OT: Yearbooks

filmy wrote on 2/2/2012, 8:02 AM
This is somewhat off topic for video but as we have discussd the concept of scanning old yearbooks and placing them on web I thought this would be of intrest. I was looking around at a yearbook company to see what their specs were for camera ready artwork/layout and was somewhat shocked to see this: "Download your favorite photos from your computer and other social sites"

The idea is that students can "add 4 pages of personal photos" to their yearbook, all they have to do is go to a page and upload images into pre-made templates. What I found most shocking was what *wasn't* said - namely about copyright and licensing. It is isn't even mentioned in the little video about the process.

Some will probably take the "personal photos" wording to mean "only photos you took" but in the context of a yearbook, and what the idea is about, it does not mean that - it means a student has 4 pages that reflects something "personal" to them. In the video one student talks about putting a video of her dad in because it was the only shot she has of him. Another talks about photos from his entire school life - not just senior year. Another talks about not liking one photo because it had her ex-boyfriend in it. Each one of those could come with legal issues if the proper licensing (And release forms) have not been taken care of.

On the video side they also offer a DVD "Supplement" where video and images are submitted that, once sent to the company, "professional editors will decide which clips to use." The interesting thing is, on the video side, they do not discuss copyright either but they use wording that establishes they are well aware of it. Wording such as "Please note that some video or photo content may be excluded or altered during the editing process" and "Natural sound (background, voices, narration, etc.) will not be used in your project" and, on the music side, they only allow "licensed music tracks" which they will supply. I find it also interesting that the company "will not return any content" but still offer to do the encoding of MiniDV or VHS and scanning of images. Yes the idea of don't send originals is a fairly standard one but the overall lack of copyright and licensing requirements for submitting material is troublesome.

Having said all of this - the issue is sort of akin to the entire wedding vidography thread. Where does the real liability fall? Schools have yearbook advisers - is it up to them to teach their "Staff" (i.e - students) about copyright and licensing issues? I would say yes, but only to the yearbook club itself. Because *anyone* can create these pages however it is not the yearbook advisers job to teach parents, grandparents and anyone else that taking photos from the internet for re-publishing is not legal with licensing. Is the yearbook company? I would say the greater responsibility lies with them due to the process. Yes, there is a buried section on their website "for students" that states: It is illegal to copy, use, or publish anything under your name that you did not personally create without getting permission from the author. If you are using someone else's words or pictures, you should give them credit by acknowledging what they wrote or said, or get permission from the person who originally took the picture. This is more than just common courtesy; it is also the law. (The finer point of this, too, is that it is misleading - it is not really an *option* to take someone else's work provided you "give them credit" in lieu of "permission from the person who originally took the picture") This information is, the way it is presented (in another sub section of the website), seemingly not at all tied into the actual mechanics of the yearbook itself, only in a section about "personal publishing" which mainly discusses blogs, tweets, facebook, YouTube and the like and directing students to learn more by going to a website on cyberbullying.

What is most surprising to me is this is not some fly by night operation - they are actually one of the main publishers of yearbooks and do all type of printing. My best guess is that the have "small print" in their contracts with schools that says they presume everything submitted to them for use in the yearbook has been properly licensed.

And on a final note - they go by guidlines provided by PSPA (Professional School Photographers Association International) and the 10 page document is more about formatiing of images. It extends the "who is liable" question even further. The idea is the "Removal of the school from the middleman position between photographers, photo labs and yearbook companies over the format of the CD/DVDs and the assurance of compatibility" - which would mean the school is out of the loop. But wait - this guidline also says "The guidelines do not address many areas for technical or legal reasons" and "these guidelines do not suggest or require which of the interested persons or organizations has responsibility for collecting, recording or distributing the data. That is a matter for those interested to arrange among themselves." (On the other hand these guidelines suggest (i.e - "...OPTIONAL but STRONGLY RECOMMENDED...") placing a "README.TXT" onto the CD/DVD that contains a "License" section such as: The images on this CD are copyright protected and are solely for the use of publishing yearbooks. You do not have permission to make copies for sale or other distribution in any manner that circumvents the sale of these images by the photographer)

In other words it is not PSPA, which is explicitly what the yearbook company follows, so that would seem to, on paper anway, dissallow any legal action against them if they used someone elses work without permission. It appears to place it soley on the individual - in this case a student, parent or other person would have the "responsibility for collecting, recording or distributing the data" for use in the yearbook thusly, reading between the lines, if a copyvio pops up it rests soley on the person who gave the photo fo ruse in the first place. And, really, how many students and their parents/relatives/firends are submitting images to the school using PSPA guidelines? My guess is none - even these guidelines state "This document is NOT directly intended for the common school customer."

Comments

johnmeyer wrote on 2/2/2012, 12:23 PM
My daughter has taken, in just the past year, more photos than my father (who was an avid photographer) took in his entire lifetime. Many of her photos (and videos taken with the same camera) are posted on Picasa, Facebook, YouTube, and many other sites.

