In article <46ommd$c2f@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, marb1@aol.com says...
>I attended a meeting of pro photographers last night and the subject of
>useage rights came up. It seems like a lot of pro's seem to think that >the intended use of a commishoned photo should have a bearing on how >much to charge. In my expirience, the client buys total rights to a >shot. I called several art directors today and they all laughed when I >mentioned usage rights. Is this idea something the pro organisations is >trying to get accepted or are there many clients who do indeed pay >useage rights?
>Note, I am NOT talking about stock photo's here but rather work where a
>client pays you to take a particular shot, like a product shot.

The pro photographers are correct! In US copyright law, you own ALL rights to ANY photo you take at the moment of taking it - with these exceptions: if you are employed as a regular staff person whose duty it is to take photos (or if your employment contract states that your photos taken on the job are the property of your employer, and you have accepted this condition); if you sign away your rights to a specific
photograph in a written contract either before or after taking the photo (as, in return for a lot of money for outright sale of ownership
of the photo); if you are commissioned to take a photo, in which case the person/organization has the right of one (1) use of the photo (usually first use) in return for the commission, even though the client pays for the film, processing, time, travel, and even provides the camera you took the picture with. You may provide other uses if you wish, but legally all you have sold is the one use, and anyone who uses the photo beyond that one use without permission is taking a BIG chance that you will not be nasty. Under the law, you must discover the unauthorized use and officially register the photo with the US copyright
office within three months of that use or your law suit is limited to recovering normal payment for the use (hardly worth going after in most cases). If you discover the use and register the photo in time, you may sue for punitive damages, court costs, and lawyers' fees - it can, and
has, amounted to awards of many tens of thousands of dollars. Around here, you do not find art directors who laugh at copyright law - and even the photo-finishers will call photographers before making copy prints or prints from photographers' marked negatives to check to see
if the use is O.K. I am not a lawyer (keep that in mind while reading the above), but I did read the law in preparation for taking someone
(a lawyer) to court for unauthorized (and uncompensated) multiple uses of a photo - when he saw how well prepared I was, he decided to settle out of court.
Hope this helps.