Rules on using City-State in tags & title (and the design of course) for location targeted items?

[ColsCreations]

I know this is probably a stupid question but I want to be sure. If I want to use my own photos or artwork to make a postcard (or whatever) specifically for say Daytona Beach, FL or Chicago, IL as example, I can put that city+state name in the design AND use it in the tags & title to target that audience right? There are infinite examples of this in the MP but that doesn't always mean something is OK to do. I'm a bit slow on the draw here but it's finally dawning on me that living in a touristy area, I should be doing stuff targeted to both residents & visitors of the area. The store I work in sells postcards for my city/state - mass-produced gadknowswhere I'm sure - and I always think I should be making such on Z but I don't know if there are any IP rules involved.

[BKMuir]

I always title/tag the location if appropriate. I can see of no reason why one shouldn't. 

I don't know of any location that has trademarked/copyrighted their name ?? (unlike certain colleges, etc)

[KeegansCreation]

I have used city/state for my Boston Massachusetts home and for literally every place I've gone with my camera. It was an IP problem precisely once. 

That one time was Warwick Castle in England. Warwick Castle was built in the 14th century, an enduring example of medieval architecture. My husband and I visited it in the 90's and I took lots of photos. It was owned by a single family for centuries but was sold to the Tussauds Group in 1978 (thanks Wikipedia) which sold it to the Blackstone Group in 2007 which then sold it to another investment firm.

So when I posted some touristy products here with photos I took of the castle, it turns out I was infringing on the IP of an investment firm rather than posting a photo of something that had been considered public domain English history for centuries. So those got pulled. 

I say all this to show that the only time such stuff infringes on IP is when it is privately owned (except the Eiffel Tower at night). So beware of tourist attractions unless you are sure they are not privately owned. But the towns and cities themselves? We collectively own them together. 🇺🇸

[Connie]

It's so awful that investment firms can do that to historical architecture! There should be a clause in the contract that expressly forbids them from claiming any IP rights to the buildings that are so old.

[ZAZ-TD]

I don't think I need to ask any questions because someone usually beats me to it and that's awesome. This community is awesome and all the help from each and everyone makes things so much easier. I also love photography but have never used any of my photos here. What else besides postcards would be a good product to use? What about holiday snaps that may have people in such as beach snaps?

[KeegansCreation]

The single most popular tourist oriented product that I've sold isn't postcards, it's Christmas ornaments. 

When my tourist photos have people in them I photoshop them out unless they are in the distance and you can't make out their faces.

[Barbara]

@ColsCreations  I've created and sold postcards that name the capital of NYS and also the Hudson River along with area landmarks, doing so in title, tags, and description. If any of this were unacceptable, it would have canceled the sales. Go forward and prosper!

Colorwash's Home

[shoshannahscrib]

Great question! City names are OK but beware that you can run into problems if the city name is also something else. For example, the Coachella valley is a place, but it is also a famous festival. And so I got my postcard design taken down - it had zero to do with the festival, it was a drawing of a palm tree oasis. Also as others have said be careful with sports teams, universities, events, etc.