What are the exact restrictions on night time Eiffel Tower photos?
I know that there are some restrictions on night time Eiffel Tower photos, but what exactly is allowed and what is not? Does it make a difference if some persons are on the photo and the tower is only in background? Are there also restrictions on day time photos?
Best Answer
@travelot clearly laid out the most relevant rules but I would like to clarify something and highlight an important distinction: There is – to my knowledge – no general restriction on taking pictures of the Eiffel tower (the police might ask you to stop taking pictures, e.g. if you are disturbing traffic and the like but that's something else).
The issues with copyright or personality rights only come up if you want to publish these pictures in France. To the extent that copyright protection really applies, it does not in any case have any impact on your right to take pictures for your own private use. Publication in another country will be regulated by the local laws and international agreements (I don't really know but I doubt personality rights can generally be enforced abroad, copyright however is covered by international treaties but the details are complex).
Also, would-be right-holders (museums, the SETE, etc.) are generally not to be trusted for information on copyright, they routinely try to claim rights they don't have (e.g. on pictures of old artifacts stored in a museum) and to intimidate people who want to take pictures without any sound legal basis.
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What happens if you post a picture of the Eiffel Tower at night?
Under current French law, distributing a photo of the Eiffel Tower at night could land you in hot water. Here's the unusual reason why. Ahh, an evening in Paris. Your stomach is full of good bread, good cheese, and good wine.Is it illegal to take a photo of the Eiffel Tower?
As Snopes noted, the Eiffel Tower itself is in the public domain, meaning that during the daylight hours it's totally legal for you to take as many photos as you'd like. However, the building's light show, which was added in 1985, is technically owned by the artist.Is painting Eiffel Tower at night illegal?
But did you know it's actually illegal to take pictures of the Eiffel Tower at night? By way of copyright law in the European Union (EU), any artistic work, be it a photo, painting, song, or even building, is protected \u201cfor the lifetime of its creator, plus 70 years.\u201dIs it illegal to post videos of the Eiffel Tower at night?
It turns out the tower's nighttime light show was added in 1985 and is therefore still protected under France's copyright law as an artistic work. Thus, it's illegal to share, sell, or publish photos and videos of the night-lit Eiffel Tower without prior permission from the Soci\xe9t\xe9 d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel.Why Photos of the Eiffel Tower at Night are Illegal
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Answer 2
The view of the lighted Eiffel Tower is only copyrighted when it has non-standard lighting. So, when the Eiffel Tower just has yellow lighting, it is not copyrighted but I believe it is under Creative Commons.
This information is coming from a native French friend of mine.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Negative Space, Nextvoyage, Daniel Bendig, Ivan Siarbolin