WALMART picture woes

[Jscareshock]

Folks, if you're like me you have a nice assortment of artwork in your monster collections whether it be from comics books, magazines, or simply something cool you bought at a show.
  Recently I decided to photograph all of it for insurance purposes and to show off to friends.
Well, I sent the film to Walmart to get processed (digital so you can do it over the internet) and the people at the photo department refused to release the pictures to me because the aterial was copyrighted and their policy is not to print any copyrighted images.
  Well, I wouldn't stand for this so I had to go all the way to the store manager as I met the same resistance all the way to the top.  First I asked to see the policy and was refused.  Second I asked what either definition of copyright was because some images are trade marked and not copyrighted.  Finally I asked how else I was going to offer proof to my insurance company that I owned the pictures should one be stolen or lost in a fire.   That was the cincher and the executive realized that I had a point.
      I don't know what's going on out there that you can no longer take a simple picture without the world coming down on your butt (or at least Walmart).

[monsterphile]

I could see them questioning you if you were taking a poster-sized print of a poster, but presumably these were just regularly-sized photos for insurance purposes.  Wouldn't be much of a demand with that size.  They've probably been chewed out too many times by the higher ups on the corporate ladder. Glad you were able to get it resolved.

Rob

[Opera Ghost]

Folks, if you're like me you have a nice assortment of artwork in your monster collections whether it be from comics books, magazines, or simply something cool you bought at a show.
  Recently I decided to photograph all of it for insurance purposes and to show off to friends.
Well, I sent the film to Walmart to get processed (digital so you can do it over the internet) and the people at the photo department refused to release the pictures to me because the aterial was copyrighted and their policy is not to print any copyrighted images.
  Well, I wouldn't stand for this so I had to go all the way to the store manager as I met the same resistance all the way to the top.  First I asked to see the policy and was refused.  Second I asked what either definition of copyright was because some images are trade marked and not copyrighted.  Finally I asked how else I was going to offer proof to my insurance company that I owned the pictures should one be stolen or lost in a fire.   That was the cincher and the executive realized that I had a point.
      I don't know what's going on out there that you can no longer take a simple picture without the world coming down on your butt (or at least Walmart).

Kinkos has the same policy on printing copyrighted material, photos and artwork, unless it's your name on it. Office Max does not

[MDG]

Kinkos has the same policy on printing copyrighted material, photos and artwork, unless it's your name on it. Office Max does not

I had a problem with Kinko's when I created something for a client and put their copyright on it. They wouldn't let me print it until I got a letter from the client.

[Dr.Teufel Geist]

you know what, that is completely friggin stupid...another reason why I hate walmart.. 

[hammerfan]

just get some photo paper and print them out yourself.

[Anton Phibes]

I took a lot of typeset photos along with the originals to Walmart to help my son on a project he was working on. The originals clearly state they can reprinted for use in a variety of ways. they shot me down cold. Thye said "if you  didnt take take the pictures yourself they cannot be used. 

[Gillman-Fan]

Do what I did and borrow a videocamera to document your valuables then rip the contents to a few discs.

Or you could post all your photos to a picture hosting site like Photobucket, etc.



Regardless, it's one more reason not to do business with Wal-Mart.

[marsattacks666]

Walmart and Kinkos are a joke. At kinkos a few years ago, I had to sign a waiver.
I'm sure the protocol/rules have changed since.

[michblk]

I'm with you on this one as I've had some of the same issues.  I've had to sign release forms for my own photos.  lol

BK

[Scary Terry]

Similar issues at Kinko's copying my own comic book work.  Since it was on DC Comics pre-lined boards with their copyright notice on it, I had to get a letter of permission from my editor to show them!

I'm glad I have my own 11x17 scanner/printer now and no longer have to give them a dime.

[LundyAfterMidnight]

... and no longer have to give them a dime.

They don't pay their employees much better.

[marsattacks666]

I'm with you on this one as I've had some of the same issues.  I've had to sign release forms for my own photos.  lol

BK

What is this World coming too?!? Lol!

[depressedlarrytalbot]

All this crap and worse, the infrastructure supporting it.

But the writer Douglas Adams knew the reason. It is the Ark-B theory. He explained it in fiction, but I suspect only names were changed ...

[copyright wikipedia]
"...concocted a story that their [alien] planet would shortly be destroyed in a great catastrophe. (It was apparently under threat from a "mutant star goat"). The useless third of the population (consisting of hairdressers, ..TV producers, insurance salesmen, personnel officers, security guards, management consultants, telephone sanitisers  and the like) were packed into the B-Ark, one of three giant Ark spaceships, and told that everyone else would follow shortly in the other two. The other two thirds of the population, of course, did not follow and "led full, rich and happy lives until they were all suddenly wiped out by a virulent disease contracted from a dirty telephone".

The B-Ark was programmed to crash-land on a suitably remote planet on one of the outer spiral arms of the galaxy, which happened to be Earth, and they gradually mingled with and usurped the native cavemen, becoming the ancestors of humanity ....A lot of them didn't make it through the winter .... and the few who remained in the spring said they needed a holiday and set out on a raft. History says they must have survived".

Indeed it does. The poppinjays who craft and enforce such useless, because-we-say-so regulations pretty much prove it. And they are everywhere. And spreading.

[ChattyLMS]

Oh brother!
I suppose that if you're in DisneyWorld you can't take pictures of your kids because they have mouse ears on and standing if front of the tea cup ride?