Who are these people who shop there? I know there are many of them, the parking lot is always full (of pickup trucks and old Ford vans mostly). But, I suppose if you need to buy a 30/06 rifle at 3 AM it is the only choice, eh?

And, more to the point, why would anyone take photos there to be developed? You surely can’t expect them to come out well. How much training do you think that photo person had?

Exactly.

I have taken several exceptional pictures over the years, that I am quite proud of [and which are a few grains of sand on the beach of non-exceptional and crappy ones I have taken]. And it is those few exceptional photos that I am likely to want prints and/or enlargements of.

What a catch-22!

What a pain in the butt that their policy uses such a subjective standard as any photograph that appears to have been taken by a professional photographer or studio.

Photo Center Copyright Policy

Walmart.com will not assist in the copying of a photograph that is signed, stamped, or otherwise identified by any photographer or studio as copyrighted material, or any photograph that appears to have been taken by a professional photographer or studio, even if it is not marked with any sort of copyright, unless we are presented with a signed Copyright Release. Negatives or digital images of a copyrighted image will be retuned to you unprinted and you will be provided instructions on how to present Walmart.com with a signed Copyright Release.

The opinion that my photograph might be a professionally done piece is complimentary, but I really only want my picture printed.

Oh just go to one of the 3 other stores in the plaza that develope film. I know it’s a extra 20 yards, but walking is good for you.

I applaud the photographers who no longer charge per print and instead charges for time — they change with the times instead of attempting to remain “in control” over something they no longer have control over.

But, this whole “copyright protection” thing will eventually go away, as people, finding the attempts to print photos at photoprinting places more and more cumbersome, decides to do it all themselves and kill off the photoprinting business once and for all.

Strangely enough, this may actually raise more awareness of how ridiculously powerful copyright laws has become to the general public than the whole music and film thing, since this is more likely to affect people than the other two.

And where are these “stupid” people supposed to obtain the copyright release?

Do you think Walmart keeps blank release forms at the counter?

After K-mart settled for $100k [per the article John linked to], do you think Kmart or Walmart are “stupid” enough to let people fill-out a form out at the counter?

Yet Another Good Reason To Not Shop At Walmart.

The fact that almost everything they sell is from china is close to the top, this is just one of those final straw things.

Apart from the “Walmart takes things too far” part, the copyright of images is an issue.

For a while I thought printing them at home was gonna be the big hit, but then the store down the street starting developing digital images better than anything I could print at home, for WAY less $$, and almost faster (they do it in 30 minutes).

I sure hope the “industry” doesn’t try to do some technical “fix” to this problem.

Taking it to an extreme, I can see federally mandated watermarking in consumer digital cameras. If you don’t have the right watermark, you can’t print it. Or, it might be something in the exif data.

How very stupid.

Who is more stupid? Wal-Mart, or the people that don’t just sign the copyright release?