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Can anyone tell me if military or government property requires a release? I'm thinking specifically of aircraft at air shows that display the USAF and squadron markings. I would think it falls under public domain? Warbirds are usually privately owned or held by a non-profit, so it depends on the specific aircraft in that case. But I'm thinking of current USAF, Navy or USMC aircraft and equipment.
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I sell on many other stock sites and, as a war correspondent, have lots of this kind of footage. Normally it's not a problem for editorial use, though I can't figure out if Adobe even accepts editorial content at all. If not, we are probably out of luck. Because they care so much about their contributors, there is no method whatsoever of contacting them to ask about this, so I guess we'll leave it up to the indian sweatshop workers to let us know by accepting or rejecting our stuff.
Legally any footage or photos shot by a US government employee on duty is considered to be in the public domain. Which means you can take it and sell it if you like for editorial OR commercial purposes.
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Update on this: Adobe reached out to me in an email and said:
We don't accept editorial content so your military footage featuring recognizable people or private property would require a release.
So I guess that answers our question. Strange, but I've found Adobe's corporate culture to be very restrictive in a lot of things for at least 15 years. it's just who they are.
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Thanks for contacting Adobe Chuck. What I have are images from airshows and public events. I guess that could be considered editorial. I don't use anything with recognizable people though, just airplanes like the Thunderbirds, Blue Angles, and other military demonstrations. I wonder if an F-16 considered private property? Technically we taxpayers paid for it. I submitted an image of the Thunderbirds a few days ago so we'll see if it gets accepted or not.
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My image of the Thunderbirds was denied because of intellectual property, so I guess the answer is no. Technically it's not private property since the government is considered the public sector and it was an airshow free and open to the public. The only use I can think of that would violate any rules would be if someone used it as an endorsement of a product. So maybe that's why it has been denied.