Illegal Public Pictures

[DrDave56@xxxxxxx]

I received the following post on Cavers Digest and wondered if anyone has any
information or insite?

>This is just a "heads up" to Doug Moore, or others thinking of  putting up
>commercial cave pictures--whether private or on state or federal land--you
>need to GET PERMISSION to use said photos. You can't just assume photos of a
>cave are in the public domain--they aren't, and "non-commercial use" isn't
>going to save your wallet in case they find out. 
>This was part of the problem with several of the Lechuguilla publications.
>Missouri state regs say that reproduction of scenes from state land
>(including caves)  for more than private use, need to be cleared through
>their DNR information office, and I suspect other states have similar
>regulations. And, re commercial caves with private landowners, I asked
>permission to post  their photos from one cave, on a new Website, and was
>adamantly turned down. (There was nothing defamatory in the accompanying
>text, which I sent a copy of to the cave manager.) 
>Some people, even in the commercial cave business, don't want publicity that
>they can't control. And they have lawyers to make their point.
>(This is not to say that *all* commercial cave owners feel this way. But,
for
>Oztotl's sake, ask.)
>Jo Schaper
>joschaper@xxxxxxx

Thanks for the time,

David W. Kesner (no I'm not a doctor - just a nickname)
drdave56@xxxxxxx


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