Can I post this image without consent?

[Coffeeismybestfriend]

Long story short - I run a small business where people hire items from me. I go and set them up/display them and they pay me to do so.

I recently had a client who was really difficult from the outset but I worked my arse off to get what she wanted. At the time of the booking, after everything was set up I asked her if she was happy with everything - she said yes and thanked me.

anyway she then started sending me complaints and saying actually she wasn’t happy with it.. I think she was looking for a partial refund because she went over budget, which she wasn’t entitled to because I fulfilled everything on her quote.

she’s now saying she doesn’t give permission for me to post any of the photos I took on my business pages/website. However, there are no people in the images, just the items she hired. I took the photos, they weren’t taken in her home it was a hired party venue and the photos were only of my items that I own. There are first names of some of the attendees on the photos (think personalised items) but nothing to say who they are, last names, location etc.

I’ve searched and searched Google and can’t find anything that tells me who’s in the right here. Can she stop me from posting my own photos of my own products?

Obviously sharing the photos of my work is the main way I get new clients so I don’t want this to become a hiccup I encounter again - I will be amending my contracts to include photo sharing but hadn’t done that for this one because I’ve never encountered this situation before.

can anyone advise me on who has legal rights here?

You own the copyright in any photos you took. If it is possible for someone to identify the owners of the items with first names indirectly, publishing them may be a breach of GDPR, but that is between you and the individuals concerned. The only way I can see that she has any right to stop you posting the photos is if she can argue that she commissioned you to take them for her own private and domestic purposes. If that is the case, you need her permission to use them.

Thank you. I can’t see that there would be any way to identify the guests - it was place names, like at a wedding.

on your second point, surely she commissioned me to create the set up, not take photos of it? I won’t be supplying her with photos or anything it’s just for my own advertising purposes.

her reasoning was because it was a private event (this was after I refused a refund and she’s allowed all other suppliers to post photos of the event to their socials, including photos/videos of the guests!) so I think she’s just trying to find a way to get to me, which is why I don’t want to give into it if I don’t have to.

She would only have commissioned you to provide photos if the service she ordered specifically included you taking photos and supplying them to her. From the information you have given, it sounds like you can ignore her and use the photos however you want.

@Coffeeismybestfriend

i agree with @prh47bridge but that's only through bits of experience, not legal knowledge.

im in an arsey mood so id just tell her that I'll get my solicitor to deal with anything her solicitor sends, but a discount will not be given at this stage, so if she could just get the bill paid that would be appreciated.

id be tempted to just tell her to fuck iff, but my business preservation would hopefully kick in before I did.