Somewhat of a leagal question

So anyways this past summer I was hired by a race promoter to shoot his race he was putting on at a race track here in Nebraska. I have permission to post and sell any photos that I took at this race from the the promoter but just not at the race track as the track itself has a photographer. So whille at this race track I was approched by the track photographer saying that i must sign the media policy for this race track ( http://www.eagleracewa​y.com …/2011-Media-Agreement.pdf ) There were numerous photographers there that night and I was the only one that was forced to sign this.

Yesterday I got a email from the race track:

Brandon,
Please remove the photos for sale off your website from 6-11-11 at
Eagle Raceway. You signed an agreement not to sell photos taken at
Eagle Raceway. I see you are not living up to your agreement. I
would have to hate to take action against your breach of contract.
As of right now you are banned from taking photos at Eagle Raceway.
The photos should be used solely to advertise for Eagle Raceway and as
far as I see, you took them solely for your own benefit.
Be advised, if you are caught taking photos at Eagle Raceway, your
camera will be held and you will be escorted off the property by
security.

if you go to my web site you can view the gallery but cant purchase any photos off the site.

my responce to the track was this:

First of all the photos that are displayed on the web site are not for sale, you can not purchase any photos from any of my galleries. They are on there to promote The Eagle Nationals and TBJ promotions. I was hired by Tony Bruce Jr and TBJ promotions to cover the Eagle Nationals. It has been stated numerous times that Eagle Raceway and Slacker Investments were not putting on the Eagle Nationals and they the event was promoted by TBJ Promotions meaning that the Eagle Raceway media ploicy should not be in effect for this event as that policy pertains to Eagle Raceway events.. I also have permission from the promoting body in this case TBJ Promotions to display images on my web site. If this happen to be a normal Eagle Raceway show promoted by Eagle Raceway and Slacker Investments I would be more than happy to remove the images even though as stated before they are not for sale.

Second of all out of all the photographers there that night I was the only one that was FORCED to sign that agreement, I suspect this is due to the fact that your track photographer Joe Orth has some sort of personal vendetta against me. Also after reviewing the media policy I found that it contradicts itself on numerous occasions.

The only time that I am at Eagle Raceway to shoot photos is when I am hired by the promoter or sanctioning body to cover a race there. I also suggest that if photo taking is such of a big issue there that everyone should be banned from taking photos at the event I know for a fact that Joe has chased off you spectators in the stands that were taking photos just because they happen to have a camera that is slightly better than a point and shoot.

Brandon Anderson


Now my question is do I have anything to fear or should I just play nice and take down the gallery. My first reaction was to put everything I ever shot out at that track on the site for free downloads.

Thanks

1: Never, ever sign a contract without understanding what the contract says.
2: You were hired by a third party. When approached by the other photographer, you should have had them on the phone immediately. Let them work it out with the track owner. It was up to the promoter, (the company that hired you) to get the proper authorization for you to do your job.
3: While they can tell you to leave, they may not touch you or your gear or attempt to "hold" your gear.
4: Bringing up the stuff about the other people taking pictures is useless and makes you look like you are whining. Stick with what concerns you and sticks to the facts of the issue before you and that concerns you.

Contact the promoter and let them know what's going on. Have them fix the problem.
As for the website shots, take them down for the time being. Once everything gets worked out, you can put them back up.

Oh, one other maximum in all business dealings...
Burn no bridges.

If you signed the form as it stands, without alteration you are screwed for a coupl eof reasons :.

1. "Under a Media Pass or a Temporary Media Pass, the Accredited Party and the Pass Holder may take still photographic images solely for customary editorial use in the print media (and their corresponding authorized Internet sites)..."

Your own website does not come under the definition above...

2. "The Accredited Party and the Pass Holder acknowledges and agrees, and will do all things necessary to ensure, that any intellectual property rights in photographic images taken at the Events will on creation vest in, and remain the property of, Eagle Raceway ."

