MicrostockGroup

Hi everyone.
I recently found an image of mine in this store:
http://www.stickit.gr/en/new-products
(This is the photo: http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-80092114/stock-photo-acropolis-parthenon-by-night-under-full-moon-athens-greece.html  )

These people are selling prints, at any size you ask for, for a price that goes even to hundreds of Euros.

The question is: The licence of RF, covers something like that? Is it legal?

Thank you for your time...

It could be a partnership where they either buy the EL after the fact, or they buy a license for each sale on behalf of the buyer and print on their behalf.

I'm sorry but I don't understand a word that you say. What place did you download from so I can read all of the licanse.

Ok, but I wouldn't just take his word for it - what he has cut and pasted above appears to relate to a standard royalty free licence which wouldn't cover him for what is proposed.

I think FT was the first site to do a deal with a print on demand place that allowed them to show all the FT images via their API and if a buyer wanted to buy a print they would then buy a license for the image and print it. If a second buyer wanted to buy the image, they'd have to buy another regular license for that image.

If you are printing on demand and expect a high volume, the extended license would be considerably cheaper. If you want to offer a lot of choices but don't expect many buyers for any one image, buying individual licenses probably makes sense - after all the buyer could make the purchase and then print what they'd licensed. Making sure that the print shops do pay for additional licenses is the key, and I'm guessing that there's very little policing of such things - we're effectively on the honor system.

Forget about the 'correct' license. I'm pretty sure that the Acropolis and Parthenon are copyright-protected by the Greek tourist board. Without their permission you're not allowed to sell image licenses of them for commercial gain.

Hearing that someone bought a license, even an extended one, for which the artist (photographer) probably got paid $20 or so and then selling prints for "hundreds of euros" leaves a real sour taste in my mouth. It doesn't seem right that everyone makes a killing EXCEPT the guy responsible for the image.

I know this was discussed on the IS forums sometime ago and I thought at the time that IS was removing such images. If you do a forum search on 'parthenon' IS there is actually a thread titled "Greece off limits" started by our very own SJL in 2007 but it appears to have since been deleted. IS also have hundreds of images of the Parthenon so I guess the GTB's 'copyright', if it ever existed, is not being applied.

If the cost of the materials (canvas, frame, printer, ink) and labor to print the image with adequate quality control, which isn't just a push the button and forget it except at low end places like Wal-Mart, are factored in, the site selling the print isn't making a a killing, but just a profit on their sale. That seems OK to me given that they have to buy an XL size to make a print.

No disagreement with anyone here, it's the concept that gets me. Not only Greece but the whole Italian "Freedom of Panorama" complications. Each country in the world is an individual case.

Greece:  the "occasional reproduction and communication by the mass media" of images of works of architecture, works of the fine arts, photographs, and works of the applied arts is allowed for works permanently situated in a public place without the consent of the author of the work and without payment of any remuneration.

Italy: The following are considered cultural heritage assets: state owned things with some artistic, historic, archeologic or ethnoantropologic interest; libraries, galleries, museums and archives collections; other items declared cultural heritage by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities unless explicitly removed on a case by case basis.

Great Britain: National Trust and Heritage seem to own everything interesting and claim the rights because they maintain the history and antiquity. 

Kenya: copyright on artistic works "does not include the right to control reproduction and distribution of copies, or the inclusion in a film or broadcast, of an artistic work situated in a place where it can be viewed by the public." (I mention this because my Step-Daughter went there on AFS and they said, if you take a picture of the flag, a soldier or a Govt. building, you can be arrested. I thought that extreme was of interest.)

But the point was still, can someone buy a license from some of the sites and make art prints without an EL? Are they limited to one for each print or one license and they can print all they want.

Please Lambros what agency sold it so people can understand what's going on?

Am I allowed under most Enhanced License Agreements to print and resell manipulated photos (by various photographers) @ 36"x48"?

This is not a on demand situation, as there will be a limit 10-20 prints of my Photoshop CS5 manipulated images on Gatorfoam with text on the image. In the future my offerings may include mugs and mouse pads.

Essentially the photo is just the starting point for my manipulations, this also may include montages.

I don't want to exploit any artist / photographer under any circumstances - please advise.

can that get pricey?

Yes.  Hopefully the purchase would pay off for you.