Artists: Who Owns Your Copyright?
As some artists know, but as many unfortunately do not, by law, you own copyright on every work of art you produce, regardless of whether you register the copyright, regardless if you sign the piece or not.
Because copyright belongs to you, I advise that you never allow a client, especially a corporate one, to reproduce one of your works without a written agreement signed by you.
Especially, do not allow a corporation to produce greeting cards, brochures, posters, or…any other form of merchandise, without a signed agreement addressing all the necessary issues:
- Quantity
- Duration of the agreement
- Royalty (if any)
- Quality
- Proper recognition of the artist on the product
It doesn’t matter if the party in question is giving these items away, or selling them, the image belongs to you.
For that reason, only you should determine how the image will be used-including on websites-unless you’ve intentionally signed away the copyright.
If you haven’t signed it away, and if a client reproduces a work of art without your permission, they are in violation of copyright law.
That law was passed long ago by Congress to protect all you artists; please use it.
We do in my gallery, hence copyright law is addressed in every contract I write, and in every certificate of authenticity that we print out when selling a work of art. This educates my collectors and clients on various aspects of that law, and how to stay within it.
I mean, could you ever picture a corporation giving away something they created for nothing? Of course not. Why then should they expect this of artists? I can’t give you an answer, but I can tell you that they often do. Don’t let them get away with it. To do so is to perpetuate an already flagrant abuse of our rights, our dignity, and our worth to society.
Should you always charge a fee for copyright useage?
Not necessarily.
If I have an emerging artist who is collected by a corporate client, and that client wants to use the artist’s work on their website or printed material, I’ll often waive the fee in exchange for significant promotion through that corporation. This pleases the corporation, and often helps us pick up a few more collectors. However, once that same artist matures in her/his career, I normally charge the fee.
In the end
It is the responsibility of each of you, apart from creating your work, to also inspire appropriate respect for it. In some fashion, I do this with my clients every day. I trust that you, and your dealers, do the same.
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Paul Dorrell spoke at this year’s smARTist Telesummit 2009 on Corporate Art Collectors and how to approach them.
If you missed this year’s annual event, sign up for the smARTips Newsletter in the top right of this page so you’ll know all about smARTist Telesummit 2010!
Written by Paul Dorrell
Posted under Information, The Business of Art
Tags: art, Certificate of Authenticity, Congress, copyright fees, copyright law, copyright useage, copyrights, corporate art clients, fine art, gallery, promotion, smARTIST Career Blog, smARTist Telesummit 2009, smARTist Telesummit 2010
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1200 days ago,
Judy Wilder-Dalton said:
How is the copyright effected when uploading images of artwork to sites such as Facebook and art.com and similar sites
[Reply]
1200 days ago,
Kathy Ostman-Magnusen said:
Gads!~! This is exactly what I needed to read and ABSORB into my pea brain today! I am continually being approached by non profits or groups w/no $$ like theater groups, who ask me for the use of my images. I have agreed many times, thinking this is good advertising and a way of supporting whatever cause is stood for. I always request that they give me credit; my name, website and who represents me (Monkdogz-NY). I also ask for a copy of whatever they are using my work for; posters; cards;invites; website promotion. ONLY ONCE have I ever received a hard copy of said promotion.. only once, and that was after much protest. I took the time to send them huge files, let them use my images gratis and nothing… nothing in return. So recently I have been approached by two more. NO WAY. I think that this article on copyright drives that home to me. These are not scams per say, they seem to be legitimate causes, but they fall short on giving honor back and that just ain’t right.
Artists need to honor themselves. I think so often we just don’t, I don’t anyway. My husband is always reminding me of that. Your article drives that home as well. We create something that did not exist before and that is remarkable. I need to stop downplaying that, by not giving it away when it is not comfortable. There are still some instances where I still would agree to honor someone’s cause, but from now on, THANKS to this article, I will demand a written agreement first and some sort of ‘proof’ of said cause.
THANK YOU for this new knowledge!
~Kathy
[Reply]
1200 days ago,
maria brophy said:
Kathy, we get about 5 charity calls a week, asking for free use of Drew Brophy’s art. We used to (years ago) give to everyone – take the time to put the art on disc & mail it out. Now, older & wiser, we are much more selective and only provide it for groups that we really care about. For the others, that maybe we haven’t heard of or don’t really have an interest in, I’ll offer to provide the art for a small fee that covers the time to put on disc & mailing fees – usually $50.00. That’s fair, and they are getting something valued at thousands of dollars for almost free!
