Nasty clause?

[GetCarter]

Not Lions or Santa

So I got my fire photos in 7 national and regional newspapers, all of whom paid me - One mag however asked for an invoice, which I sent, and have just received a 'commission agreement' (from Bauer)

I'm not liking the wording here:

...bla bla... "you unconditionally assign us the entire copyright, and all other rights and title of any kind that you have in the commissioned works".... "you irrevocably waive any and all moral rights you have in the commissioned work".

I wasn't 'commissioned' they just wanted to use an existing photo and offered me money to include in their mag. In the covering letter it says "Bauer asks that all our commissioning freelancers have a signed agreement in place". I note it doesn't insist (!?)

Anyone with more experience of magazine work have any thoughts on this?

TIA

[abarth500]

Sounds dodgy to me Steve. So they basically want you to pass the shot over to them and allow no one else to use it? I hope they are paying you a ton of cash for the shot(s).

[14-7]

I presume they haven't actually published the photo yet?

Surely you can edit out the parts of the contract you aren't happy with sign it (take a copy) and send it back? If they accept it then they have accepted your terms.

Maybe SP&L is the best place to ask this sort of thing?

If they don't like the new edited contract then they can swing.

[GetCarter]

abarth500 said:

Sounds dodgy to me Steve. So they basically want you to pass the shot over to them and allow no one else to use it? I hope they are paying you a ton of cash for the shot(s).

Quite... and the photo has already appeared in loads of other publications/websites.

They are only offering their standard rate (which is pretty pathetic). Daily Mail for instance (ug) paid me over £400... these guys offered me nothing like that (but it is in an obscure mag). No idea if it's been published yet.

I'd kinda' decided to write back and tell them I'm not signing a 'commissioning agreement' as it wasn't a commission, and that I'm not signing over copyright as other publications have already used the image and others may want to... just show me the money!

[DIW35]

GetCarter said:

Quite... and the photo has already appeared in loads of other publications/websites.

They are only offering their standard rate (which is pretty pathetic). Daily Mail for instance (ug) paid me over £400... these guys offered me nothing like that (but it is in an obscure mag). No idea if it's been published yet.

I'd kinda' decided to write back and tell them I'm not signing a 'commissioning agreement' as it wasn't a commission, and that I'm not signing over copyright as other publications have already used the image and others may want to... just show me the money!

Sounds like a sensible approach to me. Possibly add that if they are not happy that you are not prepared to sign their 'commissioning' agreement, then perhaps htey would be better off not using the image.

[JABB]

I don't know the ins and outs but do you not sell these images to these people under yours terms and conditions? It seems odd, as I read it, they have had the image, and probably used it, before terms and fees were issued.

[andy-xr]

Got a mate who works there, do you want me to see if I can do some digging on how enforced they are?

[tog]

Bauer are notorious for rights grabs, and I know of many photographer who now refuse to work for them. You are granting them a single-use license - speak to the editor and make sure they know that. No agreement - no sale.

[GetCarter]

Cheers people - Andy, I'll go the Tog route... thanks for the offer.

[AndWhyNot]

Pays to read the small print. The cynic in me suspects they know exactly what they're doing, and are just hoping that you don't.

[Simpo Two]

AndWhyNot said:

Pays to read the small print. The cynic in me suspects they know exactly what they're doing, and are just hoping that you don't.

Precisely.

You can't apply terms after the deal either.

Or you could say 'I am prepared to assign copyright to you; however the buy-out fee is £10,000'.