They own the photos that you took.

Also, I cannot see anything in the media policy that differentiates between races that they promote and that other companies promote. The media policy simply deals with events held at their track.

Sorry but I don't think that you have a leg to stand on.

In the future you may want to confirm with the third party who hires you that they have dealt with all of the legal issues on the other end (i.e. with the track itself). And include a section in your contract that you are bound by the rules and regulations of the venues and are not liable if you cannot fulfill your part of the agreement if they haven't done their research on the matter ahead of time.

When approached by that photographer and handed that contract you should have 1) called the promoters who hired you and let them deal with it and 2) stopped shooting anything until the matter was dealt with.

You dug your own grave by signing that. Then you dug it even further with that email.

PeaceFire wrote in post #12849867
You dug your own grave by signing that. Then you dug it even further with that email.

Yup, I've received emails like this before and after explaining the situation it's over and done with and no bridges burned - it was just a lack of understanding from the person sending out the threatening email and had to educate them, nothing more. Last thing you want to do is lash out or do something more to tick them off.

Did you read it before you signed it? It doesn't matter if you were forced (as long as not illegally) to sign it or not. You signed it and it looks like you'd have to figure out what agreement the racetrack and the event holder had. You'd have to see if there is any clause in it for their own promotion/media presentation of their event.

Contact your employer ASAP. I wouldn't have even signed that agreement until I had my employer on it. And as it stands now you still need to do that. I also wouldn't have responded until I knew what the agreement was between the event holder and the track.

I live in Nebraska, makes me want to go there and take some pics. Hope they try n hold my gear. It wont turn out to well.

Aside from whether or not you can use the photos, I have a couple of observations.

If you want to respond, I agree with the poster who mentioned not bringing up people in the stands. Purchasing a ticket may, in fact, allow photography from the stands.

Second, have someone proofread your reply before sending it. Nothing is more unprofessional than sending an e-mail which has grammatical and/or spelling errors.

There's no reason to bring up some alleged personal vendetta.

Mentioning that the release has several contradictions means nothing without providing examples of those contradictions.

Just a couple of things I noticed...

Do you need to deal with this track?

Having read a lot of contracts over the past eighteen years, I can tell you that the media accreditation agreement makes not sense whatsoever. This is especially so if you read the track's media/photography policy.

The media agreement limits use of photos to newspapers and the newpapers' websites. At the same time the media/photography policy requires freelance (though it doesn't specify freelance what) and website proprietors to sign the media accreditation agreement. In the next paragraph, the policy states, "All photographers and video personnel must sign the Eagle Raceway Media Accreditation Agreement."

Without giving it more than a few seconds' worth of thought, I can think of three examples of how asinine the policy is:

1. One dictionary definition of a photographer is "Someone who takes photographs." I wonder if they make spectators with P&Ss sign the policy.

2. A strict reading of the policy would require me to pay $50, since technically I am the proprietor of our law firm's website, even if I didn't have a camera with me.

3. I wonder what they envision freelancers and website proprietors doing with photographs since the agreement limits use to newspapers and newspaper websites.

Sounds like somebody plagiarized someone else's policy and agreement and tried to modify it for their use without the input of anyone who is actually competent to write a policy or media agreement.

If I were you, I would simply avoid this outfit if you can.

As an aside, I can't speak to Nebraska law, but, here in Virginia, if someone takes your camera by force or threat, that person is guilty of robbery. Additionally, if they detain you for not turning over your camera, they would also be guilty of abduction since an illegal detention is encompassed in theVirginia definition of abduction.

Thanks Rob,

I have decided to basicly tell this track to go F#@* themselfs. I told them that I will never attend a event held at there track ever again as a fan or media member as long as they are the owners or managers when I am not shooting events on race nights I go there as a fan and spend on average $100 a night there on tickets,food,beer I know they will more than likely not miss my $100 but if you think about it if I go to 10 shows a year over many years thats alot of money.