Selling photos of motorcycles and cars.

[Lacenik]

I'm a photographer as well as motor vehicle enthusiast; my business is located in Los Angeles, CA.
Having made many photos of various cars and motorcycles(mainly for private owners and at enthusiast gatherings)I'm thinking of publishing posters of several of my images. My main sales venue would be the internet.
The question is do I need to get some type of permission from the product's manufacturer to SELL images of their products.
The images I would like to sell are from vehicles both in and out of current production.
FYI, my initial poster run wishes to be motorcycles from the 60's and 70's.

Thank you!

 

[Michael Wechsler]

GREAT question. Off the top of my head my inclination would be that, especially if the trademarks don't appear in the pictures (which unfortunately is frequently a part of the car, you should be in the clear. However, I do remember at least once one car manufacturer throwing a fit about the use of pictures of their vehicles but it's in a slightly different context than your claim. You are just selling the pictures themselves - in all the other cases it was about using the pictures to sell a product which might be akin to using the trademark to imply an association with the producer of the t-shirt, calendar, etc.

I also don't know about the enforceability of the claims of trademark infringement regarding pictures taken of a mass produced item that is in public (with landmarks for real estate it could be a different story but even that is debatable.) I found the following links interesting. At the very least, if you want to be clear, you can write the manufacturers themselves and let them know what you're doing although that could also be inviting trouble. The real challenge isn't even the law - it's the big bucks behind these companies challenging you to prove you're right and what most of us probably feel should be right - that you shouldn't have any problem selling your photos of mass produced cars.

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