you're doing something that implies endorsement, violates privacy, or is defamatory in that blog post I don't think you'd really need to worry about releases. The US rules are basically that you can't violate someone's privacy where they expect to be private, as in their bathroom or through their bedroom window with a telephoto lens. You also can't use someone to endorse something without their consent or use their image in a defamatory context without their consent. So, at a trade show you wouldn't have a reasonable expectation of privacy while on the show floor. You're also not implying endorsement or being defamed by being in the background, so no release is really needed except to cover you in the unlikely event of a frivolous lawsuit. If you were filming an ad, then you'd want to get a release from the people who would be recognizable in the video because being in the ad implies endorsement of the product.
 
Andrius Simutis said:
Not a lawyer, yada yada yada…
What's the end use of these videos? Major advertising campaign with a large audience and large budget? …or your personal instagram feed? In real life I think part of the consideration should be what's at stake. If you're going to put a large budget at risk, you better have everything covered just in case.
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The videos would go on YouTube to provide news and information on developments in areas of technology that I track and attend conventions for.

But I'm not looking for speculative answers. I posted this on dvxuser because I want to hear from videographers with real-world experience making these kinds of videos and making these decisions, to find out what they decided to do, and why, and also where they got their information and advice.

What is the correct forum for this question?
 
Anybody can tell you anything. The only authoritative source for factual information is a qualified attorney. Asking anyone else means taking a huge risk.
 
plnelson said:
I read the article but she didn't really address my question.

V-log pieces from trade shows and similar events are absolutely ubiquitous on the internet. There are thousands - maybe hundreds of thousands - of them all over YouTube and Vimeo and lots of other more specialized websites. Some of them are commercial, but most of them are just made by non-commercial bloggers and enthusiasts and are just to inform whatever their target community is of the latest developments in their field. We see them all the time in the video community as people report from NAB or CES on cool new stuff. But the same thing happens every day from car shows and medical and healthcare conventions and scientific conventions and conventions of software engineers, UFO enthusiasts, amateur astronomers, magicians, cat-fanciers, carpenters, home builders, you-name-it. Right now there's probably somebody there shooting stuff and interviewing people and it will be on his blog or YouTube tomorrow.

I've been to a zillion conventions myself and I see people all the time walking around with video cameras and mic's and shooting and interviewing and I know they'll all end up on the web and no one has ever asked me to sign a release, although I have been shot and interviewed (at a software engineering convention and a computer graphics convention).

So what's the story on these? Do the videographers need to get releases (and if they do, are they actually getting them in practice)?
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Actually the article does address your question. What the article is trying to tell you is that lawsuits are expensive and anyone can sue you, even if you have a right to do something and they will not win the law suit against you. Having the legal right to do something and avoiding being sued for doing it are not always the same thing.

Someone can sue you for looking at them funny. They won't win, but they can sue you for it. No attorney can ever tell you that no one will sue you for what you are doing. They can only tell you if you are likely to win in court, or not. Paying an attorney 20K or more to defend you in court so you can put some video on a vlog is hardly a victory even if the court decides in your favor.
 
David W. Richardson said:
Anybody can tell you anything. The only authoritative source for factual information is a qualified attorney. Asking anyone else means taking a huge risk.
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And how do you suggest identifying a qualified attorney on this topic?

Anyway, this is a videography forum, so I want to hear from videographers who do this sort of work, because A. they would know the PRACTICAL answers to my questions, and B, they would know where to go for authoritative advice.
 
Gillvane said:
Actually the article does address your question.
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Anyone can sue you about anything - that has nothing to do with videography. That's a cop-out answer.

"Anyone can sue you" whether you DO get releases in Documentaries or DON'T get them in journalism. But most videographers shooting riots and strikes for news coverage don't get them and most videographers shooting documentaries do get them. Because practical experience has shown that you don't need them (or can't get them) for the former and you do need them for latter. So I want to know most videographers shooting blog or YouTube video of trades shows and conferences do. Do you need them in practice?

This is not a hard or complicated or theoretical question. Thousands of these videos have been made and you can see them all over the web, and more are being made every single day. Each and every videographer who made one had to ask, and answer to his own satisfaction these same questions. What's the process for doing that?

If this isn't the right forum for this question then what is?
 
plnelson said:
Anyone can sue you about anything - that has nothing to do with videography. That's a cop-out answer.

"Anyone can sue you" whether you DO get releases in Documentaries or DON'T get them in journalism. But most videographers shooting riots and strikes for news coverage don't get them and most videographers shooting documentaries do get them. Because practical experience has shown that you don't need them (or can't get them) for the former and you do need them for latter. So I want to know most videographers shooting blog or YouTube video of trades shows and conferences do. Do you need them in practice?

This is not a hard or complicated or theoretical question. Thousands of these videos have been made and you can see them all over the web, and more are being made every single day. Each and every videographer who made one had to ask, and answer to his own satisfaction these same questions. What's the process for doing that?

If this isn't the right forum for this question then what is?
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The article is saying it depends. Although it's ok to shoot in public, the venue you're talking about is not "public". It's actually owned and operated by the people putting on the event. So each event will have it's own rules and has every right to do that. No one can answer your question about a specific event since it's controlled by the people putting it on. Look at the fine print on your ticket.
 
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