Copright question (Australia, if that makes a difference)

Ok, a bit of background. I do a little bit of work for a local monthly music & culture magazine which includes social pictures in pubs 'n clubs around the town
and shots for articles such as cafes, restaurants and clothing stores. I originally got into it for the live music shots but there was a change of management and they no longer wish to have live music shots in their music magazine.


I was shooting an up-and-coming brewery for an article (most of their articles are really ads, which is how they make all their money) and they used a couple of the shots... however! in the next issue I noticed a half-page (pages are A3) ad for said brewery which used one of the photos from the shoot.. hard to miss since it made up half the size of the ad.

Nobody asked me to use the ad and indeed shooting for ads was not mentioned at any point... They pay me AU$144/mo which is bugger-all compared to how much work I put in but I'm really enjoying the wide variety of things to shoot and it's developing my skills well so I'm happy to shoot for a little less money as they'd just be using the company point and shoot otherwise and I could do with the experience.


Now the point:

I emailed the editor querying the use of my photo; she said she'd look into it. Couple of weeks passed, I emailed again, generic "still looking" response... couple of weeks more and she said she's gotten the head salesperson to look into the "legalities" of the issue, which was a few days ago.

I'm starting to get a bit concerned that they've actually given my image to the company or somesuch... Now, I'm under the understanding that images are copyrighted to me until I give them away - does this apply when you're shooting for a magazine or similar? Also, does this apply when you're shooting for a magazine for one purpose and they use it for another?

Also, how much would a photo for an ad like that be worth? The ad itself cost hundreds of dollars to put in the magazine and while I don't mind them not paying me much for just the social pics and a couple of article shots I have issues with them not paying me any more for that sort of thing.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far! Any feedback welcome.

Jim

If you shot this hired by someone, then they own the copyright. However usage rights should be clear in your contract with them (even if it's only a verbal agreement).

It is rather amateurish of the magazine to give away the image, but frankly they have the right to do so unless you've agreed otherwise.

Well we only ever discussed shots for articles, social pictures and live music shots - shooting things for ads never came into it. No formal contract was ever signed for anything, though, and it's not like it could be proven either way regarding the verbal contract.

Thanks for the reply, this is one area of copyright I haven't encountered before.

Jim - I think you need to have a close read of the photographer info sheet at http://www.copyright.o​rg.au/ - it should make things a lot clearer for you and it may be worth you giving the Australian Copyright Council a call to clarify your rights.

blackshadow wrote in post #2305556
Jim - I think you need to have a close read of the photographer info sheet at http://www.copyright.o​rg.au/ - it should make things a lot clearer for you and it may be worth you giving the Australian Copyright Council a call to clarify your rights.

Cheers for that link, looks quite useful

My experience with editors and copyright matters is when they stop returning e-mails they've made a mistake and they are hoping you'll get bored and go away.

RockSlut wrote in post #2306373
My experience with editors and copyright matters is when they stop returning e-mails they've made a mistake and they are hoping you'll get bored and go away.

Well I hope that's the case here - I'm not about to stop asking about it anytime soon

Good luck with it!