Consent for Photos Taken at Company Event

Wisdom of the Crowd:

Response #1: There are a few things here to note: 1. Photographer's rights: The creator of an original work is the default owner of the copyrights, so you need a work-made-for-hire assignment or, at least, licensing agreement with the photographer to make sure you have copyrights to reprint, distribute and/or modify the images. 2. Publicity rights of those attending - employees: Does your company's employee agreements say anything about employees granting rights to permit the company to use their name and likeness in commercial ways? If not, it may be something to add or negotiate when you give out raises or add some other consideration to employees. 3. Publicity rights of those attending - non-employees: The most conservative approach is to have everyone sign a waiver or release of their publicity rights for being photographed at an event, however, this is often a turn-off for people. Another option is to inform people of the release at the time of purchase/handing out of tickets or on the back of their tickets (e.g., by accepting this ticket, you agree to be photographed, ... etc.). Another option is to post a large, conspicuous notice at all entryways informing people that the event will be photographed and photos will be used for commercial purposes/advertising. Some such notices have a way to opt-out (e.g., stop at this table and report your name, or email us within 2 days after the event or something similar). Although these posted notices may not be enforceable in every jurisdiction, it would be better than nothing. You could also do a combination of the above. 4. Confidentiality - Are there any attendees whose relationship with your company might be confidential? This is a bigger issue. You might need to have someone familiar with those attendees to review photos and make sure none of those photos get used in the marketing materials.¹

Response #2: The previous response provided a great list of items to consider. I would just add two additional issues to look into: 1. The use of government officials' likeness for your company's promotional purposes could run afoul of governmental ethics rules, and if the officials were being provided gifts or any remuneration in connection with the event, it may be worth checking into anti-bribery/anti-corruption type rules especially if the value provided to the officials is greater than de minimus. I don't have a definitive answer or guidelines but recommend this be researched before using their likeness or their attendance of/association with the event for any promotional purposes. 2. The use of famous persons' likeness for your company's promotional purposes -- while people who have become famous (even if only locally famous) might have less privacy expectations in some ways, the use of their likeness or attendance/association with the event may give them some basis to claim your company is using that likeness/attendance/association for commercial purposes without adequately getting their consent or compensating them. Again, I do not have a definitive guideline but recommend research be done in the event any of the non-government attendees may be considered public figures who could make such claims.²

 

Disclaimer: The comments expressed are not an official position of Fidelity National Information

Services, nor an offering of official advice on this matter.

 

Response #3: On the invite for the event and on signs at the doors to the event (this was a company awards ceremony where just employees were present) we posted something saying "by attending this event you hereby consent to having your photo/likeness/recordings posted publicly and on social media." When employees are hired we just have them complete a consent for internal distribution of photos/videos of them.³