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Who owns raw footage?
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Walter is right on the money with his phrase “The client owns it unless otherwise specified.”
Key words being OTHERWISE SPECIFIED. That’s why we are careful that it is always specified.
Our contracts always carefully stipulate that the client owns the finished production to broadcast/present as they wish in its delivered form. The contracts also stipulate that our company owns the footage and elements (writing, graphics, animation, rights to voice talent, rights to on-camera talent, music rights, etc.). The verbage also stips that the client may not take a finished product and recut it or reuse it in another or different project.
We haven’t been around nearly as long as some of the guys on this forum, but we have been around for ten years… and produced scads of industrials, maketing and training films, and literally thousands and thousands of broadcast commercials. Never even once have we had a client question our ownership. Only a few times have clients come to us and requested footage after the fact, and we have gladly sold them the rights to reuse and provided them the dubs they needed (under a new contract, of course). Most often they simply come back to us for additional production, during which they of course can use the previous footage at no additional charge.
That may not work for everyone, but it’s never given us a lick of trouble.
Bottom line, if you want to retain ownership of the footage, make sure it is spelled out in writing in advance. It saves all the trouble and debate that has been going on in this thread.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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A previous poster stated his attorney said: I do not own the rights to USE the images, only the copyright of the images.
Let’s say the client, for whatever reason, never pays for the work. Who would then own the rights to USE the images?
Since nothing was paid for (violating a written agreement), could the holder of the footage then do and use the images however they wanted to?
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im a film makers who used to work with a young film maker in mansfield, ive worked with him for a few years and ive made 3 films with him, all the time we have used my cameras and my equipment, recently we have had a few differences and parted company, he used to do the editing and on the last 3 projects has writted the scripts which i slightly change in filming, he has put the footage on youtube and i have recently had it moved by them, he claims he owns the footage not me, even thou it was fimed by me on my cameras and using my steady cam and equiptment,he uses the equipment also to get coverage with me why filming, the name on the films was a name i came up with and have used, recently i have built my own web site and out of friendship allowed my web designer to add his name, he hasnt paid towards the cost of the site or the payment of the web site name, he also thinks he owns this, ive totally removed his name and my web designer has told me its my web site my payment and he owns nothing, its cost us both to make these productions, can anyone help, ive contacted equity and im also contacting a solicitor, please give advice
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Walter is entirely correct on all counts. I have been producing commercials for over thirty years and the AICP contract that we have been using for years clearly states:
5. OWNERSHIP Except as otherwise provided herein, all rights, title and interest in and to the commercial(s) which are the subject of this Agreement, including all copyrights therein as well as in and to all the exposed negatives, positives, out-takes and clips shall be the property of the Contracting Client.
Besides being fair this is just good business. The last thing you are going to want to do is start getting into a legal battle with your client over something that has little or no value to you. I would opt for a good relationship, give them their property, warn them about any rights issues, and keep the door open to more work and a good reputation.
And as far as I am concerned they can have my work product, project files, AE projects etc. even if not required. Ask yourself, if you were the client, who would you rather work with? Who would you give a referral to?
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It’s crazy what long time video professionals working with big name dropping clients DONT KNOW about copyright law. Ask a photographer! They all know! Clean and simple, if the contract does not state specifically that the client takes possession of the copyright, the creator, or the company he/she works for retains it. Simple. Anything to the contrary mentioned in this thread is only backed up by a specific contract stating certain terms. Good grief, just because you have a contract with company XYZ that says one thing, doesn’t make that the law.
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I want to throw a curve ball here. I own an ad agency and contract out for video crews. Typical practice was that I received all raw footage and have felt it was the right thing to do any additional projects with that footage with the crew I originally worked with. Lately, it’s been awkward with some production groups- they like to upload footage to sites like Vimeo that cannot be downloaded. Essentially, I can see and not touch. This makes me the client feel hostage- one production company increased post production rates exhorbitantly after the initial project. When I pay a day rate, I don’t just shoot for a 30 second ad. I want YouTube videos, social media clips, and maybe additional ads to come from it. I can hold to a gentleman’s agreement on being loyal to those that shot it, but I have been burned. Our solution is to buy better cameras than those of the production company and pay someone to operate them. Is this reasonable, or still a copyright issue?
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