From: Lisa Reddig (lisa@julianrichards.com)
Date: 09/03/02-09:45:39 AM Z
> From: shannon stoney <sstoney@pdq.net>
> If you sell a person the reproduction rights, say for their website,
> do they keep the negative, or do you? And how do you know what to
> charge them? Do you set a fee for each time they reproduce the
> image? And what if you make a digital photograph or a scan? Do you
> keep a copy and they keep a copy, and they are sort of honor bound to
> pay you every time they reproduce it? If you are not developing the
> website for them, it seems as if you would have to give them the scan
> to work with. Maybe this is too big a topic for this forum; but if
> so, is there a reference book or website or magazine article that
> might explain how to do this?
>
> --shannon
> --
>
Shannon
It's not honor, it's a contract.
When you make the image and they pay you for your time and what they are
going to use it for, the contract or invoice or receipt will say what usage
they are purchasing. If they use it for anything else, you have the legal
right to ask for compensation for that. If it is too complicated for you to
worry about each additional usage as it comes up, you might consider letting
them completely buy-out the whole take, giving them ownership of all rights.
And in this case you would usually just give them the negatives. Unless you
think you would have any use for these pictures in the future. But you have
to be compensated accordingly. You should charge way more for a buy-out
than if they were just going to use it on the web.
As far as selling them a print, you work out that cost with them, and they
are told it is for display purposes only, not to be reproduced without your
approval. This goes for all sales of imagery. Just because they hired you
to make the image doesn't mean they have the right to do anything they want
without paying you.
Having digital copies does seem to make it easier for someone else to use it
without asking you, but that is what contracts are for, to tell everyone
what has been agreed to.
Lisa
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