Re: artwork for a winery

On Tue, 08 Jun 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?

Paintings are works of visual art, not works-made-for-hire. This means that the artist controls the copyright, unless a contract between the artist and the party who commissioned the creation of the painting says otherwise. From the facts you noted, the short answer to your question, "Does the winery have the right...," is no. As for question regarding future copies of the painting, I can think of only one helpful answer, the parties should draft a contract stating what they can agree to regarding future uses. I do not see why it is shocking that the artist expects to be paid for the use (including the production of additional copies on t-shirts or whatever) of a work he or she created.

-- 

Rod Dixon
rod[_at_]cyberspaces.org
http://www.cyberspaces.org/
202-270-9422