Selling users images

help with legal jargon needed

[chrisandsarah]

Hello
I have a site where people upload there own landscape images for display. I'd like to offer people the chance to 'donate' some of their images which I can then use in a CDROM, Calendar etc to sell and help support the increasing costs of hosting the site.

Does anyone know the legal jargon i need to use for people to give me the rights to reproduce and sell their images?

Or can anyone put me intouch with a good UK law firm that deals with this kind of thing.

I don't want to compile a collection of images on a CD, start selling it, only for one of the contributers to ask me to stop it from being reproduced and sold as they have changed their mind and want to make their own money from their images :/

Many thanks for any help and advise. Much appreciated

Chris

[Beagle]

I'm not at all versed in UK law, but I'd think the best thing would be to follow the same procedures as someone who publishes a collection of short stories by different authors, or even a magazine with articles by different writers. That doesn't really answer your question, but you might find it easier to do some research along that line. I wouldn't depend on just your own research, though; for a project like the one you're talking about, IMVHO a lawyer who's knowledgeable in this area would be essential to at least vet the agreement after you've composed a draft.

From a print point of view, it sounds like you'd want to purchase "first rights," which would allow you to sell the creations for a certain amount of time before the artist would be able to sell them him/herself or sell the rights to someone else. Depending on how the agreement was written, that could either mean that your right to use the images runs out at that time (with the chance to renew, if you both want that), or that you simply have to accept that you'll have competition in selling them. For you to have exclusive and permanent rights to sell the images, the creators would have to actually transfer the copyright to you, which (in the US, and probably in the UK) is a much higher hoop to jump through legally.

--BTW, if they're not going to get any reimbursement for this, be sure that's made completely clear upfront.

[BigDave]

You also need to decide what rights the purchasers of the CD are going to get, and make sure you get the rights from the copyright holders.

For example, it is a fairly easy process if you are only giving the purchasers the right to look at the images. It gets a lot more complicated if you are going to allow them to use those images on their own websites, and even more complicated if they get to use them on their client's websites, or in programs they are selling.