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Chris: What you seem to be referring to is a “work
for hire”. It is very unlikely that the photographer provided
service in this context. A clue would be that ‘works for hire’
activities results in the subject receiving both prints as well as all of the
negatives. That is extremely uncommon in the portrait business. Another issue that might apply here is the
concept that the image of the person is something that they can control.
You see this typically in the arena of celebrities and movie stars. Their
images have commercial value and they can control the use of it. I
suspect that unless special legal arrangements were made prior to the time
these folks died, then all such rights expired with them. For example, even though John Wayne is
long dead, the commercial rights to his image are still restricted. You
couldn’t just past his image on the cover of a book and not expect there
to be repercussions. Cheers, James From: I think that in this case the
copy right belongs to the subject not the photographer as it is a photograph of
the subject and the subject paid to have the photograph taken. It will depend
on the agreement the subject signed at the time. Chris |
