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Re: ownership



Well said!

Message text written by Archives & Archivists
>The architectural firm owned the physical photographs, as does anyone who
subsequently bought them, or would a repository to which they were sold or
donated.   Ownership of physical photographs is distinct from ownership of
rights in the images.

The rights in the images belong to the photographer/studio.  It is quite
unlikely that the contract between the architectural firm and the
photographic studio constituted a 'work for hire' agreement.  Usually, when
one engages a photographer it is as a professional service and the rights
in the images belong to the creator - one is simply paying to have x number
of physical copies of a certain type made for one's use.  (An employment
arrangement between the photographer and the studio, in the case of a
larger business, is likely to create a 'work for hire' situation: the
rights would belong to the studio, not the photographer.)  

That the situation here did not constitute 'for hire' is supported by the
stamps stating that the negatives are with the studio.  In a 'for hire'
situation, one would get the negatives as well as prints.  

One might note that in the case of contracting for architectural services
one is usually paying for a onetime license to use a design.  The rights in
the design itself remain with the architect (although there may be
contractual restrictions on the relicensing of it).   Thus, photographs of
a building could also involve rights that belong to the architect!  

R. Jackson Armstrong-Ingram, C.A.  <

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