On Wed, February 25, 2009 13:44, mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote: > Now the AP do they have work for hire contracts with independent > photographers??? Why would anyone sign such an agreement unless they were > EXTREMELY well paid up front? Does AP really just have use rights? Is > this a case of the AP thinking that they have more money for lawyers than > an independent photog? People sign because it's the only way to get AP press credentials? Except in this case the photographer (Mannie Garcia), who wasn't a regular AP stringer but a fill-in, says he *didn't* sign the usual AP contract. [Mark Lent] And Mannie only received a few thousand dollars for that image that made the AP MILLIONS. I was, at one time, an ardent supporter of the AP and contributed to them regularly, ultimately though, they have become a greedy organization that cares little for the people who work for them. If any of you here know a guy who shot for the AP named Dave Martin, you'll know what I mean by this. Many people have given the AP many, many good years of work and service only to be cast out to the abyss when AP finds them not as useful. Disgusting, really. I quit shooting for the AP when they started forcing newspaper photographers to sign their contracts. They wanted images and "loyalty" yet forgot that most newspaper photographers foot the bill for their own gear. To not pay them- or even worse, to pay them $25 for an image is horrible. I had a shot from Talladega that I'd made for the newspaper I was working for. The image showed Neil Bonnett upside down in the tri-oval at Talladega. AP loved the shot, so the paper told them to move the image on the wire. AP took the negatives and never returned them. I begged for them back and AP finally admitted that they had destroyed the negatives. Loyalty? I don't think so. Also, I have to wonder if that artwork doesn't fall under the parity rule? To me, it seem that this would be the case and I'd suspect that his lawyers will at least take a look at that as a defense. BTW, this is a little old, but here is a link for something I wrote in 1998 dealing with the AP and rights grabbing/payment... http://www.digitalstoryteller.com/YITL/Mark%20Lent/february17.html BTW, there's other great journals on this site and I invite all of you to read through some of them. This was "Blogging" during Web 1.0, which was pretty unusual at the time. Anyway, hope you enjoy! Cordially, Mark Lent
