Journey Magazine, the campus-based student magazine, who's last issue raised more than a few eyebrows may also be the subject of a lawsuit over the use of a photo which may have been improperly placed. At issue is wether or not the magazine had permission to use the photo of a 19 year-old female student in connection with a story about sexually transmitted diseases.
The student willing posed for pictures for the magazine and took multiple shots but was not told which article the picture would be used for.
On March 17, Brezina George Law Offices located in Tampa sent Journey magazine a letter requesting cooperation and Florida A&M University's insurance policy regarding libel and defamation.
The student said she was under the impression that the photos were for practice and not to be used or that her face would not be shown.
Because the photo was used at artwork for an article of a girl having a STD, she was worried that people would belive the article was about her.
Also see: Magazine pushes the envelope
This should be a a lesson for people who inappropriately use people's image without their permission. Thanks for sharing this story with loyal Rattler Nation Blog readers. With all the inappropriately displayed pictures on this site(i.e. without permission of the subject of the photos) ; I am sure that you all will be sued in short order and successfully so.
ReplyDeleteMy take on this is that if the young lady was in the dark about how the photos were going to be used, she should have insisted--by articulation of a written document--that her photo would not be used in a compromising manner. I would like to know if such a written document exists. If not, and she willingly posed, knowing the article would be about a subject of this manner, then I don't see that she has a legitimate case. A moral one? Perhaps. But not one for the courts or a settlement. While I've seen some racy stories in the magazine, I support the magazine on this one.
ReplyDeletePhotographers must obtain waivers. Period.
ReplyDeleteUnless she specified how the photos were to be used she doesn't have a case. I hope that this don't have a negative impact on her personal life. They are all students and there was a lesson for all of them to learn in this case. If she's a model, she will ask more questions and journey will share with people how their photos will be used.
ReplyDeleteYou should change this item's headline, which is flat-out inaccurate based on the facts as you've explained them. Specifically, the university hasn't been "sued" until the attorney files a complaint in civil court. If he merely writes them a letter asking that they voluntarily dole out a payment to his client, that's not the same thing.
ReplyDeletePlease correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the standard model release form basically states that a photographer or publication can use the photos of a model for any reason, at any time, for any amount of time,as many times as they'd like. Most models have no problem signing them because they like having their pictures taken or they want the exposure. The journalism department should have used more discretion(Columbia College Chicago had a similar suit like this one back in 2001) and it will certainly question the ethics of the situation. But I agree that the model has no case even if she had not signed a model release form.
ReplyDelete