Is Airliners legal?

[Wing Nut]

A question occured to me tonight, and I wondered about it hard.  Is Airliners.net legally able to sell pictures of aircraft?  All of the logo's are copyrighted, even the ones on the racers and small private planes, not just airliners.  So how do they get away with it?  I really don't see them being able to pay royalties to every airline or racing team, GA manufacturer or private owners, so what gives?

[eno]

In my opinion...... and its only mine, any picture that is taken by me belongs to me at least that is the law in the UK. Whatever I choose to do with that picture is entirely up to me and as long as it doesnt damage anyones commercial interests theres nothing they can do about it. Now, if I then post that on the likes of Airliners.net then there is obviously somwhere in their terms and conditions of posting that signs over the rights to the picture. However there should also be in there an opt out from allowing them to make profit from your work... Now if an airline objects to Airliners.net making commercial gain from posting their image then they have a case.... as should anyone posting. Airliners.net seem to get round this by leaving the copywright of any pictures with the owner.

I hope this is clear ... because its too early here the fog hasnt cleared yet  ;D  

[Craig.]

as far as anet and copyrights are concerned, they are very hypocritical and this was brought up on their forums. their rules state for instance you are not supposed to use a photo from the site anywhere without permission and giving full credit. However it is perfectly acceptable to use photos from other sites on there without prior permission. Now as for the sale of photos, i have a feeling its no differant to buying a poster or a model of an airline from a shop, the royalties prob dont even make it to the airline and they are just happy for some publicity. Although it then makes you wonder what their problem with flight sim is

[ozzy72]

Hmm a knotty legal one this. Like Eno says any photo taken by you is your property, and as long as it isn't used for "commercial" purposes then you can publish and receive a small fee for it. However if your photo was used for some billboard campaign by another company then I believe you can be prosecuted for trademark violation. This is how it seems to work throughout the EU.
In the US I'm not sure, might by best to talk to Bman as he is a lawyer

Mark

[Bazza]

Thank you Ozzie - all we need is a forum for Lawyers..

I read a statistic recently that said one out of every 6 flight-simmers is (or would like to be) a Lawyer...

I may be prejudiced, guess what my wife does .... ?

I would like a legal opinion on the last download I had that is very dissapointing - I feel my rights have been trashed as it was clearly inferior and not to the standard described by the site posting it  ..  any startes ?

[SilverFox441]

Caveat Emptor.

[Hagar]

I think it might be best to let sleeping dogs lie. I still remember the "Papa Tango" affair & all the fuss about using logos on aircraft for the sims. I would hate to see that happen all over again. It doesn't bear thinking about.

PS. Please don't ask me to explain. You had to be there at the time & I'm not prepared to elaborate.

[Saitek]

PS. Please don't ask me to explain. You had to be there at the time & I'm not prepared to elaborate.

Can u explain Hagar? I've never heard of anything. Was this decades ago in distant history or something?

lol

Regards
Ben

[Hagar]

Can u explain Hagar? I've never heard of anything. Was this decades ago in distant history or something?

lol

Regards
Ben

As I've already said, please dont ask.

All this happened a few years ago. It seems like a lifetime now & the whole thing is best forgotten.
No offence to members of the legal profession here but may the saints preserve us & our hobbies from lawyers. Once they get involved they usually mess everything up & they are the only ones to benefit.

[Wing Nut]

PS. Please don't ask me to explain. You had to be there at the time & I'm not prepared to elaborate.

I was there, and yes that was very bad...

[loomex]

Can u explain Hagar? I've never heard of anything. Was this decades ago in distant history or something?

lol

Regards
Ben

The story is long but the results are :http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds/main/aa/aa1.htm

[Wing Nut]

Basically, it came down to one man, Peter Tishma of (then) Papa Tango Software claimed to represent the freeware world and entered into a deal with American for the exclusive rights to use their logo.

[ozzy72]

Pete kindly gave of his time a while back to explain who this guy was and what had happened shortly before I joined the FS community a couple of years back. I was shocked, frankly people like him should be run out of town as they tarnish the whole experience for the rest of us.
Thank goodness commonsense prevailed and we're all happy flying like madmen under bridges again (stunt copyright Ozzy_Terror_Flights Ltd ).

Ozzy

Ps. I'm looking for a logo with for my stunt service, I was thinking something along the lines of "Fly with us, and you'll never fly again. And THAT is a promise!" Any ideas?

[ozzy72]

How about "You'll remember us for the rest of your life, all 9 seconds of it"