Legalities of owning someones work

[Fuzi0n]

I need some help.
I've comissioned a lot of artists recently. I know this isn't the best place to ask, but thought I'd ask around a few sites.

I need to know what forms i need to get artists to sign, to say that i own the work and have paid for it and can then sell it on if i want to.

I know of release forms, but thats just for you havign the rights to display their work.

Any ideas?

[ornery]

If it is a physical piece you don't really need a form, since you will physically have the piece in your possession. Have a signed certificate of authenticity doesn't hurt though, or a receipt showing the transaction to prove that the piece was acquired legally.

Digital stuff is a different story, generally a receipt and a contract that you or the artist can write signed by both parties should be sufficient.

Really though all of it depends artist to artist and piece to piece.

[Hyptosis]

At 7/29/12 10:46 AM, ornery wrote: If it is a physical piece you don't really need a form, since you will physically have the piece in your possession. Have a signed certificate of authenticity doesn't hurt though, or a receipt showing the transaction to prove that the piece was acquired legally.

Digital stuff is a different story, generally a receipt and a contract that you or the artist can write signed by both parties should be sufficient.

Really though all of it depends artist to artist and piece to piece.

Yeah, 99% or more of artists don't care as long as they've been treated with honesty from the start. The only time we get mad is when we're cheated from the start, which isn't uncommon from publishers at all. I know tons of guys who've done work and never been paid for it, or had work used beyond the scope of their agreement and never given credit or paid for the work. OR I've seen guys do work for smaller companies, which then get bought by a bigger company who does whatever the fuck they want with the stored work of the absorbed company, without any respect of the original contracts.

In the end it doesn't matter, I mean, what is an artist going to do. Most of them can't afford to take legal action anyway, it's a joke.

Ornery is right, just be honest and don't dick them, and type up a clear little document to make thing official, or at least give the illusion that you're serious.

[lovingthedark]

These might be useful:
Ten common copyright myths explained
US Copyright
Sample Commission Contract, page 1and page 2

If you just want to own a copy of someone's work it's pretty simple. Buying the copyright is a bit more complicated, and the artist probably ought to charge you a lot more for that, but that doesn't sound like what you're after.

A lot of artists like to sell their works with an invoice- a simple document describing the piece, who it's being sold to and for how much. Some artists will some extra clauses to this, specifying things like who is responsible for insurance in transit, stating that the artist can borrow a piece back for exhibitions, or requiring that an artist be given the right of first refusal in the event that the buyer chooses to sell a work (allowing the artist the option of buying back a work if it goes on sale). That's extra facets of a simple process though.

Are you planning to do anything more fancy than simply owning copies of the commissioned works?