Having read this article, Wal-Mart is apparently not the only offender when it comes to “enforcing copyrights,” but it is apparently one of the more egregious ones:
Photofinishing labs increasingly are refusing to print professional-looking photographs taken by amateurs.
The reason: Photofinishers are afraid of infringing on professional photographers’ copyrights.
…
It happened to David Watson earlier this year as he tried to get old photos of his mother printed for her funeral. The photos were of his mother, taken years ago by family members, some since deceased.
Like Helmick, he had uploaded them to Walmart.com, then went to pick them up at his local Wal-Mart in Charlotte, Mich. Watson said the manager of the photo department “felt” that three of the photos were possibly taken professionally. One of the photos in question was of his mother 50 years ago.
“I offered to sign anything, but there was just no way around it for them,” Watson said. “They were not going to print them. We left what they had printed there and went on to a real photo printer who had no problem with the printing or use of these photos.”
Having personally seen how the local Wal-Mart treats their negatives, I would never let Wal-Mart work on any of my photography. This kind of arbitrary, draconian enforcement is just too much, as other examples in the article point out. I understand the concerns over copyright infringement, but there has to be a better way than this…
