{"id":316,"date":"2010-03-23T23:05:23","date_gmt":"2010-03-24T03:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/?p=316"},"modified":"2010-03-23T23:07:18","modified_gmt":"2010-03-24T03:07:18","slug":"who-is-your-client-no-really-just-who-is-your-client","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/?p=316","title":{"rendered":"Who is your client? No, really, just who is your client?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your invoices for advertisin<\/strong>g<\/strong> or promotional work should always, always<\/em> specify the identity of both the client and<\/em><\/strong> the product or service being photographed.\u00a0 So for example the license you grant via your invoice should typically read (in part): Product “2010 Ford Mustang Convertible”\u00a0 Client: “Ford Motor Company”.\u00a0 Usage: “Point of purchase brochures in North American Ford Dealerships only”.\u00a0 No assignment or transfer of the license to any other entity without your permission.<\/p>\n

Simple enough.\u00a0 By so doing you avoid a host of scenarios whereby use which exceeds the license intended, could occur.\u00a0 \u00a0 Here’s a little twist to the “know your client rule”.\u00a0 The following is a true story. The names, products and industry have been made up to protect the guilty.<\/p>\n

You are approached by a representative of a non-profit, charity named “Sober America”.\u00a0 The charity’s mission statement talks about keeping people who wrestle with alcoholism, sober.\u00a0 It talks about links with doctors who can help with treating people who are alcoholics and so on.\u00a0 You agree to terms on a job which will consist of X number of images of liquor bottles, perhaps a location shot of a “skid row” and a long shot of an enormous cemetery with row after row of headstones.\u00a0 Big job and a good fee seem to be in your future.<\/p>\n

You agree on all the essential terms and conditions and everything is a go but at the very last second your client phones you.\u00a0 “We have a problem”, she says. “Our lawyer needs an additional tiny, little clause that says, ‘If Sober America should go out of business and\/or just wants its current partners or affiliates<\/em> to use the images during the license term, it can”.\u00a0 “We don’t think this is going to happen but the lawyer says we need it just in case”.\u00a0 Doesn’t sound like a big deal does it?\u00a0 The money is so close you can taste it.\u00a0 So you give it about 1\/8 of a second of thought and say, “Sure, no problem”.<\/p>\n

What you didn’t\/don’t know is that while “Sober America” is indeed a charity, it is “partnered” with a drug company which advertises, sells and promotes a drug used to battle alcoholism.\u00a0 Sober America is in effect a “not for profit” marketing arm of Big Pharma, Inc. a Fortune 10 company which in effect, owns “Sober America” lock, stock and barrel.\u00a0 In reality Sober America is funded and employed by Big Pharma for the sole reason of selling its drugs and funneling patients to doctors who prescribe Big Pharma’s anti-alcoholism drug.<\/p>\n

Now maybe you have no problem with the fact that in the end and on balance, you are doing your part to fight alcoholism.\u00a0 Maybe you have no opinion nor could care less about who is going to use your images so long as you get paid on time.\u00a0 Fine, but in any case you have set your fees and licensing terms predicated on the representation that Sober America is a not for profit charity.<\/p>\n

Tsk, tsk my friend, you have been had.\u00a0 Remember how you let yourself feel just a little (or alot) guilty when estimating for a charity?<\/em><\/strong> In fact, you have shot a job for Big Pharma, Inc.and could have and should have, charged accordingly.<\/p>\n

Not for profit or non-profit is a tax status for that entity.\u00a0 Unless you are doing work with a charity that you know well and are personally involved with, do not assume that your fees or offer of licensing rights should be affected because your client informs you it is a “not for profit” entity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your invoices for advertising or promotional work should always, always specify the identity of both the client and the product or service being photographed.\u00a0 So for example the license you grant via your invoice should typically read (in part): Product “2010 Ford Mustang Convertible”\u00a0 Client: “Ford Motor Company”.\u00a0 Usage: “Point of purchase brochures in North […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-copyright-info"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=316"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":317,"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316\/revisions\/317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}