Why Photos of the Eiffel Tower at Night are Illegal
Why Hacker News recommends it
It is the go-to reference in copyright threads for the oddity that the tower's night view is protected.
What it is
Half as Interesting explains why the Eiffel Tower's night-time lighting is under copyright, which makes publishing photos of it at night legally problematic.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2019 to 2021.
What Hacker News said
Cites CaliforniaKarl · 2019-02 · on “If Software Is Funded from a Public Source, Its Code Should Be Open Source”
Alot of the conversation I have seen so far has been US-centric. That's fair, given that this was posted during US business hours, but for the US I don't really think this discussion applies as much. Works created by the United States Government are not covered by copyright in the US, effectively making them public domain _in the US_. See [LINK] "But—", you say, "—the code the NSA is publishing has a license attached!" Indeed, that confused me too, until I found the answer at [LINK] : >…copyright exclusion for works of the U.S. Government is not intended to have any impact on protection of these works abroad (S. REP. NO. 473, 94th Cong., 2d Sess. 56 (1976)). Therefore, the U.S. Government ma
Cites irjustin · 2020-09 · on “Why Is 1 World Trade Center Missing from Spider-Man?”
On a related note, it is illegal to take a picture of the Eiffel Tower at night but NOT during the day[0]. It's the lighting system and its 'likeness' that cannot be reproduced. A brief search and I don't think anyone has been prosecuted[1]. There are plenty of pictures everywhere that probably don't have proper licensing. Perhaps those who want to use it commercially can get permission relatively easily? [0] [this video] [1] [LINK]
Cites kevincox · 2021-01 · on “FedEx shipping damage creates fractured artworks”
You may well own the photo but not the subject of the photo. I believe this means that you can not sell the photo without also acquiring a license to the subject. I imagine that this is the same as taking a photo of a stock image. That doesn't make any sense. Reminds me of why you can't take a photo of the Eiffel Tower at night. [this video]