Off-Topic Forum

I have a weird question and thought I would start here. I am a local historian and wrote a book on the history of the Galt/Cambridge Hornets. In April of 2023 we are celebrating 40 years since the last Allan Cup championship the Hornets won. Since I am big into card collecting I would like to make a set of cards with past players from the season and our history. Question is, during the NHL strike we had several NHL players come home to play with us. Is there any rules on using players on cards, like do they need to give the ok. All are now retired from active play so likely are under no contracts. I know I would need to get the ok to use pictures that aren't mine and wouldn't use photos other than in our team colors. Just curious and didn't know where to start or who to ask.

I can suggest a few ways to start, 

1- try contacting a player or 2 and asking them is x a possibility

2-Or their association, as even in retirement they may still be part of some players or alumni faction.

I don't know if Canadian laws are similar to those in the US on this topic, but freedom of use is somewhat liberal for cases where "teaching" is the primary purpose of using copyrighted material. In the case of classrooms, the copied items must be destroyed within a year, and certainly cannot be sold. It's not necessarily carte blance, but again, it's fairly lenient, at least it was when I taught.

I would believe if it involves anything commercial then the ballgame's different.

I'd start by contacting the team.

I am not a lawyer, but here are some tips. We have a fair use concept, but I don't think that it would be the case here. The pictures rights are generally owned by the photographer or his employer, but the person on the picture can have rights too. I think that it is more an unlicensed / licensed thing. Players get paid for apprearing on hockey cards and it was negociated in the bargaining agreements. Teams also get paid for the use of their logo and name. If you want to get licensed, I would also agree that contacting each player or their association and ask them would be the best thing to do. Moreover, when Dr. Brian Price (ITG) wanted to bypass the NHLPA / NHL licensing bottleneck, it seemed to be have his Heroes and Prospects cards licensed by PHPA (the AHL and ECHL union) instead.