Typically, three “rights” are involved when it comes to photography:
- Copyright
- rights of use
- personal rights
It is important not to mix these up (unfortunately this often happens). They have little to do with each other. If this overview is not enough for you, you can find more information here: https://ccdigitallaw.ch/index.php/german/copyright/3/34/343
Copyright
The copyright belongs to the person who created the content, in our case the photographer. Various rights are derived from this, so the rights holder can determine what happens to their photos, under what conditions, etc. You can find the name of the photographer in the metadata of the photos.alt erstellt, also in unserem Fall dem Fotografen. Daraus leiten sich verschiedene Rechte ab, so kann der Rechteinhaber bestimmen, was mit seinen Fotos geschieht, unter welchen Bedingungen usw. Den Namen des Fotografen findet ihr in den Metadaten der Fotos.
Rights of use
All photos in the archive are made available under CC-BY SA. This means that the photographer allows the photos to be redistributed, edited and even used commercially. The only condition is that attribution is given and that the photos are only shared under the same license as the original. Further information: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ch/
In concrete terms: The photographer gives you permission to print flyers, publish on the homepage, etc., but you must mention the name of the photographer somewhere. If this is not possible in individual cases: contact the photographer, you will surely find a solution.
Personal rights
Just because the photographer as the rights holder grants you the rights of use does not mean that you can do whatever you want with the photo. There are additional and independent personal rights of the persons depicted. In theory, they must agree to any use. ATTENTION: The personal rights become relevant when using/publishing, but not when taking photos. However, we have not had any of the people pictured in the archive sign a modeling contract – this would not be practically feasible. You can still publish the photos if you can assume that the people pictured would agree to this publication.
Specifically: Use your common sense when publishing photos. People at a party who are smiling at the camera are likely to agree to their use in the gallery about the party on your website. But if your sponsor gets the pictures and then runs a national advertising campaign with them: it is unlikely that you would have gotten permission for this.
For flyers and posters: If the people are only barely recognizable and get lost in the crowd (or are not a relevant part of the picture as an individual), then it’s not really a problem. Otherwise, however, I would recommend locating the person and obtaining written consent for the specific use.
Large events have included these rights of use in their general terms and conditions (typically printed on the ticket, or clearly visible on a poster or something in the entrance area). This can be an attempt to protect yourself from legal action, but it is difficult to say whether it will really stand up in front of a judge. Often there are settlements, i.e. the event pays the person making the complaint a few hundred francs.