[Leica] Draconian "Release"

[Leo Wesson]

Hi Tina,

A friend of mine recently got crosswise with the Dallas Morning news over a
rights issue...she was in the middle of the police shooting that occurred a
few months ago and got some great shots.  Sold the images to the DMN with
restricted rights to only them.  Not being aware of this, a photo editor
released them to AP, who it turns out has reciprocal rights with the DMN,
 And once it hits AP the genie is out of the bottle.  Her images were
published all over the place and she got paid zip for it.  Her choice was
to lick her wounds or pay an attorney, which she could not afford.  She did
get the DMN to admit they made a mistake and they paid her 4x her rate.
Not a bad outcome, but not the best outcome.

So...Im guessing that your paper wants ftp rights (fuck the photographer
rights) because of some agreement they have with a wire service or so that
they can resell the images to other folks who might be interested in
running the story.

If you wanted to dig deeper you could probably find someone at the paper
who would talk to you like you were a professional, but then again, maybe
not...



Leo Wesson
Photographer/Videographer
817.733.9157
www.leowesson.com

On Tue, Sep 13, 2016 at 3:21 PM, Tina Manley <tmanley at gmail.com> wrote:

> LUG -
>
> I'm sure you've heard more than enough about the Syrian refugee project but
> I've run into a problem and would like your opinion.
>
> The local newspaper The Herald - which has been bought out by McClatchy,
> along with every other newspaper around - asked for some of my photos to
> illustrate an article about the project.  I sent them several photos two
> weeks ago with permission to use them in the newspaper and on their website
> with a copyright notice.  I didn't hear anything for two weeks.  Today I
> got an e-mail saying that they could not use the photos with a copyright
> notice and if I gave them permission to use them without the copyright
> notice, I would also have to sign a release giving the Herald "an
> irrevocable, royalty-free license to publish, republish, resell,
> distribute, copy and edit the submission an unlimited number of times in
> any print, electronic or other medium."
>
> I explained to them that I could never sign a release that gives away all
> rights to my photos - that it would not be fair to me or the subjects of my
> photos.  I explained that I never lease photos as royalty-free and that any
> royalty-free photo that featured an identifiable person would have to have
> a model-release signed by that person.  All of my photos are rights managed
> for editorial use only.
>
> I told them they were welcome to use the photos with a copyright notice.
> Now I have to explain to the committee why the photos won't be in the
> Herald :-(
>
> What do you think?
>
> Tina
>
> --
> Tina Manley
> www.tinamanley.com
> tina-manley.artistwebsites.com
> http://www.alamy.com/stock-photography/3B49552F-90A0-
> 4D0A-A11D-2175C937AA91/Tina+Manley.html
>
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