On Fri, 2002-12-13 at 14:36, Mike Johnston wrote: > > When a client pays to have something - say products - photographed its very > > clear that everything to do with them, including the negatives, belong to > > him - not the picture taker. > > Not true at all. Not only the negatives, but also all the rights to the > picture remain with the photographer. The client purchases the physical > object(s) only--the print(s) or transparencies, plus (possibly) limited > rights as negotiated. > > --Mike
It depends what country you are in. In Canada, my understanding is that by default the photographer is considered to be working for the client, so the client owns the work (including the copyright). Of course, many pro photographers and studios will insist that you sign a contract giving up your ownership of the work. In the USA, I think the opposite is true: the photographer is the owner of the copyright, etc unless otherwise specified by contact. BTW, I'm not a lawyer so don't take this too seriously. I'm certain that this issue has come up on the PDML many times before, and it always seems confusing. -Scott
