Wondering what legal rights i have to sell photos of certain buildings and property (not for commercial use)

If I correctly understand what you prpose to do, you shouldn't have a problem from a "copyright"perspective. 17 U.S.C. section 120 l(a) gives you the right to take, distribute and publicly display such photographs. You may run into some problems, however, if your photos include or depict any trademarks. You obviously cannot create the impression that the owners of the marks or propertieas involved are associated with or have endorsed your venture. .You should consult IP counsel to review all the facts and make sure you don't violate anyone's TM or copyrights. Disclaimer: athierga answer is for general informational purposes. It does not establish an agtorney-client relationship.

You are free to take and sell photos of stadiums, arenas, buildings and any other architectural structures that are visible to members of the public in publlic streets or spaces. However, you are allowed only to take picture of the building or structure. You cannot photograph trademarks or tradenames, and use those trademarks to sell your pictures. Nor can you do anything to create the impression that your photographs are approved, endorsed or associated with the trademark owner. A classic example would be if you took a photograph from a public street of a baseball field and scoreboard, and the scoreboard contained a Budweiser trademark as part of a Budweiser advertising campaign. You could run into a problem with Budwesier if photographs contained the Budweiser trademark. You say that you are not going to use the photos for "any commercial purpose or advertising (aside from promoting my website)" But you intend to sell photos on your web site and and use them to promote your web-site This is a classic "commecial purpose"---you want to sell the photos. Thus, you much approach this issue from the perspective that the courts will likely find that you are using the photographs for commercial purposes. Your question makes references to the fact that the images involve "a federally owned lighthouse" "Lambeau Field.."), and a "beautiful abandoned building on privately owned land." There is no special right to photograph a federally owned building---the federal government is entitled to obtain and assert copyright protection, including protection for its architectural designs. It also does not matter that Lambeau Field may be owned by a state or local governmental entity. States and local governmental entities may also own and enforce copyrights, trademarks and other IP rights. And the analysis does not change because the abandoned building is on privately owned law---the law allows you to take a photograph from public property of any building, whether privately or publicly owned, but the law forbids you from capitalizing on trademarks, tradenames or individual celebrities which might appear in your photographs to sell your photographs. To the extent a trademark, tradename, or celebrity likeness/photo appears in the photos that you want to sell, you are well-advised to seek permission from the owners of these intellectual property rights before selling the photos. Finally, while I know this is a pain in the neck, I strongly believe that you should retain IP counsel to advise you with regard to each of the specific photographs that you want to use. If you are going into the business of selling photographs, then you need to protect yourself to the extent possible from expensive litigation. It will be far more cost effective for you to retain counsel to advise you now then to wait until you face an expensive copyright litigation suit in a federal court, potentially in a jurisdiction far away from home.