Creating restaurant menus

[gibson6]

I'm in New York and and am in the business of creating restaurant menus. I just ran into a restaurant owner who likes the sample work I showed him, and would like to hire me to produce their next round of menus. This is where it gets tricky: he wants me to use the same graphics that they currently have on their menu covers, which were produced by another company. Now, their current menus are not what I would call very "designed" (they were done by someone who is not a graphic designer, or someone who needs to exit the field immediately). The main "design element" on their cover is a photo of a vineyard. I explained to the owner that I would need to be careful in re-creating their current look to ensure that the new design is substantially different from the current one. The owner informed me it's very important to him that I recreate their current menu look as closely as possible. Also stated that he was the one who had the idea to use the photo of the vineyard on their current covers. If this is true, given the fact that there's not much (if any) actual "design", what are my options? I have a feeling that the owner would be willing to sign a statement of assurance that he has the right to authorize me to reproduce the "art" as it is currently. However, I'm not sure he SHOULD sign such an agreement, given that I don't know the details of the arrangements between the restaurant and the company that did their current menus. I certainly don't want to run into trouble with the company whose work he's using currently, nor do I want the owner to run in to trouble with them. Thanks and advance for any advice.

 

[quincy]

I'm in New York and and am in the business of creating restaurant menus. I just ran into a restaurant owner who likes the sample work I showed him, and would like to hire me to produce their next round of menus. This is where it gets tricky: he wants me to use the same graphics that they currently have on their menu covers, which were produced by another company. Now, their current menus are not what I would call very "designed" (they were done by someone who is not a graphic designer, or someone who needs to exit the field immediately). The main "design element" on their cover is a photo of a vineyard. I explained to the owner that I would need to be careful in re-creating their current look to ensure that the new design is substantially different from the current one. The owner informed me it's very important to him that I recreate their current menu look as closely as possible. Also stated that he was the one who had the idea to use the photo of the vineyard on their current covers. If this is true, given the fact that there's not much (if any) actual "design", what are my options? I have a feeling that the owner would be willing to sign a statement of assurance that he has the right to authorize me to reproduce the "art" as it is currently. However, I'm not sure he SHOULD sign such an agreement, given that I don't know the details of the arrangements between the restaurant and the company that did their current menus. I certainly don't want to run into trouble with the company whose work he's using currently, nor do I want the owner to run in to trouble with them. Thanks and advance for any advice.

You will need to get permission from the copyright holder unless the restaurant owner has a written and signed transfer of rights agreement between him and the original artist. The restaurant owner cannot legally authorize the copying and use of a copyrighted work if he does not hold rights in the work.