I just want to know a little how all of you others do with the rights to your pictures. Because I have someone that wants to buy a lot of pictures of me but he wants total rights to them and it is many ,many hours of work behind them. So it feals a little bit wierd to sell them just like that and then never be able to use them again?

so your saying they want the credit for your work. I'd tell them to kiss your A**, but im just that way. Famine

Unfortunately, I've never been in this situation but understand that it's a common practice. It gives the buyer of those rights tremendous value...so make sure you get tremendous value if you sell them. There are also several layers below selling total rights that you might wnat to investigate and negotiate. Hopefully, a professional will step in here with some sound advice for you.

Check some stock photography sites. They sell pictures with and without giving up total rights. The prices are of course different. Try here: www.superstock.com

Last spring, I sold the rights to 3 of my pictures for 5 grand. That was fine with me. I know we have the pride of creation, and all. However, I can create more. Shoot, my computer...which was my first purchase with that 5K got ripped off right before Thanksgiving. Do you know how many almost finished W.I.P.s were lost? Grumble, grumble. If the price is right, I would jump on it. After all, in real life, if I am commissioned to do something for a certain client...well, hey now...I never ever turn around and resell it to someone else, as well. Think of it...Folks with similar businesses may want similar graphics....DOH. But, since they compete with one another, it is very bad form to even think of selling it to say, 3 or 4 different clients. (This is one of the reasons I rash on the vendors so much about the "credit" issues. If you buy a "Poppi", you own it lock, stock, and barrel, except for the name. You don't see the Superbowl commercials used over and over between, say Budweiser, Pepsi, and...Coors. Okay, now I will be quiet, since I can't make that analogy in English too well. Hopefully, someone else will translate that last part for me. Pop...Pop...Poppi!!!

One last thing. You will be just selling the renders...like selling an oil painting. BUT, BUT, BUT you can retain the custom charactors, sets, lighting, etc., that you used to create the images in question. Don't EVEN dicker for that. Those are your tools, you made them.

I hear you Poppi and I do agree with you. But it's not just the renderd pictures he wants it's the rights to the whole models and its kinda advanced medical models that can be used in alot of diffrent pictures and movies for alot of diffrent kind of presentations. And my problem is that I don't know anything about the laws concerning this kind of stuff. But I offcorse don't mean to go to his concurents with the same stuff he just bought.

Ok! Poppi i saw that you had answerd some of my questions while i was writting my response. And I thank you and the others for the help and more thougts on the subject would be appreciated.

And my problem is that I don't know anything about the laws concerning this kind of stuff. Okay, well, this is basic contract law. You sell him X, and, he gives you Y for compensation. Very often, when we work for a major company...We actually sign away our rights to our OWN intellectual property, in the initial employment contract....and, most of us do not realize this...check out a C&D thread from the techtip girl, betsy, from Daz..do a search. My father lost a grand fortune, in this manner. He created all the plans for the machines that made the very first metal/plastic twist off caps for beverages. Had he paid attention, I would still be getting many, many residuals, today, since my parents, and, one sibling are deceased. If it was me....I would not give the buyer control of the actual models you created. I know it is some of hard times for us, since 9-11. I know a large monetary offer is very, very attractive. However, you must do some smart thinking...give him user rights...but not..EXCLUSIVE user rights. Stand firm on that. You did not sign an employment agreement with him. If he wants them badly enough, and it does sound as if his company really needs them...play it like poker. Very good luck to you. Pop...Pop...Poppi!!!

My dad waws in teh same boat as poppi's, he designed teh machine used in AZ by sAlt River Project to test electrical transformers... but it was on company time with company parts... But when you sell the royalties of the work you create, you can always ask a fortune for it. Because then teh work is theirs to do with as they wish. Royalty free is always expensive!

You can compare it to writing software. When written on assignment they receive all the right and you the fee for producing it, when its a private development, they can BUY the rights to both the final product and the source-code. In both cases you ALWAYS retain the artistic rights as it has sprung from your mind. I recall a project where the client got a handwritten product at an hourly fee (costing them a few 1000 bucks) and wanted the source. They could obtain the source-code at a mere $64,000. They gracefully declined. Hope this helps. Maxx

