Isaac
Years ago

NH: AFL goes after doctored Ablett photo

Summary: Gold Coast Bulletin doctors a photo of Gary Ablett (Geelong) to show him in a Gold Coast jersey with a caption of 'Dare to dream'. It's obviously fabricated with the intention of headlining a what-if article. The AFL got stroppy: "the use of Ablett's image was 'unauthorised' and that 'no such further use of AFL Club intellectual property or an image of an AFL player is (to be) used in this manner without the consent of the relevant parties involved'." Then more from the AFL PA:

Fallout from the 'Gold Coast Gary' image has included a demand from the AFL Players Association yesterday that the Bulletin publish a formal apology for the 'Dare to Dream' poster while Geelong coach Mark Thompson claimed the poster was 'unethical'.

See the image in question here: Coast's Ablett poster gives AFL hives

Now, what's your view here? The Bulletin is publicising the game, driving up awareness in Queensland and the image is clearly tweaked (like the "Computer generated image" you might see in The Advertiser or similar most days).

Is the AFL right to be protective of its players and brand or is it a joyless controlling behemoth? (Sorry, obvious bias showing!)

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john  
Years ago

If the AFL owns the copyright and hasn't given permission for the photo to be used in this way, I believe it's legally correct. But IMO, it has taken a foolish and counter-productive stance in this case. Not good PR, especially if it takes the matter further.

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paul  
Years ago

If the pic was taken by a photographer of that news group the pic is their property, I think the AFL could have a hard time establishing that there has been any wrong doing in a court of law.

If they did it would set an incredible precedent of what the media can and cant do with images taken by their own photographers/cameramen.

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Skin  
Years ago

Considering he will most probably go there, is it a big deal??

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Gazza  
Years ago

Paul,

Whilst the picture of Abblet may or may not be copy righted to the newspaper (If they are taking pictures at a game, I believe the AFL may still have some ownership rights) the AFL definitely owns the GC17 brand, and all associated logo's etc. If they have used those, they are using the AFL's property without permission.

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Isaac  
Years ago

There would surely be provisions made for reporting on, criticising or making parodies of AFL properties though?

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paul  
Years ago

As I said, this would make a massive precedent for the free press and the use of their own images and digitally enhanced images (which is pretty widespread). I think judges would be pretty wary about setting that precedent.

And I would imagine the AFL has very little control over the media's use of images of their players. If it were a company promoting itself that would be different, but media outlets are rarely judged as such.

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john  
Years ago

It boils down to ownership of the photo and/or the images which have been used to enhance it. If the newspaper is not the owner, and permission has not been granted, the newspaper is infringing copyright.

Ownership and permission are the key words, and all arms of the media have to observe these strictures as much as anybody else has to. I've sued a newspaper successfully for using one of our 36ers photos without permission, and just in the past two weeks, I had a European media organisation remove four of my photos which had been put on their website without my permission.

So, as I said, if the AFL owns the image, it seems to be legally in the right (the precedents were set long ago), but not practising terribly good PR in the circumstances.

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paul  
Years ago

Media outlets regularly put players in oppo teams uniforms in digitally altered photos when there is a story about a player changing teams. The precedents are there, and as I said, I believe few judges would see this as anything more than common practice.

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Isaac  
Years ago

John, the GC Bulletin article makes no mention of the AFL owning the photo or contesting ownership of the photo itself. Seems to be all about owning the likeness of the player.

Fair enough if it was their photo, but this seems more akin to the Olympics cracking down on virtually anything unofficial or a baseball league trying to claim that their stats are purely theirs.

On that last point, I believe there has been a recent case in Australia where the Yellow Pages were ruled not to be a creative or curated work, but more of a factual index and open to be copied by competitors.

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john  
Years ago

Isaac, the way I read it, the AFL is claiming ownership of the image. Maybe that's a faulty interpretation by me. If not, the AFL's claim (and it seems to be backed by the Players' Association) might end up being tested in court. If the photo was an official AFL image, the AFL's rights would seem to be cut and dried. The water might be murkier if it was taken by a press photographer authorised to cover a match or team training, depending on the terms and conditions under which authority is granted.

It's an interesting situation, and one which I am pleased to see aired because image theft is a growing problem for photographers.

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john  
Years ago

Current media coverage clarifies the AFL Players Association's position on this. It argues that the image (Ablett's head on a player in Gold Coast uniform) was non-editorial use (i.e. an advertisement rather than news coverage) and therefore the newspaper required Ablett's (and presumably the AFL's) permission to publish it.

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Jack Toft  
Years ago

I think this incident demonstrates the AFL's true colours.

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