Yearbook

I take pictures of my high school's sporting events. So far I have covered several football, soccer, and volleyball matches. I was at our volleyball teams section final game last night and was taking pictures. On the way out of the gym, I was confronted by two of my teachers who are part of the yearbook. They asked if they could get the pictures I have taken of the sports because they would love to use them in the yearbook this year.

I respectfully said it shouldn't be a problem being the silly senior in high school that I am.

Now, to my question... I will not be getting paid for this. I don't care to be paid for this, but I would at least like some recognition for my work. When I talk to my two teachers about this soon, how should I tell them I want that done? Would it be too much to ask for a "Picture taken by Cole Schmitt, class of '11" underneath every picture?

I'm not going to write up contracts because this isn't that big of a deal. But, I do not want my pictures out to the public without any recognition for my work if I am not getting paid for it.

I hope this all makes sense, thank you in advance!

I vote don't give them ownership of the images, just usage for the yearbook.
Photo credit would be the least of my needs, but if that is all you need then I think that is fair.
I would not hesitate to draw up a contract though, just to make sure everyone is on the same page. Being a minor, a contract is voidable anyways so it just protects you.

Cole spend the $35 to register your copyright to the photos you took, and any other photos you haven't published yet this year. Now while you are still a minor (I'm presuming that you are not 18 yet) you still should wright a simple contract giving the school yearbook permission to use your photographs on you terms, and yes you do have the right to have a photo by line IF that is what you want. However I would suggest that you consider just taking the same credit as the other student journalists who are part of the Year Book staff take for you photographs (It has been many years sense I have looked at any of my old school Year Books so I do not recall if any of the photographers were given photo credit other than being listed as a staff photographer.

Now back to why I suggested registering you photos, the purpose of the registration is to stop any other usage, or rather to make it actionable in Court should it occur.

Wayne

I cant stand yearbooks, in order to give them images you have to agree to this term

7. Image Rights. Jostens does not claim ownership rights in any image contained in your account. In order to enable us to display your images through the Service and fulfill any orders for you or others who have access to your images, you grant to Jostens a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, worldwide license to use, copy, print, distribute, and display those images in any media, form or format. This license shall survive and continue, even if you are no longer a user of the Site. Please note that when you share images, you allow the recipients to share the images with others, add them to their own projects or accounts, alter or manipulate those images, and make prints from those images. Your use of the Services and the posting and/or uploading of any images constitutes your permission for recipients to use the images as set forth above and your agreement that the images or content is intended for public display


I have a huge problem with this

that clause is funny. "We don't make a claim to ownership, but we have unrestricted perpetual rights to do anything we want with it. Enjoy your ownership!"

Tigershark wrote in post #11273194
I cant stand yearbooks, in order to give them images you have to agree to this term

7. Image Rights. Jostens does not claim ownership rights in any image contained in your account. In order to enable us to display your images through the Service and fulfill any orders for you or others who have access to your images, you grant to Jostens a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, worldwide license to use, copy, print, distribute, and display those images in any media, form or format. This license shall survive and continue, even if you are no longer a user of the Site. Please note that when you share images, you allow the recipients to share the images with others, add them to their own projects or accounts, alter or manipulate those images, and make prints from those images. Your use of the Services and the posting and/or uploading of any images constitutes your permission for recipients to use the images as set forth above and your agreement that the images or content is intended for public display


I have a huge problem with this

I became very angry after reading that, haha.

I had the meeting with the heads of the yearbook and it went down a little something like this; they thought my wanting recognition was a joke so, without blatantly telling them, I said "Well, we'll see how the yearbook looks without any pictures from the sporting events." I didn't say it exactly like that, but they understood. So, we settled on my name being in the special credits.

I am not really happy with the final decision but for something as small as a yearbook, I guess it's okay. I didn't like that they thought it was funny that I wanted recognition for MY pictures which I obviously took, especially when I am NOT getting paid for them. The reason they told me they would put my name in the special credits is because 1) I threatened that I would give them the pictures, but I was going to watermark every single one of them and 2) I almost got up and walked out.

I wanted to be professional about this, but I guess being 17, it's nearly impossible. These are MY pictures which I am GIVING them for free after-all...

Don't be surprised... given the tone of the meeting, I wouldn't bet on you getting in that list of special credits either.

Cole as I previously stated you should register your copyright on these photos, it will cost you $35 and give you tremendous leverage in getting the recognition you deserve. The Yearbook publisher should also be given a rights release (in writing) with the terns clearly stated, this is to protect you as well as the publisher. This way you would have a legal right to statutory damages, If the agreed to credit is not given.

