> I know someone that ran into this problem.  They were having
> photos made of
> objects from the museums collection for a book that the museum was
> publishing.  they failed to complete a "work for hire" contract beforehand
> that said the museum retained all rights and privaliges.  Later down the
> road they wanted to use the images in another publication and the
> photographer said they could not because he retained the copyright.
> Rick

As I do this for part of my living, I'd have to say Here Here!

In the US, Work for Hire is a specific part of the Copyright Act and applies
in general to photographers (and other creators) who are employed full time.
In exchange for regular employment, benefits, pension, security etc etc, the
Employer gets copyright.

Now, most photography is charged on some form of day rate/creative fee - and
this includes licensing a certain sized basic bundle of rights - for example
use in this book or project in xyz region for abc time period. The more
rights you want (posters, postcards, web use, billboards, tv advertising)
the more it costs you. Now, if you want to buy out Copyright (which is
basically what your Work for Hire thing is, though not quite the same), it's
going to cost you - unless you are dealing with a doozy!

Why - because the photographer owns the copyright to those images, and you
obviously have a use for them which is of value to you. As a simple
guideline, if someone wants to buy out copyright of images from a shoot
(something the Government always seems to want to do) - it generally starts
at 3 to 4 times the basic fee. So if it costs you say $700.00 + expenses for
a days shoot, think 3 to 4 times that if you want the Copyright.

But the simple fact is, in these circumstances, most clients don't actually
need ALL the rights - like you, they just need a basic set with some
potential future uses down the road. So, you try and anticipate what you
need and come to a deal for that bundle of rights when you set things up. It
might cost you more than the basic creative fee (it might not - depends on
who you are hiring) But it's generally a lot cheaper than going back a year
later and trying to re-negotiate extra usage - at that point the
photographer holds all the cards. They own the copyright you need the
images - how badly do you need them...

It's called doing business :-)

tim

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