There is no release form (other than in the general TOS when you sign up) at any of these sites. Every person voluntarily uploads their material with absolutely no expectation of either monetary rewards, nor control over the content once it is uploaded, even if the exhibitor profits from the exhibition of that material.

Anyone who claims to have not understood how things work at these sites is incredibly naive. What's more, the way these sites operate is not going to change.

My point is that I don't think the yearbook company is doing anything different than what is happening at all these Internet sites. I don't think this invalidates the concept of copyright, because if you want to claim copyright and enforce it, you as a filmmaker can still do that. However, for the general public, they gladly and willingly forfeited those rights in order to get the benefits of publicly sharing their photos and video.



filmy wrote on 2/2/2012, 12:43 PM
@ johnmeyer - In reguards to " Picasa, Facebook, YouTube, and many other sites" and users " gladly and willingly forfeited those rights in order to get the benefits of publicly sharing their photos and video."

In the United Sates that is not even close to being valid argument. Just becuase osmehitng in on th einterent does not make it "free." Perhaps free to view, but not free to re-use.

After some high profile lawsuits some sites have had to revamp their TOS. Creative Commons licesning is becoming more and more used as well. Even Flickr has been putting that out there.

But the point is also that if I post my photos on facebook it does not mean that you, your daughter, or anyone else can download it and send it somewhere for publication, including in a yearbook, without contacting me first and asking what my license terms are. The fact that a legit company is, on the one hand, telling people to do just that with no disclaimer boggles my mind.
johnmeyer wrote on 2/2/2012, 1:02 PM
But the point is also that if I post my photos on facebook it does not mean that you, your daughter, or anyone else can download it and send it somewhere for publication, including in a yearbook, without contacting me first and asking what my license terms are.Legally true, but the unbelievable volume of media coupled with what has become common practice has changed the common perception of what is right and wrong, lawful and unlawful.

We are way past the point where this behavior can be controlled or stopped through enforcement or education. I don't have a recommendation of what should be done, but I do know that any attempt to control the situation via enforcement will almost certainly end up with a similar result to what we achieved with the "war on drugs": a lot of kids put in jail for smoking a joint, resulting in absolutely zero decrease in usage, or reduction in the overall problem.

In short, a total and complete failure.
JJKizak wrote on 2/2/2012, 1:38 PM
How does Google get away with it copying the entire Library of Congress?
JJK
amendegw wrote on 2/2/2012, 1:56 PM
In a similar vein, I took about 1/3 of the photos in my high school's yearbook for the years 1964 & 1965 (we had 3 staff photographers).

Should I be upset that these guys are now making money off my work?

Hardly.

...Jerry

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filmy wrote on 2/2/2012, 2:18 PM
@ amendegw - apples and oranges. As you say it was your high school and you were one of three "staff" photogs that is entirely different than asking parents/students/etc to take images from wherever and submit them. It was higly unlikely in 1964/65 you went down the local newspaper and grabbed images off the wire service and brought them back to school for use in the yearbook.
johnmeyer wrote on 2/2/2012, 4:02 PM
Is there a copyright on old yearbooks, and if so, who owns it? I have seen a lot of yearbook presentations at reunions. Quite a few of them were done as a work for hire, where the reunion committee paid money to a firm that specializes in scanning the yearbook photos, and then doing a "Ken Burns presentation" set to music, running in the background. Sometimes they even sell DVDs of the result.

Does the school have the copyright? Does the company that published the yearbook have some claim?

Some of the photos in that old 1960s yearbook were, I'm sure, contributed by students and parents, even though most were likely taken by the yearbook or school newspaper photographers.

So, I think that some of the same issues apply to that situation as well.
filmy wrote on 2/2/2012, 5:20 PM
@ johnmeyer - I know there was a discussion about this but for the life of me I cannot find it now.

Basicly the question, from what I remember, was about doing old yearbooks (or using old yearbook images) in a video. Than we got into the whole scanning them and/or redoing them.

Here are artlcie links that I could remember using at the time:

Yearbook-scanning project poses tough test for Classmates.com
Model Yearbook Copyright Warning
The future of high school yearbooks - namely the section where the writer talks about being contacted by a producer form a TV show to use some of their old yearbook photos.
e-yearbook TOS
Photo.net discussion about scanning and posting yearbook photos online.
Flickr question from a photographer asking how to handle a parent who wants to scan 10 photos of theirs for use in a yearbook.

Also as an aside - this is a link to a PDF from a yearbook company that is doing it the right way: YEARBOOK AND COPYRIGHT LAW - it includes this: If you are using a work in your yearbook that is protected by copyright and you have obtained written permission from the owner to reproduce it, submit a photocopy of that proof of permission to Herff Jones with your pages [SNIP] If Herff Jones happens to recognize copyrighted material for which proof of permission has not been furnished, we will notify you of the possibility of copyright infringement and than ends with: Your Printing Agreement with Herff Jones provides that you assume all legal liability for failure to obtain permission to use copyrighted material