Best Business Practices for Photographers [129]
Additionally, when addressing the issue of use of photography on the web, many editorial clients might try to stipulate that their web editions are extensions of their print editions. The easiest way for you to stop this attempt at a connection is to illustrate that the advertising in the print edition is not the same as that of the online edition, and as such, the publication is charging separately for the web edition's advertising. It is recommended that you handle both separately and bill for both separately. A clear example of this was the case of Jonathan Tasini vs. the New York Times that made its way to the Supreme Court and resulted in a finding in favor of the author, not the publisher.
Multiparty Licensing Agreements
In more than one instance, I have been faced with circumstances in which my work, commissioned by one party for their nontransferable use, winds up being used by a third party without my permission. Here are two situations.
The first was a promotional campaign for an association that represents a number of similar industry-related companies. The photograph that I produced used an employee of one of the member companies depicted in a manner that placed the industry (and, as such, that company) in a positive light. Although the association had the right to use the images, no license existed for the member company, who decided to use the photograph in an advertisement, which I stumbled across one day by accident.
The second instance was an event I was photographing that included several prominent individuals from different companies. All were presenting their positions on a subject at the event, and as such, I was photographing all speakers. However, I was hired by only one speaker. My client representative, when approached by one of the other company's representatives, seemed to intimate that not only would they provide copies of all of the images, but that they would then just split the costs of my services. A delicate conversation ensued between me and the originating client representative.
In both of these circumstances, an amicable solution was reached. However, having the proper paperwork in place beforehand can eliminate misunderstandings and build a stronger case for you should you and the other parties fail to come to an amicable solution. Consider this extremely simplistic example: Your photography fees for Client A are $1,000, and your expenses associated with that assignment are $500, for a total of $1,500. By expanding the agreement to one that includes a second party, whereas their license could also be $1,000, they would split the expenses, so both parties would pay $1,250. A variation on that is to extend to both clients a discount as an incentive to collectively license their own rights packages and reduce each by a percentage—say, 10 percent. So, this would reduce both parties to a $900 assignment/licensing fee and the split expense of $500, for a total of $1,150 for each party.
Multiparty licensing agreements frequently come into play where the initial client is the architectural firm, and the secondary client may be the builder, and even a third client may be the owner. Further potential licensing parties could be building management and major tenants. However, these are agreements that are entered into before the assignment occurs. Avoid the concept of allowing for a retroactive assignment