Exclusive rights of my image for a logo or trademark

[jml5571]

Hey Everyone. Im a newbie to this forum and just trying to get some advice.

I was recently contacted by a company who bought an image of mine from a microstock
site and now they want to buy the exclusive rights of that image for a logo and possible trademark. They realize the image has been purchased royalty free from other companies already and If I sell this image to them I will remove it from the microstock site. It's proving to be a good seller though and Im not sure I want to let go of it.

Im trying to get a handle on the legalities here. If I sell them the image exclusively for a logo, am I selling the copyright too? Can I sell it for a period of time or does it have to be forever?

Also, I've been dealing with royalty free images up to this point and I dont have any exclusive rights contracts - are there any out there I can use???

I've tried those price quote sites, but I cant get one that tells me a price for a logo, anyone have an idea on what a logo would go for?

Any thoughts or ideas would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

[tim]

Welcome to POTN :) We're not a substitute for lawyers, and since you don't say where you are we can't give you great advice anyway.

My thoughts are:
- Since you've already sold license for use you can't sell copyright.
- You'll have to give them a license to use it and assurance it won't be sold to any other people. You'll have to make sure they understand and accept people have already purchased the image and you can't take away those rights, so anything existing licensees do must be allowed.
- Don't sell it short. If it's selling well and you think it will for 5 years make sure you get as much or more income from them now as it'd generate in 5 years.

Hope that helps, and see a lawyer! Hope you make enough to cover the lawyers fees ;)

[jml5571]

Thanks Tim,

I did edit my profile to show where I am from, thanks for pointing that out.

I hadn't actually thought about the copyright issues from the other sales - that's a very good point. I did make it clear to them that there are other royalty free purchases of this image. They just want to be sure no one else gets a hold of it and uses it as a logo as well.

We've started the negotiations of price and they ofcourse keep claiming they are non-profit and dont have a large budget... it is a logo though. Is it un-heard of to give a time limit for logo uses?

Janine

[tim]

You can impose any conditions you like. I doubt they'd go for a time limited license, or I wouldn't in their place.

You can't assure them that no-one else will use it as a logo, all you can do is stop selling it to new people. Don't do them any favours because they're a non-profit, they pay their people and pay normal rates for everything else they need. Also why would you sell it for less than you can get through existing sales? Just don't be the sucker and let them lowball you, especially since it's making you money already.

[jml5571]

The particular site that I have the image on doesnt have licenses for logo's. So the only way this company could get the image and buy it exclusive is to contact me directly. In that way they do know, no one else will use the image for the same purpose.

Your right about them trying to lowball me with the whole non-profit thing. I think that's what really is holding me back. I am going to try and find some exclusive contracts though and come up with something that I feel comfortable with. If they like it great, if not it's no loss to me because Im already making money on the shot.

Thanks for advice.