Legal ABC for stock photographers
Posted on: March 22, 2010 (70) CommentsLegal issues
are not the most exciting part of our job. However, a legal mess can completely ruin you or create major obstacles in your business
In this document I have collected all the legal information that I wish someone had whispered in my ear three years ago. Well now I know and consider me the person whispering it in your ear.
These days ten new microstock agencies appear each year and just as many disappear. The new guys will contact you and try to get you to send them your images, and this is where you need to be really careful. A serious agency will have their contracts and the legal side of things covered and will present you with a good contract. A sloppy agency will give you some google translated ukraine contract with ambiguous wording or say “that will come later”.
Here are the biggest pitfalls to watch for if you’re signing a contract:
No clear termination clause.
You should not sign a contract that does not promise you to be able to remove all your images from their site and subdistributors’ sites within a minimum of two years. This is the very longest you should sign a contract for and ideally you should negotiate this down to one year or less.
Bad contract.
When you encounter a bad contract, walk away. A contract that you can’t make heads or tails of even after you’ve read it three times is not worth signing. If you’re really interested in joining the company, demand the contract be rewritten.
No signature back.
You sent them your hard copy, but did you ever get one back? Bad news: it won’t work if you didn’t.
Wrong entity, wrong name, wrong/misspelled company name.
Check the company name and the position of the person signing on behalf of the company. If not you might not be signing anything valid, but will act your part out because you don’t know this (before end up in court, that is).
Look at the jurisdiction:
Do you want to go to court in another country? Choose a jurisdiction that has a legislative history of cases in stock photography and licensing of media, copyright law. etc. The best jurisdictions are New York, Alberta, UK, Australia and New Zealand (We can thank Getty for this)
No user restrictions defined on the site.
This is really dangerous. Do not run the risk of letting an agency sell your images without user restriction that does not follow the stock industry standard. The industry standard for forbidden usage restricts resale or distribution of your image, restricts print runs over 250,000 (without special license) and forbids the use of an image alongside pornographic, defamatory or pharmaceutical or political content (i.e., images may not be used to promote tobacco products, adult entertainment, dating services, personal hygiene products, political endorsements, etc.).
No allowance for due diligence.
“Due diligence” is your right to check all the financial statements and finances of an agency to see if they are in fact keeping track of all sales and providing you with the right amount of money. If an agency does not allow this it is a really bad sign. You NEED this in the contract or you are making a deal with the devil.
Commission offer is too low.
If a new agency approached you then you should not go for anything below 40% commission. They will probably say…”well sorry, that is just too much,” and that’s okay. Wait another two months and they will warm up to the thought, and surprise, you will get yourself the contract.
Trying to squeeze in an submission minimum.
Some agencies have upload minimums or insist that you have to supply images every quarter etc.
Don’t say yes to this ever. Period.
Trying to squeeze in a “non-compete” agreement.
If they try to squeeze in a clause about you not being able to work with agencies or another of their already existing partners, this is a big no-no. A lot of contracts have this section and you should respond with a flat out “NO” to such agreements. If I signed a non-compete with a small agency and that agency had Getty as their partner, I could basically be sued for having my images on Istock.
No payment rules defined.
Payments must happen regularly, monthly or when requested. A contract needs a section about this so the agency cannot drag the payment process out forever. Also, your contract must contain clear terms on a sales statement reporting system.
Are there any dodgy subdistributors you need to know about?
Ask for a subdistributor list. The contract terms you are signing with the agency must be the same as the agency has with its subdistributors.
Who will do submissions, uploading and organizing into their collection?
How will they do this and how much effort is required by you? Get clear lines right away.
NDA
Some agencies will want you to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement, which basically states that you agree to not disclose (talk about) any of the confidential information you might have heard about the agency during the negotiations or contract formation. An NDA is ok, but it must be time limited and must go both ways. Make sure the confidentialinfo is defined.
Below is the standard autoreply I use when new agencies contact me. Feel free to use the same one yourself, or tweak it to make it your own. It is important to send a professional signal to new agencies and not to support legally messy agencies.
Dear agency XXX.
Thank you for showing interest in distributing my collection of images. My collection sells very well and I am sure we can mutually profit from a distribution agreement. When negotiating new contracts there are a couple of things we are looking for and that we would like you to clarify for us so we can move forward:
1. What is the commission offer you have in mind?
2. Will you do the submission and organization of our files on your site if we send you a hard drive, upload by FTP or other means, or are you looking to have us do that? Timeframe?
3. Please send us a copy of your contributor contract.
4. Please send us a copy of your user restrictions defined on the site.
Your contract must include the following:
1. A clear termination clause with a clear promise of complete removal
of all images within 2 years.
2. A allowance for due diligence.
3. Must not include a upload minimum or submission minimum.
4. Must contain a clearly defined payment structure and sales
statement reporting system.
