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Two copyright questions

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fls133

Junior Member
concerning Tennessee or US copyright laws in general.

I am a commercial photographer dealing with two different situations. What is common in both is that the clients asked for all rights or transfer of copyright to their organizations. I am usually against this, but I could not afford to lose the assignments, plus in both cases there is no way that I could really use the images in the future for myself.

Situation / Question 1: I have a long time client who has given us a lot of business over an 8-10 year period. I always told them that the images were theirs to use as much as they wanted, but recently they asked for a formal transfer of copyright on all past and future images that I produce for them. Again I cannot afford to lose the client, so I agreed and drew up a transfer, signed it, emailed it as a pdf. I asked that they sign it and return a copy for my records. They have not signed it and this was 3 months ago. Although, they have done some business with me since then, they are terrible about communicating via both email and phone. So the question is this: Is the agreement still valid if they do not sign it in a certain amount of time?

Situation / Question 2: A just did a small photo shoot for an big international corporation. They stated that they wanted all rights on the images. I put this transfer in a short job contract which stated that payment was due net 15 days of the job date. We both signed it. They of course wanted the pictures almost immediately and used them in a press release world wide within 72 hours of the event. That job was 5 weeks ago and they still have not paid! The question is: do they still have rights to the photos before they have paid in full?

Thank you so much to anyone who reads and responds to these questions!What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
 


quincy

Senior Member
If you have handsigned a written transfer of all of your exclusive rights in a work, the transfer will be valid even if it is not signed by the person to whom you transferred all rights. The transfer does not have to be registered to be valid, but registration of the transfer is wise, especially for the person to whom the rights were transferred.

I suggest you contact the client and ask that a copy of the signed transfer agreement be sent to you and recommend to the client that the transfer be recorded.

For your second question, I think it was probably a big mistake for you to transfer all rights in your work prior to getting paid for the work. The transfer, as it was signed by both of you, could be valid as is, but it could also potentially be argued in court, since terms relating to the transfer have not been met.

I suggest you contact the big international corporation and insist on payment. If they do not pay, you may have to take them to court.

And, I further suggest that you consult with an attorney in your area so that the attorney can personally review the signed agreements, signed contracts and all of the facts. The attorney can give you a professional opinion as to your legal options after this review.

Good luck.
 

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