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The photographer still holds the copyright to those photos because they took them. That's only by custom. Legally the photographer holds the copyright as soon
by RK 13y ago
The photographer still holds the copyright to those photos because they took them.
That's only by custom. Legally the photographer holds the copyright as soon as they take the photo, but they could just as easily assign full copyright to the person hiring them as a matter of course.
Most photos of people at weddings, family portraits, etc have little commercial value, except to the people who are in the photos. So you can see how this feels like double/triple/n-times charging, as it has suddenly become a monopoly backed by federal copyright law.
- bcheung 13y agoIt's even more confusing. The photographer does indeed hold the copyright, unless assigned to someone else. However, the subject has the right to say how their likeness is used. For any commercial usage the photographer must assign rights and the model must sign a model release.
- mfringel 13y agoAs someone who had a wedding photography business, my standard contract had a "client agrees to allow photographer to use client's likeness for promotion of photographer's business."* clause. I'd go over the contract term-by-term with a client before they signed, and I never had anyone request to cross it out. * paraphrasing, of course.