A Copyright Question

[GovtLawyer]

I am a Pet Photographer and when I the shoot an individual's pet, I keep the copyright. This weeekend I am covering a Pet fashion show for one of the exhibitors. I did a shoot for him before, of his dog walkers for his web site, and I kept the copyright. On this shoot, he wants me to shoot anything and everything, from the fashion shows to people milling around, visiting exhibits, etc. He told the promoter that any pictures he took they could use as well. (They had to give him special permission to bring a videographer and a photographer. ) The event will probably be covered by the press as well. So, he asked me for the copyright, which I gave him, and he paid me a slightly higher fee for the photos. I'll be giving him a disc of unedited photos, but he is aware that I will cull out any shots that are not up to professional standards.

Here's my question. Suppose I take some shots of the dogs in their costumes, and I want to put it on my website, do I now have to ask his permission, or do we co-own the copyright. In otherwords, did I technically keep the copyright and merely give him permission to do anything he wants with my photos, or do I lose all rights to them?

The event is a great opportunity for me to pass out my cards and get to meet qualified prospects, so I do not want to have it become a bone of contention, now or down the road. Suppose I take a nice photo of a dog, and the owner wants a copy? Normally, I'd sell it to the owner. Do I lose that right when I give him copyrights?

[amonline]

If it's in writing, you've sold him the copyrights... even verbally would pose a problem in court. My suggestion would be to simply ask for his permission in writing for the right to use the photos in your 'portfolios' and/or 'advertizing' use. It might be too late unless he's a nice fellow. Doesn't hurt to ask. However, keep in mind that he now owns the rights to sell the photos from this show to the other contestants. (and you now do not)

[GovtLawyer]

If it's in writing, you've sold him the copyrights... even verbally would pose a problem in court. My suggestion would be to simply ask for his permission in writing for the right to use the photos in your 'portfolios' and/or 'advertizing' use. It might be too late unless he's a nice fellow. Doesn't hurt to ask. However, keep in mind that he now owns the rights to sell the photos from this show to the other contestants. (and you now do not)

Yes, I now realize that. In reality, he will not be selling any of the photos as he will be publishing the event in his online pet magazine. I did discuss with him that I wanted to post the photos on my site and he agreed. We hadn't worked out a contract as this was verbel over the phone. It was only after making the arrangement, which seemed as if it gave us both what we wanted, that I started to think about the realities of the agreement.

[amonline]

Well, it sounds like you're in good shape for at least being able to use them personally. However, you won't have any rights to selling them. If that's what you intend, I'd still get it in writing just to be safe.

[mjordan]

Rather than sell him the copyright for a slightly higher fee, you should have given him license to use the images and you retain the copyright... unless his slightly higher fee was very high. I will give someone first time use or unlimited use or even exclusive use for a period of time, but it would have to be a special case or for a lot more money for me to sign over my copyright.

I know we all do things different and if you are comfortable with giving ownership of your images to someone else, that's your choice and there is nothing wrong with it. The reason I mention it is I don't know if you are a newbie just getting into professional work and don't understand how copyright works or if you have been doing this for a long time. I suspect the first since you are asking the question though. If you are only doing it because you think that is what is required or you are afraid you won't get the business if you don't, you should think it over before you sign them over next time. That's only my opinion, of course and it's only a suggestion.

I've been doing dog photography for a long time, myself. Mostly at events like agility, herding, ring sport and things like that. I enjoy it, although they don't have as many of the events around our area as they use too. I guess gas prices have cut back on those as well.

Mike

[amonline]

Mike, do you have a copy of your contract as you described that you can share? I'd love to see how it's laid out.

[mjordan]

What I usually do is type out a form that spells out the information on the image, how it's supposed to be used and the agreed upon price. In something like this, you want to be as specific as possible so there is no misunderstandings later.

For instance, with individuals, when I provide a CD of images, I'll write up a release that states I own the copyright but allows them to have them printed for personal use. I provide their name and my information on the form. This is so they can go to any print lab and if they get asked for permission to print copyrighted prints, they have it.

