Rights to the photographs for customer event

[clicknick]

Hi,
if I shoot an event for a customer, who owns the rights to the pictures? This is assuming that no black and white agreement was signed.

I assume that the customer will have full rights to do whatever they want with the pictures, but what about the photographer?

Can I put it on my website? Can I submit the photos for photo competitions? Can I resell the photos to someone else?

Advise for this newbie pls , thanks :dunno:

 

[dragos]

since no black and white, just use it on your website and photo competitions...

 

[foxtwo]

i believe.... as long as you were paid, then the pictures would belong to the customer. As for the other things you want to do, sit down discuss with the customer and this time, write out a black & white agreement detailing what each of your rights are. And what repercussions would be should any of the terms break. etc.

Next time, do the agreement before shoots.

 

[eikin]

for me as long as it is a paid job, the client gets full rights, but not exclusive rights unless stated otherwise. the photog gets limited rights like for portfolio, but resale is a definite no.

 

[ortega]

if the is no black and white contract then by default the rights belong to the photographer.
what you or others do with your images depends on you alone.

 

[2100]

if the is no black and white contract then by default the rights belong to the photographer.
what you or others do with your images depends on you alone.

Ortega is right.

Of course don't go and re-sell it lar, like you shoot some South Korean Celebrity for $500 2hrs (still not enough? that's F-ing a lot!) and later still go Far East Plaza that Idol shop sell to the boss. hahah.... Happened before. Unless you don't care for repeat biz and kena hamtam.

 

[solarii]

Well since there's no agreement, you can do anything you want! (Except blackmail, of course which is illegal). Else he has no legal recourse except to scold you, boycott you and tell all his friends never to hire you.

But from an ethical point of view its best to ask your customer for permission, especially if you're going to post it for public viewing since you were paid.

 

[sprewell]

If i can vaguely remember my media laws, under the copyrights Act.

If a photographer is commissioned to take photographs for a client. The client owns the pictures.

IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY, that is.

$0.02 worth.

 

[solarii]

If i can vaguely remember my media laws, under the copyrights Act.

If a photographer is commissioned to take photographs for a client. The client owns the pictures.

IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY, that is.

$0.02 worth.

Well even if this were the case the client still needs to prove that he hired the photographer for the job (ie legal documentation, receipt etc). Else its the photographer's word against his.

 

[foxtwo]

there is no point antagonising the customer by leaving a bad taste in his mouth. Less paperwork for you but lost in reputation too. The customer might not be as friendly to the next photographer because of such a prior incident. you end up giving photographers a bad name.

 

[mpenza]

from what i know: if u're paid, the rights belong to them unless there's an explicit agreement that you could resell.

 

[2100]

from what i know: if u're paid, the rights belong to them unless there's an explicit agreement that you could resell.

hehe....key word is black and white. Includes receipt etc.... not only The Contract.
If someone videotaped you in action then of coz.... :bsmilie:

But usually kacang events....no biggie lar. Why leave bitter aftertaste. I have so many ex-clients calling me for their weddings.

 

[clicknick]

Thanks for all the input guys, see some different views on this. :thumbsup:

 

[Goldenstars08]

Hi,
if I shoot an event for a customer, who owns the rights to the pictures? This is assuming that no black and white agreement was signed.

I assume that the customer will have full rights to do whatever they want with the pictures, but what about the photographer?

Can I put it on my website? Can I submit the photos for photo competitions? Can I resell the photos to someone else?

Advise for this newbie pls , thanks :dunno:

For me I don't do any things with my customer photo...just for personal viewing...

 

[chainsmoker]

Take everything here with a pinch of salt.
Not everyone knows wat they r talking about.
I wont elaborate either coz im not sure.
But it sure is complicated.

 

[LittleWolf]

if I shoot an event for a customer, who owns the rights to the pictures? This is assuming that no black and white agreement was signed.

It depends on the contract. I am not sure about Singapore law, but usually contracts don't have to be written down in black & white to be legally binding. It may just be more difficult to prove your case in a dispute without written evidence. As an example, when you enter a restaurant and order food, you might be engaging in an oral contract.

In the US at least (again, not sure about Singapore), there's the concept of a "work for hire". Meaning that if you were hired for a job, the work may become the company's sole property, i.e. you may not have any rights to it whatsoever.

I assume that the customer will have full rights to do whatever they want with the pictures, but what about the photographer?

"Full rights" include the right to grant or deny usage rights to others (including the photographer). Otherwise they're only partial rights.

Can I put it on my website? Can I submit the photos for photo competitions? Can I resell the photos to someone else?

Let's assume you work in an office for a company, creating documents. Without permission of the company, could you put the company documents on your website? Could you submit them to a "beautiful office documents" competition? Could you sell them to others (possibly competitors)?

 

[iso100]

if not paid, photographer has all the rights, in my opinion.

there should be some statutes about this...where can find?

 

[solarii]

The MDA probably has guidelines on this.

There isn't any legal precedence on cases like this. Basically if you're a photographer and paid to do a job, you'll always seek the permission of your clients before doing anything public with their photos, even if its as simple as using it for your portfolio. Most would be happy and even honoured to oblige - not that many people are exactly model material.

No sane photographer would want to inccur the wrath of their clients over trivial issues like this. If person A says no so be it. I'm sure you can always find someone else. Singapore's very small, and there's no shortage of professional photographers. Bad reputations can linger on for a long time.