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Legality of Selling Slides Online
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From time to time photographers contact the webmaster very annoyed seeing that an AirlineHobby.com member is selling their slides via the website. They demand that their slides be immediately removed from the website, as they did not give the AirlineHobby.com seller permission to re-sell the slide(s) in question.
These individuals assert that such action contravenes their copyright as the original photographer. Such claims are completely baseless, as shall be explained.
The original photographer's copyright protects against others from passing off the photographic image as their own work in permanent print publication. The photographer's copyright also protects against other's from earning publication revenues for the protected work. No seller that uses the AirlineHobby.com website to sell slides earns "publication revenues" via the website.
When a photographer sells his original colour slide (or colour photo) to another collector of such items at an arms length transaction (at an airline show or via a list, for example), the collector who has purchased the work is completely free to re-sell such photos or slides to another party for whatever the market will bear.
The original photographer of a slide or photo is viewed by the courts in the same light as the artist who produces and sells his original artworks. We can use Picasso as an example. A photographer who sells his slides or photos is no different than Picasso selling his artwork to an art collector at a Madrid art show in 1955 for $10, and that collector re-selling the same artwork today for $2 million.
Picasso's estate has absolutely no legal recourse or claim against the current day seller on the grounds that "Picasso did not sell you his artwork so you could re-sell it." This defense would be laughed out of court!
As with most auctions, the item being sold can be legally reproduced in catalogs (in print or online) for the sole purpose of aiding the sale. This action does not violate the photographer's copyright.
Any collector is completely free to re-sell purchased slides for as much as the market will bear.
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