Is my photo of your pet mine?

[onastone2]

I think I've seen some conversation about this before. If I take a picture of your pet and turn it into a greeting card, can I sell it without your permission? Even if you forbid me to sell it? Isn't it still MY image even though it's a picture of your pet? Any feedback on this situation would be appreciated! Has anything like this happened to you? This is happening right now to one of my friends and she's afraid of being sued, so she's pulling her cards out of a couple stores she's already delivered to.

[dougj]

Depending on the country and if you are shooting under a contract (employment or otherwise), you generally would own the copyright to what you shoot, but this does not mean you are free to do anything you wish with the photo. I'm not a lawyer, but the stock photo agency Almy claims a property release is required with pet photos for commercial use, I would expect photos on cards for sale to be a commercial application and subject to this requirement. Note, this is an Almy requirement and not necessarily a statement of the law, it's still worth noting.

http://www.alamy.com/stock-photography-rel-guide.asp

One lawyer's opinion
http://www.danheller.com/model-release.html#8.3

The best thing your friend should do is discuss it with an attorney that practices in this field.