How does copyright work in this type of situation?

[dreamache]

say a site owner visits a gaming convention and takes screenshots from their experience of playing an unreleased game.. then uploads them to their website and slaps their logo watermark on them - can they complain and have a legal right to make you remove them if you post those same screenshots on your site even though they don't own any part of the actual game?

i'm thinking they *do* have a right, but I want to be sure.

 

[Jon]

Screenshots of the game you played?

I think the rule of thumb for this is if you didn't sign anything or there wasn't some type of disclaimer or legal documentation, etc, at the booth or in relative view for everyone to see, or if they didn't make you read something about it first, then I'd say you are covered.

UNLESS the convention put a clause about this in their privacy policy or agreement form when you registered, then you may have to remove it.

If it's really something serious, and they sent you a C&D then ask a lawyer about it, if not, more power to ya.

 

[DaveEMG]

Fundamentally, you can't copyright something you didn't create. Think about your logic. It's the same as if you took a picture of a page in a book and then slapped your copyright on it.

You can put a watermark on the image, but you cannot copyright that image.