Re: artwork for a winery

On Tue, Jun 08, 1999, Randi Millman-Brown <millman[_at_]ithaca.edu> wrote:
>
> I was hoping you could give me some advice - I do not subscribe to
> this list but to VRA-L, however perhaps the people here could offer
> some help!
>
> We know an artist who has been commissioned to create a painting for
> a winery. The winery is paying him a very nice fee for this work.
> The question is does the winery then have the right to reproduce the
> work on t-shirts, wine glasses, aprons, etc., without further
> compensation to the artist? I am assuming it does, however, the
> artist is demanding additional compensation and it is getting almost
> to the point of nasty
>
> How on earth does the winery figure out future compensation for the
> rights to use the image? Didn't they pay for it? Hope this makes
> sense -- the more we try to hash it out -- the more questions we get,
> not answers. Any thoughts?

The artist is right.

If the winery commissions a single painting from him, that's what they get. They own the painting; he still owns the copyright. If they want the copyright, too, they have to expect to pay more. Very few artists expect to give up their copyrights when they sell a single work, even one created under commission.

The parties' contract needs to cover this explicitly.

Bob

Robert C. Cumbow
> Graham & Dunn, P.C.
> 1420 Fifth Avenue, 33rd Floor
> Seattle, Washington 98101-2390
> Phone: 206-340-9619
> Fax: 206-340-9599
> E-mail: rcumbow[_at_]grahamdunn.com
> Website: http://www.grahamdunn.com/
>
Received on Wed Jun 09 1999 - 15:28:04 GMT