With regards to copyrights: Artists should NEVER, EVER sign away their rights to an image. Artists need to always have 100% control over their art. If they license the rights temporarily, they should require that they approve all samples before they are printed or produced. You can’t allow another entity to mess with your colors or crop your images, etc. because it’s your name and your brand and your future in every image you create.
Just one more thing for artists to be aware of!
[Reply]
1200 days ago,
Ariane said:
Judy, I think the jury is still out on the social media sites use of images that you post. Our urber smart lawyer at smARTist this year even suggested contacting an art lawyer about this, and he is one!
Kathy, thanks so much for adding to this conversation. M’thinks the next post needs to be about “giving it away!”
And Maria, great to have your hard earned experience here. So much to be learned from each other, yes?
That was the most heartwarming aspect of this year’s smARTworks Forum: how generous experienced artists can be with sharing their knowledge.
[Reply]
1199 days ago,
Tad Gallaugher said:
Kathy,
I work for a University in Ohio, I produced 5 (five) pieces of original art work that was released as prints. These were used as promotion of the department and the university. I was on work time and it was my said paid job to complete them. But when it was all said and done, I was forced to sign a document, that only allowed me to have 5 of each of the signed and numbered prints. I would not reap any royalities from any sales, or future print releases, and not be in controll of the copyright. I know that this has already happened, and I did (sign the document) because I did not have any choice, was I wrong in not getting legal help?
[Reply]
1199 days ago,
Kathy Ostman-Magnusen said:
Tad, Ariane is the expert here of course, but I will share with you my thoughts on your ‘loss of control’ of your work, because I have had a few similar situations, with different results for each occasion.
I illustrated for Anne Wilson Schaef’s “Words of Wisdom for Women Who Do Too Much” CARDS. I was ‘contracted’ by Hay House (Louise Hay’s Publishing Company). I signed a contract before I even began working on the 52 images required for that gig. The contract stated that Hay House owned the rights to ‘use the images’ that I would do for them for the ‘CARDS ONLY’. I still owned the originals, and could use them in any way I liked; prints, cards, giclees, etc. I could not use them for CARDS like theirs though. Understood.
The two situations below are kind of like being a ghost writer. It is a sad scenario for an artist to not be given credit but oft times if you want to make a living as an artist, you do what you gotta do.
I worked for a company doing design work. I was paid per design for a flat rate. They then could use my design any way they chose and gave me no credit. I also did finished products (carved glass,glass painting and forged metal sculptures) for this company, and received NO credit. it was a bitter pill but I was paid for my ‘work by the hour’ and they therefore owned the product.
I worked for an Italian sculptor, along with 10 other people, who was creating a village to go into Baja. I did conceptual drawings for him. I was paid by the hour. When all was said and done, anything I did for him while being paid by the hour belonged to ‘him’. That was the agreement. I understood that going in, especially after my experience with the glass company. One of my fellow workers was shocked when our ‘master artist boss’ showed visitors to the studio ‘our work’ and intimated that HE was the artist. He was in a way-it was conceptual drawing remember.
It is the way it is in those kind of situations. I guess you just have to decide how desperate you are for money. If you want to own the rights to everything you do artistically, and you are a starving artist, then you have to do something else to bring home the bacon.
Gads.. I am getting lengthy here.. sorry! I hope that is OK!
I owned a production pottery studio for about 20 years. I sold to most National Parks, Disney World, mom and pop stores… yadda yadda. I had 8 ‘contracted’ workers. We shipped some 200-1000 mugs alone out to stores. My workers could sign their work if they wanted, it was even an asset, but their product belonged to me. That’s how it worked and that is how it ‘had’ to work.
Watch that movie “Camille Claudel”, she too struggled with not receiving credit, but she was hired to do what she was hired to do. Hard fact of being a struggling artist.
~Aloha, Kathy
PS Ohh I LOVE this blog!!
[Reply]
1199 days ago,
Kathy Ostman-Magnusen said:
Neither here nor there but I just wantto clarify about the amount of mugs shipped out.. that was 200-1000 ‘per week’ shipped. It was full production.
~Kathy
[Reply]
1199 days ago,
Ariane said:
Tad, Kathy’s right. You intentionally signed away those rights. What I’m wondering is if there was any negotiation room in this Univ. deal?
