Who owns the footage??

[Todd Terry]

[Mike Smith] “I take the contrary view.”

Depends on where you are, Mike. I’m sensing you are not in the USA, maybe UK (based on your Brit spellings of “odour” and “organise ” rather than the way we spell them here in the Colonies )? If so there are probably completely different laws there, but here the American rules of “work for hire” are pretty cut and dried.

For what it’s worth, at my place our contracts always spell out that we own and retain the rights to all footage we shoot, so there’s never any question about it.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Mark Suszko]

Flagler V. Walmart.

Or, Walmart V. Flagler.

[Patrick Ortman]

Mark:

Again, the original poster said 1) it was not a work-for-hire in the contract and 2) is not trying to sell the footage ala Flagler v. Walmart.

Plus, he’s not from the USA, anyway.

Los Angeles and New York video production for businesses and brands:
https://patrickortman.com

[Mike Smith]

Yes, UK based Todd. ???? Though not so much the Colonies, I’d say, as the much-love offspring, now far surpassing the parents.
I think you may be right, though, to hint that a good approach to Wade’s issue may be very much about care in contracting.