The "Making A Point" Story

It was an ordinary day. I was teaching legal restrictions to my first level graphic arts students. These are students who are juniors or seniors in high school. We are reviewing what you may or may not copy from books, magazines and other printed material. Some printed material you may use if you credit the author with a footnote or acknowledgement. Some items may be used if the copyright has expired. I am talking about how you find out about all the information needed to legally use these items. We then head to the use of music lyrics and copying songs for use at home and in printing or writing stories such as term papers. I am teaching this lesson in the mid-1970s and therefore don't have as much to share as I might have today with all the written information that is produced today on the internet. We discuss the use of photographs that may appear in print and how you can ask for permission to use these photos. I always like to add personal stories to my lessons, since most of my students in my class know my kids and can relate to events that occur in my life. Today the story is about an ad that appeared in our local newspaper, the Lancaster New Era. It seems that Hager's Department Store had taken a full page ad in the newspaper to illustrate items they have for sale for children. That evening as I was reading the paper I noticed the page, but passed on to other articles. A few minutes later my Aunt Lillian called and asked me if I saw the ad in the paper. "Yeah, I saw it, but what's so important about that page?" I asked her. She responded, "Well didn't you see the photo of the baby they used in the ad?" I opened the page again and holy cow, there was a photo of my youngest child, Tad. It seems Hager's had a promotion where they would give you a free photo of your child if you had his photo taken at their store. Naturally they want you to buy more. Hey, we went to all those deals and never had to buy a single posed photo, what with all the free ones we were getting. When I picked it up they tried to sell me more and I refused and then they wanted me to sign a release which I didn't. Well, that photo now appears in their ad. That's illegal because they are using his image to try to sell something! By now the students in class are all ears to find out what I did!! I told them that the next day I called Hager's Store and asked to talk to the manager. I told him how much I enjoyed the ad in the paper yesterday. He had to know something was up after I said that. Then I hit him with, "Did you have written permission to use my son's photo in you ad?" Quiet on the other end of the line. "What do you want?" was his response. "I could use a new baby buggy, high chair and a year's supply of disposable diapers," I told him. Quiet again!! Then I told him that what he did was illegal, which he already knew. He apologizedand I told him I really don't want anything, but he better take better precautions not to let that happen or he may face a lawsuit someday. Now the students are all yelling at me, "You should have sued him! Why didn't you take the baby buggy or diapers? You could have been rich," I may not have become rich, but I really accomplished what I wanted in the lesson for the day, didn't I? It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.