[Nancy Fulda]

So I just reworked the cover for "Dead Men Don't Cry".  I'm pretty happy with it.  But then I started wondering about the legal angle.

The stock photography site I got the photo from specifically said ebooks are an allowable usage, but didn't say anything about a model release.  If they don't have one, am I potentially liable to get sued by the guy for using his likeness without his permission?

 

[Nancy Fulda]

Hm... interesting. The licensing terms say:

Licensor grants no rights and makes no warranties with regard to the use of names, people, trademarks, trade dress, logo types, registered, unregistered, or copyrighted designs or works of art or architecture or other forms of intellectual property depicted in any Content, and Licensee must satisfy itself that all the necessary rights, consents, or permissions regarding any of the above, as may be required for reproduction, have been obtained. Licensee acknowledges that some jurisdictions provide legal protection against a person's image, likeness, or property being used for commercial purposes without their consent.

But the FAQ specifically clears images for ebook use with no qualifications and the photographer guidelines say they require a model release for all images featuring a person. Since this guy's featured in over 1000 images on the site, I'm guessing the photographer has one, but I'm going to attempt to contact him just to be sure.

 

[Nancy Fulda]

Well, that was fast.  The site emailed back confirming the existence of a valid model release.  What a relief!

 

[Nancy Fulda]

Maybe you should get a copy?

I'm no photographer or anything, but that seems like it would be a good idea. I always make sure to have a copy of the license for all fonts and images I use on my covers.

If the ebook takes off, I may go back for more solid evidence. But honestly, it's a short story and it's not likely to sell all that many copies. I'm content to let it rest with electronic evidence that the distributing web site confirmed existence of the release.