 Michael Warnock |
Client Wants to Sell Pics to Third Party I have a weird situation. I recently completed a job for a client. She makes natural soaps, creams, massage oils and the like, and I did product shots for her online store. There is now a third party who wants to buy some of her products - I suppose at wholesale, for resale on the retail level - and asked my client if she had any product shots of the relevant items to use in her own venture. I figure that the photos have been bought and paid for by my client, and they are hers to do with as she sees fit. My question is, should I be concerned about anything here? I can't think of any reason why I should be concerned but I thought I'd pick your brains. Thanks for your input.
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Craig m. Zacarelli |
My first thought is: they should have to buy them from you. But what kind of contract is there between you and the second party? Did you give them permission to USE them? Or did you give them the rights to have them? If they bought them and now own them, then they can sell them ... if not, you still own the rights to them, but I would guess if the third party bought them from you also, what happens if they use them for "other" purposes?? Kind of a thin ice thing. -zacker- PS: big help aren't I? lol
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Kerry L. Walker |
If you sold her the pictures and the rights to use them, that is all she can do. If you sold her the copyright, she can do as she pleases.
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Michelle Ochoa |
Most photographers I've dealt with on a coroporate level pretty much charge for their time and expertise, and give all rights to the customer. You're taking the photos for their advertising purposes anyway, so shouldn't they be able to do with them what they want? And if someone else is reselling your customer's product, then why should they have to pay for the same pictures again? It also sounds like your customer is not going to sell your images, but simply give them to this 3rd party. It's going to help your client to have someone else try to sell their products. I deal with this issue all the time - my day job deals with manufacturers and distributors, and the manufacturers are more than happy to provide photos for the distributors to promote their products. This sort of practice will also help you get more business. If your customer needs to come to you every time they need to use their photos for a brochure, business card, Web site, or other promotional material, they'll just stop coming all together.
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Michael Warnock |
Michelle, that sounds about right to me. I guess I needed assurance. I only gave permission to use the photos as promotional material. I retained copyright to the images. Really, I don't care what the client does with the pics so long as the use of them doesn't in any way cast a foul light on me. I trust the client (who is a friend of my wife) to use good judgment. I was really only concerned with the ramifications of use by a third party. Thanks to all for your input.
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W.D. Stine |
Michelle and Mike, this sounds right to me, but what about the copyright question? Even if you are charging for your time and expertise and give away all rights, would you not want to retain copyright (maybe not the right word, retain some rights) so you could use the photos to market yourself and your abilities? like on a website?
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maria |
Mike, you should be very concerned. I am a professional photographer in New York and photography is my sole source of income. You must remember that photgraphy is a SERVICE, not a product that we sell. You would be setting a very bad precedent if you allow your client to resell your images. If you indeed sold usage rights only, that should be understood and respected by your client. The third party should be paying YOU a usage fee for the images unless you decide to give them away. The images are yours to sell not your client's. You felt uncomfortable for a reason. Your gut told you it was wrong. And who's to regulate what the third party will do? There will be no obvious agreement between you and them. Maybe they will resell to another affiliate and so on. We are talking about a lot of lost income and no respect for your work and copyright. This type of behavior makes it difficult for everyone else in the industry.
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Michelle Ochoa |
The original question stated the third party wanted to buy his friend's products, not necessarily the pictures. As I stated before, when you have a product, and someone else wants to also sell that product for you, you're going to do everything you can to help them, because it benefits you in the long run. If the client was given the right to "use the images for promotional purposes", giving the images to the third party to sell her items is still using them as promotional purposes. If you don't want to allow this type of behavior, then you have to be really specific on your contract, and state that they can be used only for promotional purposes that they control (i.e. print ads, commercials, and websites under their ownership), and cannot be sold, lent, or distributed to any other party. That will help keep your images from trickling down to other people. Maria's right, now Mike doesn't know what instructions the third party received from his client, so how knows what they may do with the images.
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Michael Warnock |
Hmm...interesting points for sure. In this particular instance, I'm not terribly concerned about the images I sold to this client as she is a friend as well. I do agree with Michelle's notion that providing the images to the third party along with the product itself is a good idea for my client. Sort of like promotional support in a way. Maria does make a good point though about resale of images and this will become more of an issue in my future business dealings. Having said that, does anyone know of an on-line example of a contract that I could view as I have no idea what should be covered and how to word it. I made up a short and sweet "contract" for this client but it was by no means exhastive. Thanks to all for your input thus far. Looking forward to hearing ideas on the contract issue. Mike.
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Michelle Ochoa |
I think About.com has some good examples. I saw 4 of them, and you just need to pick and choose which portions of each you like, and put together your own. But this should give you some ideas on all the bases to cover.
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Michael Warnock |
Excellent. Thanks Michelle Mike.
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