3 ms·

US copyright code explicitly says photos of public views of buildings are legal for all uses.

• pbhjpbhj 9y ago
  I knew there was a general allowance on taking "photos from the street", can you cite the USC for me. Is there not even restrictions on military bases?
  • nandhp 9y ago
    I think this is what they were referring to: 17 U.S. Code § 120(a): "The copyright in an architectural work that has been constructed does not include the right to prevent the making, distributing, or public display of pictures, paintings, photographs, or other pictorial representations of the work, if the building in which the work is embodied is located in or ordinarily visible from a public place." https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/120 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/120 There is, however, an exception for secret military installations in 18 U.S. Code § 795: "[...] certain vital military and naval installations or equipment as requiring protection against the general dissemination of information relative thereto, it shall be unlawful to make any photograph [...]" https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/795 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/795
  • vidarh 9y ago
    In general this is called "freedom of panorama", and applies to lack of copyright protections [1]. Jurisdictions that has freedom of panorama will still often have national security provisions restricting specific views. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_panorama https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_panorama
• namlem 9y ago
  That only applies to copyright. Another commenter claims that some buildings have trademark protection.