The Graphic Artists Guild address is now...

     Graphic Artists Guild

     90 John Street, Suite 403

     New York, NY 10038-3202 

     voice: 212-791-3400

     fax: 212-791-0333

The following is an edited version of the Graphic Artists Guild's quarterly newsletter, Guild News, for the summer of 1997. Anyone wishing a complete version should see the Join page for further information.

Current News and Past News Briefs

What's Electronic Use Worth?

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management offers its readers a "modest proposal" for "slicing the electronic pie." It quotes Cincinnati attorney Steve Gillen who said, "The fairest solution is undoubtedly to count accesses, the number of times that a given work is downloaded, and compensate accordingly....Unfortunately, relatively few publishers are equipped to trap that information." Failing that, Folio: suggests "One possibility is to compare a publisher's gross revenues from traditional media and markets with gross revenues from the electronic format. The resulting ratio suggests a premium that bears some relationship to the value added by extending the right to use the contributor's material to an electronic format. If a publisher has been paying $1,000 for feature articles for print use only, the publisher who now derives 10 percent of his revenue from exploiting new media might reasonably be asked to pay $1,100 for the combination of print and electronic rights." While we appreciate the admission that electronic use is separate and that additional compensation is justified, will publishers willingly (and honestly) reveal this ratio?

Use of another's trademark in an illustration not necessarily an infringement

If you've ever wondered "Can I get in trouble if I include a trademark in an illustration," here's one answer. In a magazine ad, the inclusion of someone else's trademark is to create realism only. Therefore, there is no intent to deceive the consumer. It's the same as if a photographer shoots a street scene, and in the background is a Coca-Cola sign, a billboard promoting a particular car, and a host of other commercial messages. If your image is to depict a "slice of life," there should be no problems. It's only when you try to deceive or defame another's image that the courts will take action. (Board Report for Graphic Artists)

MICROSOFT, whose founder epitomizes entrepreneurship, doesn't make it easy for freelancers to follow that lead and profit from their own creations.

Contracts Watch has obtained an internal memo just sent from Microsoft headquarters to local editors at SIDEWALK, its about-to-be-launched series of city Websites (Seattle, Minneapolis-St. Paul, San Diego and others). It seems the company has six contracts with different rights arrangements, ranging from work made for hire to somewhat limited rights. A page on the contracts' rights clauses explains each and tells editors how to negotiate with freelancers:

"Pick the right contract simple rule:

Start with #1 All Rights and work up to #6 Time and/or Product Limited...
Use #1 for majority of Sidewalk contributors, especially writers and illustrators, and always for content that gives Sidewalk a strategic advantage...
Use #2 if contributor wants print rights to their work and we have no interest in exclusive print rights...
Use #4 if contributor insists that MS use content only in specific product(s), if there is little likelihood that MS will use content in other MS products and if content has little syndication value...."

Even the best of the deals gives Microsoft too big an ownership stake in a work, letting the company use and profit from it forever with no further compensation to the writer. The contracts differ chiefly in how much latitude the writer has to enjoy the pleasure of competing against Mr. Gates in marketing. Astute writer-entrepreneurs will decline the opportunity. (ASJA Contracts Watch)

Freelancers Sue AP

Three freelance photographers and their organization have sued the ASSOCIATED PRESS for ordering freelancers to turn over copyright as a condition of assignment and simply taking over ownership from those who tried to resist. The suit, filed this week in U.S. District Court in New York City, cites federal antitrust laws and argues that AP has "wrongfully used its dominant position" in compelling freelancers to give up copyright and in relicensing their photographs beyond their member newspapers without credit or further compensation.

The National Association of Freelance Photographers, formed last year by more than 300 AP regulars, joined three of its members suing as individuals in asking the court for a declaration that freelancers own copyright in their works despite a legend printed on the face of AP's payment checks that the AP says makes it the copyright owner. The lawsuit also asks for an injunction prohibiting extra uses of their work without extra payment and credit, a further injunction against requiring copyright transfer as a condition of working, and damages.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC has several CD-ROM projects in the works for this fall. But the one that's causing a growing buzz among freelance writers and photographers is not just any little project. It's the plan to put onto disk every page of every issue from the magazine's century-plus history. Some contributors have suggested that Geographic divide a piece of each year's gross among freelancers involved and make royalty payments through the Authors Registry. At least some staff is said to like the idea, but rumors persist that the magazine is considering a twist on the U.S. military approach: Don't ask, don't pay.

Larry Lux, senior vice president and managing director of National Geographic Interactive, told Contracts Watch: "Corporate counsel and our rights staff are wading through our contracts database, trying to figure out the situation. Over so many years, with so many variations of contracts, it's very complicated."

Some Geographic contributors have routinely turned over copyright, then gotten it back after publication. Others never signed away more than one-time rights. Photographers and writers who have been published in the magazine would do well to dig out their old paperwork and, unless they let their rights go, alert the staff. (ASJA Contracts Watch)

Cyber Pirates are International

Wired News reports that information is there for taking by international cyber-pirates. "Jim Davis, webmaster at Virtual Boston, found he had been internationally rustled when he looked up his own site on a search engine. He found his work, all right, but it was on an Israeli server. Pages he had spent months developing suddenly carried Hebrew titles and sported Hebrew ad banners. 'First of all, they stole my site, and the copy is coming up before mine in the search engines!' he wrote in an email just after discovering the copy. 'Second of all, they're making advertising dollars off my content, my HTML, my art, my photos, my everything! Third: They stole my site! I CAN'T READ HEBREW!' (Business Wire)

© copyright 1997 - Graphic Artists Guild