Seeking advice on rights to my pictures and videos (Norway)

[jose_dario]

<p>Hi there!<br>

I hope this is the right section for my question... I'm a humble dog trainer (not a photographer) starting my own little business here in Oslo, Norway, so I thought I might use your expertise for a little issue.<br>

I'm just building my website now to promote my services. In the future I plan to create a YouTube Channel, Facebook page, etc. as well.<br>

Now, I have some pictures and videos of the dogs I've worked with, plus my 2 foster dogs (from private owners, not a shelter). I was the author of these materials and for now <strong>the owners are not present in them</strong> (just me and the dogs or the dogs on their own). I really want to use them on my website and others to promote myself because they are much more personal than stock pictures, i.e. people can see me working with the dogs and they can see they are in Oslo.<br>

So far, I think I've followed good ethics in asking the owners for permission before I publish anything. They have all said yes, but there is nothing in writing to prove this...<br>

Me being a bit of a fatalistic thinker, I can't help but wonder: if one day I had a fight with one of these people, <strong>could they sue me</strong> <strong>and ask for money for publishing the pictures / videos / stories of their dogs, or using them in courses, future e-books, flyers, etc.? Do I even need to think about getting rights to these materials or am I just over-reacting?</strong><br>

Pardon my naiveness but I've just never had to deal with something like this..<br>

And if I do need to "cover my back", <strong>do I need to hire a lawyer to write up a document or could I just download some sort of standard form for the owners to sign?</strong> I'm doing all in English so language won't be an issue.<br>

Thanks in advance for any advice or tips in the right direction. Looking forward to hearing from you soon.</p>

<p>Kind regards,</p>

<p>Jose</p>

[Spearhead]

<p>The problem you have asking this here is that unless someone from Norway who is familiar with the laws is on here, you will not get a good answer. It appears that you need a release for people if you are promoting yourself, but there isn't much on the web about animals. You will probably need to research this locally.</p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>I dont' know what the law is in Norway. But here in the United States a pet is property, and you would need a property release for commercial use (which includes advertising, which includes your website in this context). It's similar to a model release but instead of saying you have permission to use a picture of me it says you have permission to use a picture of my property.<br /><br />If it were a picture of a dog on the street and you could not reasonably be expected to know who the owner is, you could probably get away with it. But since these are dogs where you have a relationships with the owner and clearly know who the owner is, you would not have the "out" of not knowing who they are.<br /><br />All that said, if the owners have given you verbal permission, you are probably fine. If they change their mind later, about the most they could do is ask you to remove the picture. As long as you removed it you would be fine. But again that's here in the U.S.</p>

[Spearhead]

<blockquote>

<p>I dont' know what the law is in Norway</p>

</blockquote>

<p> <br>

Then what you say is probably not going to matter. These laws are very much country-specific, except for copyright laws that follow the Berne Convention. This isn't one of those situations.</p>

 

[jose_dario]

<p>thank you all for your help and sorry for the late reply, I will contact a lawyer here in Norway to help me out :)</p>

[frode]

<p>Hi,<br>

I suggest that you try this question on the Norwegian photo forum <a href="http://www.foto.no">foto.no</a>. There might be some people knowing the answer. Generally this is regulated by "<a href="https://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/lov/1961-05-12-2">Lov om opphavsrett til åndsverk</a>" . You might also find some information on Gisle Hannemyr's site, for example here: <a href="http://hannemyr.com/faq/legal_dm07.shtml">http://hannemyr.com/faq/legal_dm07.shtml</a><br>

Cheers,<br>

Hope this is of any help. If not, print it out on paper, curl it up and throw it in the dust bin.</p>