Dear Urban Diplomat: Are stores allowed to ban customers from taking photos?
Dear Urban Diplomat,
I was recently at a high-end industrial design store in the Distillery District and snapped a pic of a funky knife holder. An employee barked at me, saying customers aren’t allowed to take photos and pointing out the multiple signs stating as much. Can they do that? What if I’d refused to comply?
—Photobombed, Ajax
Some stores in the Distillery ban photos at the request of their designers, who fear their unique objets will be copied by counterfeiters. That the items are usually displayed on stores’ websites renders the policy somewhat fatuous, but whatever. I presume you’re not a counterfeiter. If you are, well, you should stop. In either case, the storeowner can legally kick you out, and police can, depending on how far you take it, levy a fine of up to $2,000. If that doesn’t dissuade you, ask yourself this: your social media followers probably already get hourly updates on your food, kids, commute, moods, vacations and the weather. Do they really need to know about retail items you have no plans to buy?
Send your questions to the Urban Diplomat at urbandiplomat@torontolife.com
Thank you for this. I have a small store, nothing fancy, and have put up “no pictures” signs because I found several of my competitors copying my displays exactly. I constantly get people in the store saying “this is a free country I can take photos wherever I want” when I politely ask them to not take photos.
Agreed. A store is private property and the owner has a right to determine whether people are allowed to take photos. On the sidewalk or street? Go nuts. In a building? Up to the owner.
There are many reasons someone may want to take a photograph of an item other than for sending the picture to China to have it reproduced in resin… I often want to take photos to check colours and styles. I have taken photos of items I need approval to buy – from my spouse, boss, and on several occasions from my father when I found something my mother would like, also, in a pooled gift that requires a caucus, such as a retirement gift for someone in the office. And sometimes I just want a pic so I can think about it or compare styles, especially for big ticket items like bathroom sinks or sofas. A store that doesn’t allow photography comes across as petty and unhelpful and I don’t shop at places like that.
People who want to copy displays don’t have to take a photo of it. Looking at it could give them enough information to make a similar copy. Are you going to stop people from looking at your displays?
Counterfeiters are more likely to buy the thing they want to reproduce instead of trying to copy a three dimensional object from a cellphone photo. Are you going to stop people from buying your products?
What do you really think is more likely – the person taking snapshots is doing it in preparation for some dastardly deed – or he is just an average Joe who wants to post it on facebook with a caption like “check out this cool looking thing!”
Even if someone has a negative opinion of your product: “ugh, this is sooo ugly”, someone else could very well disagree: “I think it looks great, where did you see it?”
More eyeballs on your product is a plus. Some will like it, some won’t. The point is, at least some of those who could like and buy your product may not have heard about it if their friend’s friend didn’t tweet about it. Even if you think it’s stupid, it’s bad business strategy to neglect this source of free publicity.
Store owners are well within their rights to shoot themselves in the foot, of course. Go ahead and admonish anybody who look like they might be taking a picture. Whether they are truly doing so or just doing something else with their phone (like answering a text – gasp! who does that with a phone?), I can guarantee they won’t leave with a good impression of your business.
Oh, they’ll still write about you. There won’t be any photos. It’ll just be all about how your business treated them horribly. That is publicity that won’t be of any use to you.
I suppose this is sound strategy if you have so many customers, you want to lose some and do not need to gain any.
Good luck with that.
I used to work at a video store practically wallpapered in movie posters, all of which were, of course, copyrighted by their respective distributers. We legally could not allow someone to take photos. If you did, and you posted it online, well, have fun being sued by Disney! Many other stores have similar copyright infringement policies, especially if they house original designs. Rule of thumb is that taking pictures should be like touching- when in doubt, ask permission!