Toronto Photography Meetup Group

I got an email from an architecture office in Slovakia wanting to buy the rights to one of my NYC subway photos. I have no clue about selling the rights and would like your input about doing so. If I sell the rights to them, that does mean that I lose ownership of the photo and thus I would not be able to use it. Any info would be appreciated.

You want to license rights for use, not sell rights. Given that they likely don't have English as a first language, this could just be a problem of translation. I would say outline your usage license and price to them, and see where it goes.

This is the email I got from them:


<i>we are a young architecture office from Slovakia.EU
we were looking for an image of NY on request from our client
and thank's the all mighty internet, we found your shot of the NY subway
this one in particular
http://www.flickr.com/photos/henry_roxa ... 230080058/
thus I would like to ask, if it is possible to buy the rights to use it on a
wall backdrop</i>

Can you interpret this, pls?

"Rights for use" = "Licensing"

Doesn't sound like they're asking for exclusive rights, to me.

Meaning I allow them to use it for a wall backdrop (only for that purpose and nothing else) for a certain price which I have to determine?

I replied to their email saying I can sell them a license to use the photo as a wall backdrop and they can also use it for other purposes other than selling it or making money off the photo in whatever form. I haven't given them a price yet. Is this a right move?

If that's what you're comfortable with. Stating something like "this license is not transferable to third-parties" might be helpful.

It would be nice if others could chime in too

I agree with what Rob has so far contributed to your question Henry. I also think that you shouldn't extend the usage license for "other" non-derivative uses as it may become confusing but it is already too late, as you offered.

Being that the case, I suggest you to look in getty images or sites alike and follow the process to buy a photograph; you will notice that usage, run, size, location and frequency they all are variables used in order to determine the price; also it may be helpful in order to draw a sales contract

Based on a recent experience, we purchase a rights managed image for a client whose only purpose is to be used permanently exhibited at a lobby area. Making changes during the purchasing process did affect enormously the sale price.

Good luck !

Thanks, Rob and Gerardo.

They replied back and said they only need to use it as a large print on a wall. We haven't done any contract yet. They are still drawing the design concept for presentation to their client. They'll get back to me when the client approves the design.

any issues with model releases, etc.?

Realistically being in Slovakia, a lot could happen to the image you would never know about.

Henry make sure you state that they can only make one print from it and not multiple. If they have a file big enough they could do what they want with it (if they are dishonest) - which might not be the case.

From what I can see, no one in the photo is clearly recognizable. I'm hoping there woouldn't be any issue as I don't have any model release. I was on the platform on the other side ... so sort of impossible to get those people to sign a release.

This is a risk I'm kinda taking. They say they need it only for one project. But no one would know that for sure. Other than being very specific about the usage, what measures can I take to make sure they only use it for that purpose?