Re: Art & Ownership *PIC*

I'll take a stab at this one. My personal experiences have been that when we have had an artist do a painting for one of our video boxes, and we pay for it, then it is ours to do as we please. Generally we have the original work, and the understanding is we can do what we want with it since we paid to have it made. However, this should be in writing, or a gentleman's agreement(a rare thing today)between the parties involved.
A few years back a west coast artist offered to do a couple paintings for us(Rayonier, and NP), and he did not charge us. He did them with the understanding he would enjoy doing them, and he could sell the original, and any copies, which we would have no claim to. Since we didn't pay for the work, this was only fair. We get the use for the video box and any promotion of same, and nothing beyond that without the artists approval.
This is the way we handle slides or other images for our video productions. We want the rights to use on the packaging and for promotional purposes. Anything beyond that would be a new arrangement. For example lets say we wanted to make a poster or a deck of cards from an image. Then I would feel a new arrangement for the use of that image should be agreed upon.
I have only had one dispute over the years on matters such as this, and it was because an image showed up in our catalog later, but it was the same one we used on the tape box, so it was for promotion of same. Hope these experiences help.
Sincerely,
Greg Scholl