Did you consider or try negotiating your terms? Or did you just ‘take’ theirs?
Too often, we give up/give in before we’ve clarified for ourselves what we want and how we want any specific process to work.
Are there other artists at this Univ they could turn to if you played hardball?
Would you have jeopardized your job by putting up your own conditions?
These are the kinds of variables that have to be considered, and which don’t allow someone like myself to accurately assess what action you should have taken. It’s a whole conversation!
[Reply]
1199 days ago,
David R. Darrow said:
You own copyright unless you SIGN THEM AWAY specifically.
You can grant copyright to sites like Facebook, which protects them if they use your work, but they do no own copyright.
When you actually “transfer” copyright, you are allowing the second party to claim authorship, and they may change the work in any way they choose and claim all authorship and creative rights, and re-sell.
I was an illustrator for 20 years, and had to educate my clients as to why they did not need all copyright, rather “unlimited usage rights” if they wanted no restraints.
Additionally, selling the physical work (transferring ownership of the art) does NOT include copyrights. Buyers need to be told in advance that they do not have the right to reproduce the art they buy.
[Reply]
1199 days ago,
Ariane said:
Yay, David!
Experience hones the information so darn well, yes?
Thanks for the clarification, esp. that FB note.
What you’ve offered here is critical enough that I’m going to devote a post to it, including your comments (attributed, natch!).
[Reply]
1199 days ago,
Elle How said:
I have to say that this has been extremely informative and I love that we have a place to connect about these issues. My favorite part is the Contract… whatever you put into the contract is yours.. I have no problem with the rights of Copyright and if I deem that they could be used to a limited degree that just makes the contract that much smarter. I have been approached by our Nat’l Police Force(RCMP) for a painting for a funderaiser.. I am fine with that and I have been considering the contract that will accompany the painting… since part of the funds go to help families of the RCMP personal that have been killed in the line of duty I have been considering letting them have the copyrights… interesting that I will now look at the particulars of that part of the contract. I am so happy to have participated in the smARTist Telesummit… always so many interesting pieces of info coming to me… thank you Ariane for dreaming up such an awesome Telesummit..
[Reply]
1199 days ago,
maria brophy said:
Many times artists feel “stuck in a corner” when, after they’ve done the work, the client puts a document in front of them to sign. It’s a bad place to be…..
To avoid this situation, always, from the very beginning, be up front and state what your intentions are, and find out from the client what their intentions are as well.
When doing a deal with a high end beach cruiser company – we painted large paintings with designs specifically for use on the bikes. Up front, we stated that we keep the original paintings, that we keep all copyrights, and we have to approve all samples before they are produced. (This is outlined in the contract as well.) We also designed the hang-tags and biography info for marketing. We granted rights for the art to be used on bikes for 2 years, at an agreed upon royalty % as well as an advance up front (to cover our time and up front expenses.)
With every deal you learn something new. So don’t be hard on yourself if you signed something you regretted later – just never do it again! And get yourself educated on how these things work. Once you do, you will spend less money on attorneys.
Also, if you hire an attorney, please, please, please use one that specializes in art licensing! This is so important! (I have a great one I can recommend – she’s awesome.)
[Reply]
1194 days ago,
Denise Brown said:
I have been a paid self employed graphic designer and watercolor painter for 30 years. I always fear copyright issues.
But when I am hired to do a commissioned piece of art, and am paid what I request, I feel that client owns the art and I am ok about letting it go, especially if it is for fundraising purposes. (I still charge for some of those too, but at a lower cost) However, with my own personal paintings that have been requested to use or be bought to use by a client, I try to put in writing what they can use it for and that I have copyright.
Every time I forget to go through all that, I have been burned mainly out of ignorance of the client. I end up having to go to battle over it and look like the tough over protective artist. I lose sleep and get stressed out til they sign on the dotted line and then they still ask well what prevents someone from using my prints that they by…. then I have to start over and explain again why they can’t and that it is copyrighted by common law copyright.
Once a printer ran off who knows how many at a tradeshow of one of my limited edition prints out of ‘ignorance’. I only found out when one of my client’s showed me what he got at a trade show in Washington DC. (I am from NH.) Shocking, but I had to tell them that I can’t do business with them again because they are not to be trusted. The artist always needs to protect their work.
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