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Photography Question 

Melissa L. Zavadil
 

Picture of toy--legal???


I was wondering if you use a prop or a toy in a photo and you PS'ed it so it looked quite different. Different color, more hair and different features would this be legal to have this published? Without a release from the toy maker? From what I understood the item couldn't have trademarks shown etc. and the item just needs to look 20% different from the original to be considered "new" art. Has anyone had any experiance with this?


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April 27, 2005

 

Melissa L. Zavadil
  Basically it is just a basic toy that I am using as one of my main props. But this would be for the purpose of publishing.


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April 27, 2005

 

Christopher A. Vedros
  Melissa,
I'm not a lawyer, but I think one of the key factors is whether it is a generic type toy that many different companies produce (like blocks, a ball, a jumprope, a baby doll) or a specifically identifiable toy like a Barbie, a GIJoe, or a GameBoy.

I mention the first two because I know that Mattel and Hasbro have aggressively tried to control use of their products over the years. No matter how much you change it, if you start off with an actual Barbie in your photo, it could be a problem.

Of course, they usually only bother with people who display their products in a negative way. Like the guy a while back who was marketing an "alternative" line of Barbies, like "Trailer Trash Barbie", "Stripper Barbie", etc.


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April 28, 2005

 
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