5. A list of subdistributors if any.
6. A specified jurisdiction.
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Very interesting and amusing subject. I read with great pleasure.
Useful tips, thank you, Yuri!
Thank you. Perhaps a too nerdy post. Boring for the non-professional…
How would you rate the big guys: iStock, Fotolia, shuterstock, dreamstime and so on?
eh, don’t worry–it wasn’t too boring. Even thought I will probably never be in this market, it’s still interesting to know more about it. Good stuff.
Excellent reminder, Yuri…to Pro’s and novices alike. Only after one has been taken to the cleaners do they appreciate the caution words of wisdom from a friend. Thank you.
good to know – I wonder if there is a “stock site black list” out there in Cyberspace somewhere. That would be really good to know… *lol
Interesting read Yuri
Whatever happened to that “Stock Photographer’s Alliance” or “Union” idea from a few years back. It would be great if such a collective organisation would do all this homework on agencies first. Agency “black lists” or “white lists” could only really be drawn up by such an organisation.
Suspect there is still a great need for such an organisation as an overall pressure group in the industry.
Very useful article. Thanks!
Hello Yuri,
But i am only 15 so i have plenty of time!!!
Roughly 5 months ago, I started to follow your blog, although it does take quite a while for each post you write. I started a major interest in photography around the same time. I am starting to get some good photos now, and my creativity is also now improving. Hopefully in the next couple of months I will start to make money of my photos. Whenever I have felt that ii will never be good enough, I come to your site, and i feel inspired!! I hope to improve and get my first Hasselblad!!
Basically what I am trying to say is your amazing and thanks for an amazing site, and inspirational pictures.
Well. I have been thinking about this a little lately. I think the best thing we could do was a black-list kind of thing
Yuri, Would you recommend Moodboard? I know they’ve been around since 2005. They were purchased by Getty a few years ago. Their jurisdiction is Great Britain, so it’s not on your list of best jurisdictions. Stock photography is something I’d like to get into in the next couple of years, and having read their information, looked through their galleries, and visited their blog they seem to be a good choice. If anyone else has an opinion on that agency I’d be happy to hear it. I should mention that I don’t live in Europe, so does it really matter if you live far away from the host country of the stock agency you’d like to work with if they accept submissions from any country?
Yuri, thanks for a very useful info! Stock legal issues are of special concern here in Russia. So this post does contain some very useful advice.
Does “Trying to squeeze in a non-compete agreement.” mean never go exclusive?
Maybe a “good to go agency” list would be a better choice. This way, if an agency does not appear on the list, it’s not worth joining?
ps: those morning slippers you showed in your christmas list, you can actually buy similar near Fåborg at Fyn. They are quiet expensive, but fantastic (800 Dkr). My problem is, I can’t remember the name of the farm that sells them *sorry *lol*
Well thought through, as always. Sounds like a “true story” kind of warning which makes it all the more effective. Only caveat for the article is that in the U.S., when writing about legal issue, the custom is to disclose that this is not legal advice and should not be taken as such. Different states have different rules about what constitutes legal advice and whether you are actually allowed to offer any. You definitely do not want someone tracking you down a year from now, claiming they relied on something in your post to their detriment!
Thank you for very useful post.
I’ll try to spread the information (with reference on author, of course) among my Ukrainian and Russian colleagues.
One question. Do you mean certain Ukrainian agency?
thanks Yuri, advice and help from a true pro like you it’s always welcomed
Not boring at all, there is even more to say abut it. Go no further than the closure of Stockxpert. That had a lot of shady sides too and its coming from no less than Getty.
“”"”A sloppy agency will give you some google translated ukraine contract with ambiguous wording or say “that will come later”.”"”"
ukraine contract is Not correct:
use Ukrainian contract instead, i noticed that people in developed countries maybe dont think about geography much, everything that is right from Europe on the map for them is Russia, nobody cares that China or Japan also are there, this is real nature of humans, and such a mistake in such a context is disrespect to this nation, now i know why fascism wont die, just because people have egoism, if Russians, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Soviet nations in common wouldnt protect the world from Hitler, and finally wouldnt defeat Hitler (paying millions of their lives), all of you from the West (Europe and USA), exactly knew how the names of different countries are written,
Hey Yuri, I was watching a video of you “meeting with Yuri Arcurs” on youtube and it looks like you are now using a Wimberly Sidekick and really right stuff ball head on your monopod? If so, could you please write about the setup on your blog?
Debbi
Great article thanks for the info.
Denny
Great post, lots of good information, Thank You.
good article with useful material
This is very important. I believe that the less serious stock agencies take advantage of the fact that most photographers don’t care much about this.
Thanks a lot for the great advice. I’m sure glad there’s someone to tell me all about this at the beginning
Thank you for legal ABC article!
