Those wishing to profit from the iconic Bluenose II are in luck.
When it comes to taking pictures of the iconic vessel, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for photographers.
At one time, while the Bluenose Preservation Trust was in charge, there was a fee for commercial use of the image.
“To keep the schooner going, for the expenses and everything that they had for it to keep it going,” says Nancy Panagiotakos, who owns the Bluenose II restaurant in downtown Halifax.
The restaurant paid a few hundred dollars each year for the rights to the schooner’s image. However, now that the provincial government is handling the vessel, there is no longer a fee.
While the image of the Bluenose itself is no longer protected, the logo the province created to promote the vessel's restoration is copyrighted, in the same way a company would protect its logo.
“The province wants the image of Bluenose II to be widely shared to raise the awareness of all the wonderful things about Nova Scotia that it has to offer to visitors,” says Michael Noonan of the Nova Scotia Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage. “So we encourage the public and others to take photographs of Bluenose II and share those as widely as possible.”
However, some residents in Lunenburg - where the vessel's restoration is taking place - still have concerns.
“I think it needs to be protected,” says resident Valerie Rowlands.
“It also keeps it so that it’s a special part of Nova Scotia and that it can’t be used, you know, for marketing for other things in other places as well,” says resident Angela Scott.
Despite their concerns, the image is now available to everyone. Residents and visitors alike are free to take photos and sell them to the highest bidder.
