Yesterday, I decided to visit the Cliff House area and when I was there I browsed the gift shop. They were selling postcards, greeting cards, gift cards, and framed prints made by the Haus Maus company.

I saw a photo of The Lone Cypress appearing in the photo products and accompanying the photo was a note in the back that read:

The Lone Cypress and its images are trademarks of the Pebble Beach Company, used by permission.

My first reaction was… how the hell can you trademark a tree? How ridiculous. I’d understand trademarking the company’s logo which is a graphical representation of the tree, but it’s unreasonable to prevent others from having photography rights.

Pebble Beach, where the tree resides, is private and you have to pay to cruise on the 17 Mile Drive and so I kind of understand a restriction in photographing things in a private area. But when I’ve been on the 17 Mile Drive, I’ve never been told or seen any sort of restriction regarding taking photos, especially of the Lone Cypress (so I snapped the photo above and many others, granted I’m not selling those photos). On top of that, the tree is on the coast which is partially out in the open.

What about the picture of the Lone Cypress in the California Coastal Records Project that’s available for purchase? Based on the Barbra Streisand lawsuit, it seems unbelievable that the Pebble Beach Company could enforce such a claim.

1. del Says:
   August 11th, 2007 at 13:08

   Wow, I agree, that’s ridiculous! I took snapshots of the lone cypress several years ago. What if a person was just taking a picture of the ocean and rocks and the lone cypress just happened to be in the picture… Would they have to photoshop it out??? (Just kidding).