For commercial use, I spell out what the image(s) is being used for, how many times, any dates it will be used (if known), etc. For instance, Town and Country used one of my images for a small sidebar article they wrote on a breed of dogs that I take a lot of pictures of. In the contract I spelled out that the image was being used for a paticular monthly edition for one time use. I also provided the information on the dog and what I wanted used as my photo credits. I sent that to them, they signed and sent it and a check back to me. Had they missed the month it was suppose to be in, technically they would have had to re-negotiate another release from me. Of course I would have just sent an adendeum to the first one saying that they could use it for the new edition. But you don't want to make it an open ended contract by not specifying a date or range of dates or some time period. You don't need a lot of wording and anything fancy. Here is all I used with Town and Country:

===============================
To: (Contact Name here), Town and Country Magazine

This is to acknowledge the agreement for the one time use of the photo of Sam in the February 2002 issue of Town and Country Magazine for the agreed upon price of $100.00.

Photograph Information:
Photographer: Michael D. Jordan
Dog Breed: Bouvier des Flandres
Official Name: Intl Ch Bluemoon Magical Mistofelees, CGC, HCT
Short Name: Sam
Other: AKA Service dog
========================================

This is all more or less semi-formal agreements. If I was to get into an agreement with someone on a big scale, either a large company or where a lot of my images were going to be used or one image in a lot of publications in a large commercial venue, then I'd go to lawyer that specilizes in this kind of contracts and either have them write one up or look over any that I had to sign. But a large commercial deal is not something I've had to worry about yet.

I hope this helps.

Mike

[GovtLawyer]

First: Again I want to thank everyone who gave me suggestions.

I listened to everything written here and I thought I'd present the client with a contract in which I kept the rights and gave him a license for unrestricted use. However, a funny thing happened to that idea. I got very caught up with other business, that I ran to the event without the contract. So, we meet and I tell him I forgot the contract. He says, we don't need one. I said to him that I wanted to maybe use some of the photos for my web site, and he could have the entire shoot and do whatever he wanted with them. I told him I'd give him a disc with the whole shoot, unedited, and if there was any photo he thought he wanted to use, which needed some post processing, to tell me which one(s) and I'd fix it for him. We shook hands on it.

Now, during last night's event (dog fashion show) and today, when I took pictures of the trade booths, I represented myself as the photographer for petoholica.com, and wore a badge with the company name on it, my name, and the word "Media". I was given a prime space on the high-rise at the end of the runway, and the models seemed to be playing to me. I got some great shots. With the client's expressed permission and blessings, I also told event participants that I was a pet photographer and gave them my card. This was an extremely valuable event as there were hundreds of people in the pet services and products field. Some asked me if I had taken shots of the fashion show the night before, and if I had taken any shots of their clothing and dogs, they may want prints of them. Again, after telling this to the client he was totally at ease with it. Basically, he got good coverage of the event and can use the shots for his web site, and whatever I do with them , including selling prints to participants, is ok by him.

So, I may make a few bucks on prints; although, I'm not thinking about charging big bucks for this, if I do get any requests. I also met hundreds of people in the industry, and many of them expressed an interest in having mutual links to our websites. I also have a few prospective clients.

Now, a word about model releases: Everyone entering the show read a posted message that the event was being covered by various media outlets and that their permission to being filmed and photographed was explicit by their entry.

BTW: A word about photography. Shooting the event was quite daunting. The lighting changed often, and while the lights as the models were in the center of the runway were great, as they got nearer to the end, where I was, there were overhead lights shing directly on them . So, lighting conditions changed. Also, one model (they were stunning, btw) wore a multicolored outfit, and the next all black with a white dog with a black outfit. So, exposure control was difficult. I used spot metering, partial, and evaluative. I used auto-focus servo, and 90% of the time I had a fill flash, which I had to dial down. The ceilings were about 25 to 30 feet high, and a brownish color, so bounce flash was not an option. I shot in RAW + JPEG, and I know I'll have to fix a handfull of shots which are partially blown out, or have some hot spots; particularly, on the model's face.

I went back today and shot the repeat performance with a different lens, and some other changes. If you've never had a half naked georgeous model, holding a little pug dog, look you straight in the eye and wink at you, I'd highly recommend it.

[amonline]

Great follow up! Awesome advice for all the members!

Sounds like your gig was a success! Congrats!