Copyright and Media

whitey

whitey

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Steven
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Hi all,

When you work with media/agencies do you sign over copyright when agreeing to work for them?

Agreement seems fine until I see this part mentioned in the email

In the agreement it states you hand copyright over to us. What I will say is we won't be looking to sell any of your pictures submitted from the game.
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awp said:
No! You never release copyright !
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Really? That's an incredibly limited view point.

You also might like to note that the thread was posted in Sport!!
 
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I don't do portraits and weddings - I do press work - on a freelance basis - and you never give up your copyright - no need to.
 
So effectively they are paying you for a job and are saying they retain copyright for their own use. So they don't have to pay you for use/reuse of anything you produce from the game and they won't sell on.

Are you able to sell the images on to other parties or is that excluded?

From my point of view it would depend on what they were paying me and whether I am likely to be able to sell any images on elsewhere.

I'm sure there are many others on here more qualified than me to comment.
 
I've not fully read all of the paperwork yet but will do later this afternoon

That was my concern, I know the papers aren't sending anyone to the game needed so I would be the only person taking pictures following the team, unless there were to get pictures from anyone covering the other team i guess
 
awp said:
No! You never release copyright !
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When you photo sports for agencies the copyright is with the licence owner who is sending you to games.. same if you go to any premiership chanpionship or league game.. the licence holder has the copyright not the person taking the picture.

Its either that or dont go.
 
Whitey, you need to define this better:

If the paper is commissioning you to do a shoot, then there's a fair amount of justification for them claiming copyright/ownership/repro rights or however you want to phrase it.

If, however, you're submitting photos on a pay per publication basis, then they shouldn't be getting anything apart from the right to publish one instance.

Edit: Tony's covered the licencing issue as well.
 
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DemiLion said:
If, however, you're submitting photos on a pay per publication basis, then they shouldn't be getting anything apart from the right to publish one instance.
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he cant be sending them on spec.. theres wouldnt be a contract to sign? is end lots of stuff to lots of papers on spec.. theres no contracts unless they are sending you on there licence ..plus he metnioned agencies..


I agree more info needed.. what level of sport is it and agency or paper ?
 
DemiLion said:
If the paper is commissioning you to do a shoot, then there's a fair amount of justification for them claiming copyright/ownership/repro rights or however you want to phrase it.

If, however, you're submitting photos on a pay per publication basis, then they shouldn't be getting anything apart from the right to publish one instance.
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That's where there was confusion.
 
DemiLion said:
Whitey, you need to define this better:

If the paper is commissioning you to do a shoot, then there's a fair amount of justification for them claiming copyright/ownership/repro rights or however you want to phrase it.

If, however, you're submitting photos on a pay per publication basis, then they shouldn't be getting anything apart from the right to publish one instance.

Edit: Tony's covered the licencing issue as well.
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All the papers I've been commissioned for never demand copyright, there is NEVER justification to claim copyright.
 
Edtog said:
All the papers I've been commissioned for never demand copyright, there is NEVER justification to claim copyright.
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That may be so in your case, but I've seen several instances where copyright is assigned to the paper in question, and not just for sports.
 
Will add alittle on what its for

local paper covering a game next weekend which involves a 20 hour round trip which i am looking forward to

They are happy to pay me a day rate to go down rather than a pay per pic (as that works out better for me)

they then get copyright which means other papers wont come asking for anything (that they have told me they need) so although my day is cover (which wasn;t the issue) I am looking at ways to maximise profit

giving them copyright means its only in that paper but they say they are happy to send anyone my way re sales
the other option I have is to accept x amount per picture which would half the day rate assuming they use pictures. but other papers may use pictures and pay x amount to use them

all ifs and buts but they more I am thinking abou it the day rate sounds better to me and assigning over copyright for the images supplied
 
I can only repeat I have never been asked to hand over copyright.
 
whitey said:
but they more I am thinking abou it the day rate sounds better to me and assigning over copyright for the images supplied
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then do that and ignore what anyone else says on here... thats not sarcasm.. seriously.. you should never ever do anything you dont want to do because of opinions on this messageboard... advice is good but always do what you feel is right :)

IMHO
 
awp said:
I can only repeat I have never been asked to hand over copyright.
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neither have I .. I have been published in a few local, regional and national papers.. I work for two on a weekly basis that dont care..

however I think I know where the confusion is with sport that you may not understand awp .. apologies if you already know this.. and please follow the jist of what I am about to put forward rather than the exact wording :)

dataco own the rights to all photograph at profesional football above conference level..

dataco hand out licences to clubs, newspapers and anyone who can prove themselves as working football photographers

whoever has a licence then has copyright of any images taken.. there is no choice.. thats the rules of the licences handed out by the only people who can..dataco

a licence holder such as newspaper or club or agency can then send photogrpahers to games using there licence to get into those games.... any pictures those people take are the copyright of the licence holder..


1)
when i used to cover games for the local paper using there licence i didnt have copyright.. the paper did..

2)
now i cover the same games for the same paper using my own licence.. i own the copyright


Hows that? :)


Anyone reading the above please note... thats how i understand the situation from experience...however i may be wrong and am happy to be corrected on any or all points.. please do not take the above as gospel and do have it verified before making any important decision :)
 
Had another couple of emails since I posted here

Paper would happily point anyone in my direction should they be asked for prints, what they ask for it for however is simply to avoid having to pay a usage fee again if they ever want to use the images for another run in the future

suggested a deal with image usage granting permission to use images in future runs with no extra charge, will see whats suggested

Grateful to everyone who has posted thus far to
 
steve,if you are taking about footy and you got your conference licsence the copyright is yours if the pass was applied for under your number
like others have said if you got into the ground under eg northern echos number copyright is retained by them and you cant do anything with any of the pix published or not
 
still waiting for license tyo come back at present, only sent forms away over weekend as i was waiting for insurance docs to arrive (which did on Friday)

had a read through contract and emails everything is now clear, just waiting for another email back and thats everything confirmed for this weekend
 
Just thought I would bring this back to the top to say that i got sorted, media company agreed to change the terms of the contact so that I supply images with a usage license and hold onto copyright, they only wanted copyright of the images to save on paying a usage fee later should they wish to use them again (its an FA Vase Semi Final I am traveling to Poole, Dorset) to cover on Saturday)

THanks to everyone who replied and helped throughout, appreciated
 
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