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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
question re: University contract
Peter Buehner, Photographer
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Orono | ME | USA | Posted: 1:40 PM on 01.20.10 |
->> Is it standard to have it in your contract to allow the public affairs department at your school to use your images? In other words is usage typically limited to only the Athletic Dept. or is it granted to the school?
If a little background helps, I have been shooting there for two years without a contract but have repeatedly told them that we would both be better off with one.
They have come up with one finally but with a few strange pieces in there.
If anyone has the time to chip in, I would be grateful. I am new to the sports shooting industry so could use the advice from someone who has been there done that.
Thanks for any feedback.
Peter |
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Mark Loundy, Photo Editor
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 9:48 PM on 01.20.10 |
->> Peter, In most (if not all) schools, the sports department is not an independent legal entity. All contracts are with the school.
--Mark |
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Steven E. Frischling, Photographer
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| | | Posted: 10:54 PM on 01.20.10 |
->> Peter
For the few years I was the primary athletics photog for the University of Massachusetts Amherst my contract covered the UMass System as well as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
My contract with UMass Athletics, while shooting for UMass Amherst was legally required to include the UMass System and the Commonwealth of Mass as the University is state school paid for with public funds.
I recall University Public Relations & Admissions being specifically included in a contract I had while shooting a few jobs for the University of Michigan and similar wording allowing the images to be used by all university entities while shooting for Harvard Athletics (way back in 93-94). |
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Ryan Kelly, Student/Intern
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Newport News | VA | USA | Posted: 12:47 AM on 01.21.10 |
| ->> Yeah, sounds pretty standard. I work as an intern under Jesse Hutcheson (a member here), and while he is an employee in the public relations department, we shoot quite a bit of sports for athletics to use. We're also a public university, for what it's worth. |
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Matt Brown, Photographer
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Fullerton | CA | USA | Posted: 2:20 AM on 01.21.10 |
| ->> 99.9% your contract will allow the whole school to use your work. You might the able to work something out, but don't count on it. |
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Jim Colburn, Photo Editor, Photographer
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McAllen | TX | USA | Posted: 9:35 AM on 01.21.10 |
| ->> Any contract can be modified. Can you suggest a few changes that would be in your favor? It'd help if you gave a good reason for each change. They can then accept or reject your ideas. I was presented with a contract a few years ago that I re-wrote perhaps half of. I sat down with the client, whose in-house lawyer had drawn up the contract, and went over what I'd changed. She ran it by the lawyer who said "fine" to all my changes and we signed off on it. |
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Mike Carlson, Photographer
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Bayonet Point | FL | USA | Posted: 11:02 AM on 01.21.10 |
->> With the university I shoot for the contract does allow for PR use by the university since, as others have stated, I'm being paid by the university as an entity. I think you'll find that in most small universities that the athletic department is certainly not self-funded.
HOWEVER, be absolutely certain in your contract to clarify what sort of use that is. I just ran into a situation where a professor of the university wanted to include some of my photographs she received from the PR department in the textbook she is publishing under the guise of it being "good publicity" for the university...but at personal profit for her.
Fortunately, she understood the situation and contacted me before publication, otherwise I would have not known what the PR department did. In everyone's defense, wording that is now clarified in my contract could have been more explicit. |
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Ian Halperin, Photographer
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Plano(Dallas) | TX | USA | Posted: 12:44 PM on 01.21.10 |
| ->> I make it clear (written on the contract) no non-university use or resales, photographer retains all copyrights. This came in handy last year when the university allowed an outside publisher to use 100s of photos for a book. I was able to collect for the unauthorized use of the photos. |
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Peter Buehner, Photographer
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Orono | ME | USA | Posted: 9:50 PM on 01.21.10 |
->> Thanks everybody for your help. I appreciate your taking the time out to give some feedback. I rejected the contract for some other reasons but will be revisiting it soon I am sure. It is a big help knowing what others have experienced.
Peter |
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Chuck Steenburgh, Photographer
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Lexington | VA | USA | Posted: 12:50 AM on 01.23.10 |
->> Something else to consider is use by the athletic booster organization for fund-raising...in most instances this is a private group separate from the university, but "joined at the hip" in a practical sense.
This is particularly important because, by their very nature, these groups are making commercial use of your work (i.e., to raise millions for the athletic department) rather than the editorial use typically made by the university PR folks.
It's nice to work with a college that understands the distinction between images used in media guides versus those on billboards... |
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