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What Price Independence?
Copyright, Attribution, & Work for Hire

My friend Molly was hired as a stringer by a studio owner to shoot candid photographs at a wedding. The photographer who hired her did the portraiture. Things appeared to work out well for everyone, until Molly visited the photographer’s Web site a few weeks later. There were her photographs, each bearing the studio owner’s copyright.

After reviewing the law of copyrights as it pertains to independent contractors, we came up with a simple plan to rectify the situation. Molly would explain to the studio owner that although he has certain rights to sell prints of the photos she created, she should get credit on his Web site for her photographs. That’s
her right of attribution, and it goes with copyright ownership.

The resolution in this case was simple, but it highlights an increasing concern among independent photographers and the studios that hire them. With certain exceptions, the person who creates an original work is the owner of the copyright to that work. The major exception is work made for hire, in which case the hiring party owns the copyright to the image. This occurs in two cases. First, the hiring party owns the copyright when the photographer is an employee of the studio. Second, the employer owns the copyright if a) the work is specially ordered or commissioned, b) the work falls into one of nine statuary categories (e.g., a collective work; see sidebar, p. 11), and c) there is a written agreement between the commissioned photographer and the employer.