Hello everyone,

I have some questions pertaining to the legal side of stock photography. I have done a fairly extensive amount of research in order to gain a working knowledge of how to go about producing imagery that can be used on stock sites, yet there is still quite a bit of gray area that I cant quite clear up and I was hoping that someone on this site might be able to shed a bit of light.

1. Do you need a location permit for any landscape, or cityscape? Additionally do I need a permit for a portrait with an identifiable background, other than the modeling release?

2. I realize that logos, brand names, and individual artistic works are copyrighted but are the actual designs of mass produced items copyrighted. Items such as cups, plates, silverware, clothing, household appliances, furniture so on and so forth?
   -I know that car designs are copyrighted and as a result you can only display one third       of the car in an image without it being considered infringement, but there has to be some definitive set of rules for the items listed above?

Thanks for the time, Jeff

I cannot stop thinking of IKEA while reading this topic, guess "we" are safe until something happens

I am only familiar with iStock / Getty interpretations of copyright restrictions -

see - http://wiki.gettyimages.com/   (or google 'istock wiki' if the link doesn't work) ...  this is not the definitive answer, but it gives a flavour, I hope...

I expect that each stock agency has their own variants on this theme, dependent on the conservatism of their approach... 

The copyright law also varies from country to country apparently, so there is no overall accepted standard, but I would expect that many agencies will adopt a 'safe' lowest-common-denominator approach, to reduce the possibility of litigation...
Regards