Opportunity :::

[kiwi]

i bet its just an advertising company wanting a) pics of their own ads and b) competitors adds for their own use

I cant imagine why they'd be used for secondary or commercial reasons

Just be a hired gun and hand over the images I think

[Steve Axford]

Anyway, it would be quite unusual for someone to sue you (that's not criminal, is it?) for spreading their advertisement to a wider audience.

[Redgum]

Anyway, it would be quite unusual for someone to sue you (that's not criminal, is it?) for spreading their advertisement to a wider audience.

Steve, if you photograph a logo or trademark on a commercial basis you're in breach. That's probably why they're hiring a photographer rather than using the iPhone.

[Steve Axford]

Possible, but has anyone ever been put in Long Bay for doing so? I doubt that a magistrate would keep his job for long if he did so.

[Redgum]

Possible, but has anyone ever been put in Long Bay for doing so? I doubt that a magistrate would keep his job for long if he did so.

Don't know if anyone has gone to gaol but certainly not uncommon for companies and individuals to receive hefty fines. And I don't think a $1k a day fee would go anywhere near covering it. With that risk would you want to keep the copyright or even do the job without a very specific contract?
This is an interesting case because if the trademark is incidental (not on the bus) you're pretty safe but if you specifically photograph it with intent you're up the creek without a paddle.

[jasevk]

Easy fix Daz... go out and take pictures of bus stops, thus making the bus incidental. Have this stated in your contract and throw in a few pics of empty bus stops....

[dche5390]

Reminds me when I was still in high school a a mate's uncle hired me to run around the entire Sydney CBD and take photos of every single flappin' building ... dunno what it was for, nor ever saw the final result but I think it was to render a 3D model from the thousands of photos we took. Good pay for an entire's day work as a 15 year old.

[bigdazzler]

Still havent had any further correspondence with them this morning.

The issue of whether or not I specifically photograph the advertising is all in the composition of the photos I reckon

[jasevk]

The issue of whether or not I specifically photograph the advertising is all in the composition of the photos I reckon

loud and clear mate

[junqbox]

i bet its just an advertising company wanting a) pics of their own ads and b) competitors adds for their own use

I cant imagine why they'd be used for secondary or commercial reasons

Just be a hired gun and hand over the images I think

I would expect this to be the case, either an ad agency or a media seller looking for what's out in the market for different brands. Likely to only end up on powerpoint presentations to clients. If you're only shooting buses (inside & out), there's really only one company who handle this, BusPak.
Since the material is already in public domain, there should be no copyright issues, especially as their main game is to increase exposure for any material.

[maccaroneski]

Just because material is visible in public does not mean that it is in the "public domain" and thus copyright is relinquished. Or else for example I would have no rights over images that I post to Flickr.