Acquire All the Rights In Your Works
Now let's get back to my favorite subject — property. How do we make sure that we own all of the property rights that are available to us in photographic or video content? In law school, they teach lawyers that property is a “bundle of rights.” Using real estate for an example, there is the right to occupy the surface, and the right to dig under the surface for minerals. Often, you don't own both of these rights, which can occasionally result in having an oil company install a derrick in your back yard and start pumping oil. In the case of visual creative works, there are a number of rights that you want to pull together to create the most valuable, saleable bundle of rights that you can.
THE LOCATION AGREEMENT
In order to get the complete bundle of rights in a visual or video content, you need to obtain agreements from all of the players. In most shoots we will have three main rights-holders — the photographer or videographer, the model, and the location owner. What location owner, you are asking? Well, let's just assume that you have a friend who is house sitting at an $8 Million mansion in the Hollywood Hills, and you decide to do an incredible shoot in a gorgeous, paneled oak-lined library filled with period antiques. If you have not previously obtained a location agreement from the owner of the library, you might find yourself facing a lawsuit that would prevent you from using the photographs. So, to make sure that the right to reproduce pictures of the location is included in your bundle of rights, plan to enter into a location agreement with the location owner.
THE MODEL AGREEMENT
The model also has rights. While as a practical matter suits by models to block dissemination of their image rarely appear until they become famous and want to hide the old, embarrassing work they did before they were elevated to star status, virtually anyone who will buy any substantial quantity of adult content demands assurance that the seller has a model release. We call it a “release,” because by signing it, the model gives away rights that he or she would have in their “name or likeness,” and to control dissemination of their image. I have, available for sale, an Adult Model Agreement that deals with various concerns that arise in the context of creating adult content. Among other things, it has provisions that make compliance with Federal proof-of-age recordkeeping requirements part of one streamlined process.
THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S WORK-FOR-HIRE AGREEMENT AND DUTIES TO VERIFY AGE
Your employment agreement with the photographer should specify that the photography or videography is done as a “work-for-hire” in which all copyrights are transferred to you. Then, when you register the content with the Copyright Office, you will register it in your own name as the “author” of the work on Form VA for still photographs and Form PA for videos. The agreement should also provide that, before transferring them to you, the photographer owned all the rights in the photographs, and has not already sold them to another content purchaser. The agreement may also require that the photographer obtain all of the identifying information for the models required by 18 U.S.C. § 2257, discussed further below.
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THE LOCATION AGREEMENT
In order to get the complete bundle of rights in a visual or video content, you need to obtain agreements from all of the players. In most shoots we will have three main rights-holders — the photographer or videographer, the model, and the location owner. What location owner, you are asking? Well, let's just assume that you have a friend who is house sitting at an $8 Million mansion in the Hollywood Hills, and you decide to do an incredible shoot in a gorgeous, paneled oak-lined library filled with period antiques. If you have not previously obtained a location agreement from the owner of the library, you might find yourself facing a lawsuit that would prevent you from using the photographs. So, to make sure that the right to reproduce pictures of the location is included in your bundle of rights, plan to enter into a location agreement with the location owner.
THE MODEL AGREEMENT
The model also has rights. While as a practical matter suits by models to block dissemination of their image rarely appear until they become famous and want to hide the old, embarrassing work they did before they were elevated to star status, virtually anyone who will buy any substantial quantity of adult content demands assurance that the seller has a model release. We call it a “release,” because by signing it, the model gives away rights that he or she would have in their “name or likeness,” and to control dissemination of their image. I have, available for sale, an Adult Model Agreement that deals with various concerns that arise in the context of creating adult content. Among other things, it has provisions that make compliance with Federal proof-of-age recordkeeping requirements part of one streamlined process.
THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S WORK-FOR-HIRE AGREEMENT AND DUTIES TO VERIFY AGE
Your employment agreement with the photographer should specify that the photography or videography is done as a “work-for-hire” in which all copyrights are transferred to you. Then, when you register the content with the Copyright Office, you will register it in your own name as the “author” of the work on Form VA for still photographs and Form PA for videos. The agreement should also provide that, before transferring them to you, the photographer owned all the rights in the photographs, and has not already sold them to another content purchaser. The agreement may also require that the photographer obtain all of the identifying information for the models required by 18 U.S.C. § 2257, discussed further below.
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