Shoot...my dad used to come home, whip out his plans, and go to work with his t-sqaure and slide rule until very early morning hours. Being a daughter, I wanted to be "Daddy's little girl"...so, I would sit and watch him. I did want to learn. LadyS...it still produces anger, with you, yes? Me too. Shoot, I could have been the "garbage princess" of the world, if my dad had been as smart with his business sense as he was with his drafting and designing. Ya know...EVEN if he had foreseen enough to put in a small, little clause giving us the rights to the recyclebles, not to mention, a real estate clause for dumping, charging, and then turning it into a landfill, where a low income community, or shopping mall can be built. (We did get one of those low rent shopping centers...but, the money ran out on that one long ago.) I would not be working hard, if at all.

yes, it does make me a bit angry still. A guy from teh other electric company copied my dad's invention from the patents, then he switched a few things around (basically teh order of the switches) ad got his own patent and sold it to the other electric company APS. Since my dad never made a dime on his invention we certainly didn't have the money to fight the other one... It was heartwrenching to see his disappointment. But he handled it well and taught us to learn from it... Of course then I went to college for corporate LAw. HA!

Of course then I went to college for corporate LAw. HA! Not me....LOL...I got a master's in, of all things...ART. (That would be Fine and Applied, art....That and a quarter can get me a phone call. Life is how you choose. sometimes, i really question my i.q.) Pop...Pop...Pop!!!

Offer to sell him First North American Rights to the package. What that means is that he gets one shot at using the stuff, and then it reverts back to you for resale as you see fit after a specified period of time. But under no circumstances should you sell him everything, especially if the amount hes offering doesnt compensate for (1) the time involved in creating the materials and (2) the amount you could receive for future resales.

http://www.gag.org/index.html Thios site has some of the best resources on this subject

Mwa - If recall my tax law, you might just consider selling an exclusive license to use the work in question (but retain rghts of copyright protection, etc.) An exclusive license is treated as a capital gain (by the IRS) but outright sale is ordinary income (higher tax rate).

Depending on the scope of the project (otherwise known as how much ya gonna make), I would hire an atourney that is familiar with such things. It will cost you a percentage of your take but will protect you and teach you how to handle the problem in the future.

My 2 cents worth Make a deal YOU can live with. If what this person wants is total rights (and you can do nothing else with them) make sure that you are paid well enough to cover what you could make by selling to the general population in the marketplace and such. Also if this person is going to do something big, you sould at least have you name put in the credits or be paid extra. (if your name is linked with a big project, that is resume material, not having you name linked is giving up a immaterial asset)

For the most part, you sell the rights to a character, that is it except for keeping it for your portfolio, it's gone. Clarifing that what you are sellig is the surface of the model, the look, needs to be very clear so you don't have the issue that another character has a similar bone structure but a different look, who owns it. We had these problems in a group I am working with. First one of the guys thought his portfolio rights included being able to show a character on someones site before the new owners had a chance to use her as thier spokes person. That is a no no. And the issur that just because a sold character has the same distinctive cheek bones that a new character doea doesn't make the new character an infringement. The buyers have to understand they are basically buying skin.

Shadowcat has got it right...you have to make a deal that covers your investment of time and effort. If YOU are happy, take it. I have always taken the attitude of "Wot th' hell, it's not the last idea I'm ever going to have. Sell the picture/idea." On the other hand, I once had a friend that was so incensed that he wasn't reaping 85% of the profits that he usually refused to deal with anyone and settled for 100% of nothing.

You have to realize that there are no real guidelines in this sort of thing. There are only deals. As I understand it, from comments above, you're working with medical models. Correct? As opposed to, let us say, characters in fiction. If you sold the exclusive rights to "XYZ Hero" in fiction, it's gone for good. (Sort of. See below) But if you've modeled something in the medical world (a human part?) you can sell it off and build a version of the model again. Nobody can copyright a pancreas.

As a general rule, I have found that if ANYONE says "exclusive rights", they want it pretty bad and your position is good. The response is then: "What will you give me?" Ask for the moon. You can always bargain down easier than you can bargain up.

Still and all, there's more to this game than can be laid out in an single e-mail response. If your models are that close to your heart...get a lawyer. And do not, as advised above, offer the lawyer a percentage. This is not a 'personal injury' case. Ask the buyer for a contract stipulating the end use and your payment for it. If they want 'exclusive rights', ask for a royalty on sales, or usage(i.e.,number of times to be printed in a magazine/ or number of magazines. This means you can't sell the same model/image to anyoune else, but they pay for continued use) The lawyer will advise you 'yea or nay' on whether it's a good deal. If 'nay', the lawyer will fire off a reply telling the buyer that he's a thief. Get the lawyer fee stated up front.

But in the end, remember...it's a poker game and only victory counts.