copyright issues-help

[deepcover]

hi guys i am a professional editorial photographer, i would like to get a simple answer

i as the photographer who took the pictures for a magazine spread, am i the owner of the copyright of the pictures?

i read the statues of the copyrights act.. and i dont really understand it...i hope u guys can help.

this new magazine assumes tat just because they paid to use my studio and my services along with the models, that they own the whole session folder of the shoot
which consists of about 300+ pictures of the shoot.

i refuse to release the folder to them as this is company policy, and it was agreed that they wanted 5 pictures, which in editorial world it is 100dollars per picture.

please help me out here guys

 

[jbma]

What type of contract or agreement did you sign with them?

 

[deepcover]

we didnt sign any contract , but the verbal agreement was xdollars for 5 pics
from my colleagues previous dealings with leading fashion mags in spore and abroad... i wasnt aware of any contracts signed

 

[deepcover]

but from my understanding the copyright to the pictures belong to the photographer unless, it is sold over to the buyer no?

 

[wildstallion]

Your right, I believe in this case you own the copywrite to all your images, except for the 5 you sold (if you sold them, or told them they could just use them, depends on what you agreed to). You should charge them for any others they want, maybe even at the same rate of $100 per pic.

 

[hondasleeper]

They do not own all the images not even the 5 that you are suppose to give them. You are infact allowing them to use the images for that one publication, one time use only.

If they want all the 300 images, I would give it to them but only in a contact sheet form or very low resolution. Tell them to pick 5 and then and only then will you give them the high resolution images, of the 5 images picked.

Don't let the magazine try to bully you into releasing the photos to them. Stand your ground!

 

[micah4]

there's a difference betw 'right to use' and ownership - what any company pays for is the 'right to use'. Not a legal person, so correct terms may be wrongly applied here - anyway that's what I understand and deliver in the websites I did for companies.

 

[mattlock]

magazine industry here gives the "we take the copyrights" stance, but legally I doubt that stands up. SPH reuses photos that it commissioned before, but that's sort of understood between the photographer and SPH.

Just give a contact sheet, and you own the copyrights
btw, 100 bucks per image is not set in stone, editorial rates here seem to go by half-day/full day rates most of the time...

 

[hondasleeper]

magazine industry here gives the "we take the copyrights" stance, but legally I doubt that stands up. SPH reuses photos that it commissioned before, but that's sort of understood between the photographer and SPH.

Just give a contact sheet, and you own the copyrights
btw, 100 bucks per image is not set in stone, editorial rates here seem to go by half-day/full day rates most of the time...

I think the rates for a spread and editorial are very different. Depending on which magazine you are working for the editorial price can range from $80-$300 per event regardless of the time, Prestige and Mediacorp are one of the cheapest and take the longest to pay.