Wayne

Girl I went to school with is now the yearbook advisor and asked for images a few years ago, said she'd like to do a trade off of some sort, etc. Never followed through so never got them, but who wants to bet I would NEVER see that clause about my images? So, I let school use my images - they do not own any copyrights, but the contract says they can use them in the yearbook only, Jostens can swoop in and claim shared copyright without the school actually having any ownership themselves? Um, no!

This is a situation where you can't have it both ways. Jostens will probably NOT pay you for your images... and the reason why they want ownership/copyright is so that they don't have to deal with headaches down the road in case they want to reprint your images years from now after the license for the first yearbook printing expires.

You'll have to make a tough decision here. Jostens is probably used to being 'given' photos by the school to be included in the yearbook, and missing out on a couple dozen 'awesome' photos that they have to replace with mediocre photos won't bother them a bit. Either way, they will sell the same number of yearbooks.

The only compensation I see you being offered is probably a free yearbook or two. It would be a bad idea for the school or Jostens to start paying photographers because of the sheer number of photos that go into a yearbook.

An ownership grab is a bad idea on their part, in terms of discouraging photographers from sharing their work with them, but they know that they are dealing with kids who don't know how things typically work.

Tough call.

Register the copyright, give your photos to the school yearbook staff with a written license with appropriate terms and just not negotiate with Jostens. And let the yearbook staff submit the photographs.

Wayne

Cole_Schmitt wrote in post #11297945
... So, we settled on my name being in the special credits.
I am not really happy with the final decision but ....

What's normal for your yearbook? I don't remember photo credits in mine, but that was a while ago. How many of the contributors have more than a mention in the special credits?

WMS wrote in post #11270234
Cole spend the $35 to register your copyright to the photos you took...

Just as an FYI, the DMCA grants immediate copyright to the creator of any digital media. The moment the shutter is pressed in your camera, it is copywritten to you. No written registration is required. Unless a lawsuit needs to be brought against someone.

According to the U.S. Copyright office:

Do I have to register with your office to be protected?
No. In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work. See Circular 1, Copyright Basics, section “Copyright Registration.”

Aaron - that's true but you have to look at the damages awarded when an image is registered vs. when it is not registered. When an image isn't registered it's just not going to get awarded as much if used improperly as if it were.

Anton - we didn't have credits either, it was the late 90's...but there was a special page describing peoples duties. When I got offered they said they'd put an ad with the photos, as they sell ad space in it.

Concretin Nik wrote in post #11298061
Don't be surprised... given the tone of the meeting, I wouldn't bet on you getting in that list of special credits either.

My hopes are not set high. If I do not get recognition, I will bring it up with any measure that I feel necessary.

Tarzanman wrote in post #11300067
This is a situation where you can't have it both ways. Jostens will probably NOT pay you for your images... and the reason why they want ownership/copyright is so that they don't have to deal with headaches down the road in case they want to reprint your images years from now after the license for the first yearbook printing expires.

You'll have to make a tough decision here. Jostens is probably used to being 'given' photos by the school to be included in the yearbook, and missing out on a couple dozen 'awesome' photos that they have to replace with mediocre photos won't bother them a bit. Either way, they will sell the same number of yearbooks.

The only compensation I see you being offered is probably a free yearbook or two. It would be a bad idea for the school or Jostens to start paying photographers because of the sheer number of photos that go into a yearbook.

An ownership grab is a bad idea on their part, in terms of discouraging photographers from sharing their work with them, but they know that they are dealing with kids who don't know how things typically work.

Tough call.

I am not looking to get paid, as I stated in my original post. As seniors, we all get free yearbooks anyways. All I want is the recognition for my work.

**Also, don't mark my word, but I do not believe Jostens does the designing of our yearbook. My English teacher is the head of the yearbook committee and has shown me some of the pages (cover, senior pictures, etc.). I believe my school does all the designing.

AntonLargiader wrote in post #11301879
What's normal for your yearbook? I don't remember photo credits in mine, but that was a while ago. How many of the contributors have more than a mention in the special credits?

There usually aren't photo credits but they told me they would put it in there if they could use my pictures.

aaron.dunlap wrote in post #11302083
Just as an FYI, the DMCA grants immediate copyright to the creator of any digital media. The moment the shutter is pressed in your camera, it is copywritten to you. No written registration is required. Unless a lawsuit needs to be brought against someone.

According to the U.S. Copyright office:

Do I have to register with your office to be protected?
No. In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work. See Circular 1, Copyright Basics, section “Copyright Registration.”

I have all of my RAW files still on my memory cards, so if legal terms were needed I do have proof that I in fact took the images.