Saryn Angel wrote:
As you were hired by Sony to be there for the photos, I would tell the photographer to contact Sony for the right to use the photos - and then negotiate with Sony for further use rights - as per your original contract with them.

[EDIT: JUST SAW YOU WERE IN CANADA - NONE OF THIS PROBABLY APPLIES - SORRY]

Yep.  The first question is what is the status of the copyright.  Was the photographer contracted on a work for hire basis or did he retain copyright to the images?  Neither of which is really your concern, but it does dictate what the photographer can do. Assuming he either owns the copyright to the images or gets usage rights from Sony, the question then is are you willing to give him permission to use the photos for advertising purposes.

You are correct.  You did a job, you were paid, and that's that.  And you would be perfectly within your purview to decline his request.  I see many on this board do (or suggest) just that all the time (mostly photographers).  Often times to me it seems a little like cutting off the nose to spite the face, however.

Unless this guy is a complete jerk, I would sit down with him and have a conversation.  Act happy.  Be pleased that he thought enough of your photos to want to use them in his promotional material.  Acknowledge the fact that the photographs came out great and you appreciate his skill in bringing out the best in you.  Then politely suggest that you would love to see him use the images, and that you are sure some arrangement could be worked out that would be beneficial to both of you.  Then enter into a conversation and see if you can't reach an agreement that does benefit you both.  Maybe it's not what you want going in, it probably wont be what he wants going in, but it could still be rewarding to you both.

If he cops a major attitude and doesn't show you any respect, then simply smile, thank him for his time and leave, while pulling a Columbo.  You know, just before you walk out the door, turn smile and say "oh, just one other thing, I'm sure you would never do anything so underhanded as to use my images without a release for your commercial gain, that would be incredibly stupid and I'm sure you too smart for that.  But..  if you do use my photos for promotional purposes, I would then be forced to sue you and since I have an attorney in the family, it will cost you much more than it will cost me.  But I'm sure we won't have to deal with any of that nonsense".  Then walk out.

Eloise wrote:
Hi,

I've worked recently for the launch of a new camera by Sony, I was hired by them. There were photographers from the company and one from the shop where the launch was who were taking pictures of me and of the other model, to show off the camera. People could take pictures too. I was paid very decently for this by Sony. Now, the photographer of the shop, who gives photo seminars at that shop (and they're not free) sent me an email regarding the pictures he took of me. He likes so much some of them that he wants to use them as a publicity for his seminar, on flyers. He asked me first if I didn't mind. Now, my job there was only to be taken in pictures, and I had made sure with Sony that the pictures wouldn't be used later on for publicity (of any kind) without renegotiating the contract. But the photographer (who is from the shop, not Sony) seems to expect me to agree to what he asked me, that is to use the photos to make money out of them by advertising his seminars, without me paying paid a additionnal amount of money. Now, he says, he usually gets paid to take pictures, print them and burn them on a cd, so I should be happy and consider it a tfcd... wtf? I never agreed to a tfcd with him, my contract was with Sony! From what I understood, the shop asked him to take pictures, so this was part of his job. Am I getting screwed over?

I don't get it, it seems to me that my contract was clear and that I was to be paid *only* for me being there at the event, that the pictures were not to be used for publicity. And that photographer was from the shop, not Sony, and my contract was with Sony, so aren't the pictures Sony's?

What should I answer that photographer?

I am NOT a lawyer.  But, I think he's asking you for permission because he knows he NEEDs it and the proper thing for him to do is to get you to sign a release.  You may negotiate those terms however you wish until both parties agree.  If no agreement can be made, then I guess he doesn't get to use the photos.

Eloise wrote:
What should I answer that photographer?

"Make me a fair offer for the rights."

C R Photography wrote:
Ask the photographer how much he charges then double it

Next time I need an advice I'll contact you

DigitalCMH wrote:

I am NOT a lawyer.  But, I think he's asking you for permission because he knows he NEEDs it and the proper thing for him to do is to get you to sign a release.  You may negotiate those terms however you wish until both parties agree.  If no agreement can be made, then I guess he doesn't get to use the photos.

I am not a lawyer either, but I have played one on television...;o)

This is the simplest and most practical advice I have seen offered here. He HAS to have your permission, and if you do not want the images used they cannot be. On the other hand, it may be an opportunity to be paid twice for the same gig.

"...There were photographers from the company and one from the shop where the launch was who were taking pictures of me and of the other model, to show off the camera....People could take pictures too."

also with respect to the shop photographer - the OP notes: "From what I understood, the shop asked him to take pictures, so this was part of his job."

Presumably the OP here [People...] means members of the public - customers in the shop.

IF the shop photographer was doing this as part of his duties, and provided the equipment to do it by the shop, and did it at their direction, it is entirely possible that Sony doesn't own the © to anything he generated and neither does the photographer. His employer, THE SHOP [or the underlying company that owns the shop,] most likely owns the ©.

This is not a straightforward question. There are several layers of legal issues that need to be sorted through, not the least of which is what your contract with Sony actually said in all these respects. It doesn't matter, it might seem, that Sony actually hired the models but did not otherwise restrict the photography to their own photographer. They allowed others to take photos as well. The shop... and reading between the lines... the shop's customers. Sure, Sony would own the images that their photographer personally took [in paticular if he was an employee of Sony], and Sony would be bound by their contract with you. But the more important question is who owns the rest? ...And IF any restrictions were imposed by Sony, on anyone and everyone else, before those other images were made by anyone that made them other than their own photographer.

The use question, once the © ownership question is sorted out, is fairly straightforward. It is apparently to be a "commercial" use [to advertise the seminars] so that needs to be answered in light of Canadian law on that kind of use relating to permissions necessary from the person appearing in the images.

Studio36

[edit] Frankly this has the potential to be a real mess from the get-go.

Shahsimene wrote:
Wow! So many smart people on this board, who think of everything!

I now have a place to come for advice.

You mean when Sony hires you?