Gracias por la in formación un saludo desde Colombia
wow … the first ever post about this I found.. and it was very interesting, I always wondered about this part of the job.
Many thanks
Thank you for this…it’s so far away from boring. For me even a long detailed version would still be very much appreciated. Legal stuff are very important. So thank you again
Thanks for all the info Yuri. It’s great how much information you’ve provided to others, it really helps a lot. I do have some questions regarding legalities that I didn’t see mentioned in your post. I’m still new to the microstock industry and doing my research before I dive into it on a regular basis, and I am wondering about property releases. I’ve done my research about model releases and what it’s for and how to go about it… but I’ve been seeing also in my research the topic of property releases. My question, or questions… are this: Do microstock agencies/sites require property releases to be submitted with photo submissions? What kind of photos require a property release form? (As in how do we determine that photo A needs one and photo B doesn’t, though both may show someone else property). How do we photographers go about making sure that the properties in our photos can be displayed? (Is there some rule of thumb to follow? etc.) And in general any comments/thoughts you may have on this topic would be great.
Thanks in advance for any info… and for all the other information on your site. You’re quite an inspiration.
I am new microstock submitter here, enjoy reading and learning from your blog, thanks
Thank you Yuri for sharing this!
Great tips as always.
Can you please “whisper” us some agencies you regret starting working with? Or at least tell us if among the ones you currently work with, there is any you would like the contact be modified.
We know, that it’s summer now, which means very hot time for you, but…
we want more posts, Yuri!
Yuri:
Many thanks for a VERY informative article. As always, you are a true leader, in that you are willing to share your experiences. Thanks you for being the best!
Tom
Very useful info. Thank you very much for this article!
Everyone of us must be very careful in sending our works to people who we really do not know personally. But of course there are security measures that we can implement so we won’t be harmed in any way. We just really be cautious and be knowledgeable enough where and whom to send our works. This is a very helpful information. Many can benefit from this.
Nice article and I agree with most of it. You might want to include a disclaimer for yourself though. That you are not an attorney, that this article is not intended to give legal advice, that it is solely based on personal experience and all that stuff. Just to be on the safe side.
Very well said. Thanks for sharing us this article.
Great article. Learned a ton!
-cheers
Very great article, it helped me alot!
This is GOLD. Thanks for sharing. Your work is always an inspiration.
I also love the blacklist idea. Unions don’t always work and often cannot protect the quality of the work, either.
Great article, love your work
“google translated ukraine contract”
Yuri, is this a stab at Eastern European agencies like Dreamstime, Pixmac or Ukraine based Depositphotos?
Just curious since you sound stung.
This is exactly the kind of informaiton that is needed for this budding industry. I think we need a stock photo watch dog, whether it be formal or informal.
Nice to know that you’re giving back to the community at large too and you’re not keeping all this valuable information to yourself.
Please, post more. Not on this particular topic, but we are waiting for your posts, actually
.
Hello there!
This is a great information. Thank you for pointing out some important points in signing a contract. Keep it up!
Thank you for this valuable information, Yuri.
How to deal with greedbots is less painful when techniques are known in advance
All Best,
Elena
So , what Will be a nice stock agency to begin with ?
this is a great information
Thanks for all the advice here, this is great stuff, the kind of information photography professionals find to be useful!!
Thanks for this! I was looking for more info about stock photography and you’re article helped.
- Evan
Wow, I highly appreciate all this information! thanks very much for taking the time to share your knowledge.
Cheers,
Leo
Vector Open Stock
Peter Gaszynski – Photographer since the eighties. Have lots of slides and negatives from that era. Any ideas of which way is the easiest one to upload these, is there any interest in “vintage” photography like this…
Good to have found an article about this before I get to involved in these sorts of things – thanks for sharing your knowledge on this one.
Great advice!!! Thanks so much for posting!!!
I could have sworn I’ve read this before! But great stuff!
Thanks for posting, Yuri. It’s always nice to have the benefit of someone else’s experience on these things! As always, you are very generous to share.
Best,
Thom
Thanks for the great tipps you provide! For someone like you ist is easy to say “no” to an agency. For us smaller fish, we unfortunately sometimes have to play by their rules.
Hochzeitsfotografie
you are an inspiration! thank you for sharing your knowledge with us : )
Thinking of starting stock photography and this is very helpful, thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing – great stuff.
This is an amazing character trait when you so openly share your knowledge and experience. It’s always better to learn from the mistakes of the others than from our own, but people very often don’t want to hear it. Legal issues are very important in any kind of business, I fully agree with you Yuri.
Good post, thanks for sharing.
Hey Yuri,
That was a great article. I was thinking of going into stock images myself. Now I have to be a bit more careful. Thanks for the advice!
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