UK Shop Refuses To Make Prints Of Digital Photos Because They're 'Too Good' And Must "Infringe": "Want to know what happens when you increase the liability of third parties for copyright infringement? Stories of shops refusing to print digital photos. We've seen it for a while in the US. Five years ago we had stories of photoshops in the US refusing to make prints on photos because of the assumption that they must infringe on someone's copyrights. Wal-Mart got caught up in the story a few years back when an employee made some clueless statements about copyright in refusing to make prints of certain images -- and there was a repeat story just a few months ago.
It appears that a similar story is playing itself out across the pond in the UK, where the popular retailer Boots apparently refused to print one woman's photos because they were seen as 'too good' for her to have taken, and therefore must be infringing on someone's copyrights (thanks to Dave Michels for sending this in). The woman even got a signed letter, and when that didn't work, came back with the (pregnant) woman who was in the photos to let the staff know that these photos were, indeed, legit and not covered by someone else's copyright. The store still said no.
And, of course, this sort of thing only becomes as bigger and bigger issue as amateur photographers improve. Of course, it's easy to put the blame on Boots or the employees here for being over-zealous (or, as Boots put it, 'over-cautious'), but the real issue is what we've turned copyright law into these days, where people are taught to fear being involved in anything that might possibly infringe, as it may lead to lawsuits or a loss of an internet connection or whatever. As copyright laws get more ridiculous, we're teaching people to not move forward if they don't know for sure -- and that can create a massive stifling of creativity and expression.
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