I was hit in my daily driver (Toyota 4wd truck) back in 2003 by a Dodge Viper. That thing was shattered and definetely totaled, my truck survived. I've been approached by an insurance company who wants to put a pic I took of the scene of the crime on a billboard by a major SJ Bay Area freeway (101 off Alum Rock). What do I charge for right to the pic? I think I posted a low res pic of it on the board somewhere.

OK, here is one of the pics.

I would see if Toyota would like it to show how strong thier truck is

Yep, that would be more appropriate. I'm also thinking are there rights for temp use? So if a better proposition (perhaps from Toyota - deeper pockets) comes around from seeing the billboard, I won't get schrewed.

By the way, my brother in law designs ads for the yellow pages, so the contact came from pics he had in his office that I gave him.

QUOTE (Brent @ Apr 15 2005, 04:38 PM)

I was hit in my daily driver (Toyota 4wd truck) back in 2003 by a Dodge Viper. That thing was shattered and definetely totaled, my truck survived. I've been approached by an insurance company who wants to put a pic I took of the scene of the crime on a billboard by a major SJ Bay Area freeway (101 off Alum Rock). What do I charge for right to the pic? I think I posted a low res pic of it on the board somewhere.

Let me know which insurance company would pay you for that picture. I need to make sure I dont do business with them.

Have them make an offer and triple it....

Start off at $750 to $1000 for a 1 year buyout renewable every year. This should be a real number. I talked to my Talent Agent and since you are non union it's open to negotiation, I like Z's idea of an offer being made since you can see if they offer anything better.

Guys,
I was a commercial shooter for about 15 years.... $750-1000 for 1 year billboard for that city, for that placement, Local usage is 7-10% of what someone who made a living shooting would charge.

DO NOT sign an all rights contract. The usage, timeframe, and placement should be all VERY SPECIFIC.Otherwise you will not get what you should be paid. But I gaurentee you the end client will-
A buyout is essentually ALL RIGHTS - Buyouts would be at LEAST TWICE the # above.

The rent on that billboard is probablyat least $25,000 a MONTH.

At the very least, call the company who owns the billboard, and see what the rent is for the billboard. I don't know the specific area, but if itis clearly visable from a Major highway, I bet it is steep...
Depends upon size as well -
Are you sure the company does not have deep pockets?

Make sure that your contract does not allow them to assign usage -
This gives them the right to sell the usage you sold them for the same timeframe - and let others use it...

Joseph 222 should also chime in here -
I have been out since 9/11 -

Thom

I'm not a lawyer and I don't play one on TV, but didn't you put that picture in the public domain by posting it on the web without any copyright or trademark notation?

I love my Toyota truck!

I hit a mountain head-on at 20mph and accelerating when I slid on ice.

And this is all that got damaged!

Heck, even my headlight and turn signal lense stayed intact.

Buy my 914 for light got mutalated.

Anyway, I have no legal expertise to offer, but, you should keep your options open if Toyota does approach you.

If I was Toyota, I would definatly want to advertise crash test saftey using your pic!

QUOTE (drew365 @ Apr 15 2005, 09:50 PM)

I'm not a lawyer and I don't play one on TV, but didn't you put that picture in the public domain by posting it on the web without any copyright or trademark notation?

Placing a photograph "in the public domain" does not give any one the right to use the photo without your permission...
Where you get into liability issues is advertising, publishing for a business, profit, or slander, etc.
According to copyright law, a photo does not even have to have a copyright sign
attached to the image...

If someone uses the the image for advertising, and they profit from the use of your photograph, and they do it without your permission, the statatory damages stated by the US copyright law of 1978 is $150,000 for EACH infringment. If the image is registered with the US Copyright office before the infringement, the plantiff can also seek PUNITIVE damages.
I am not trying to start a flame war...
This could turn into a very lengthy discussion, and honestly, the only people I have found that know much about this are COPYRIGHT attorneys, who specialize in this sort of stuff, and people who's work has been misused/infringed...

Trademark law is an entirely different discussion, which I know much less about...

Thom

QUOTE (drew365 @ Apr 15 2005, 06:50 PM)

I'm not a lawyer and I don't play one on TV, but didn't you put that picture in the public domain by posting it on the web without any copyright or trademark notation?

The pic posted here was too low of a resolution to be billboard quality. The original image is not.

Thanks for all the input everyone. The negotiation continues today. My graphic artist Bro (middleman) is in town today, and eager to get the deal going.

I will definetly not sign over complete rights, but am eager to see my pic on a big arse ad in the Silicon Valley!

-Brent

I look forward to seeing how many "new" accidents this ad causes from people gawking at it

I think if you have a chance of getting some money from an insurance company and you're not defrauding anyone...GET AS MUCH AS YOU CAN!

So was it clear I was in the middle lane at the stoplight and the Viper punched the throttle and lost control knocking me and the car next to me completely out of our lanes? He was like a scud missle out of control. Someday, I'll post more of my pics on a photo site. All 4 panels of the car were cracked. And I had to argue with AAA not to total my truck. He had State Farm, and they were telling me AAA ( my weak insurance) to negotiate the settlement. After I enlisted a lawyer, I got the truck repaired, but what a pain in the a$$. Beleive me, I am not giving anything to ANY insurance company.

Latest word today is the Insurance company wants to buy the rights outright and put up more Billboards. NOT GONNA HAPPEN!

QUOTE (Brent @ Apr 18 2005, 04:06 PM)

Latest word today is the Insurance company wants to buy the rights outright and put up more Billboards. NOT GONNA HAPPEN!

do you really think you are going to get another offer to purchase those pictures???

Dont wait too long. or you'll be like

Make yourself a nice big print of it first to hang in your living room and sell.

QUOTE (Mueller @ Apr 18 2005, 04:20 PM)

do you really think you are going to get another offer to purchase those pictures???

Who knows????? But the pics are great conversation starters, as I carry about 7 diff ones in my wallet. I always get the "wholly Sh_t" reaction nd "do you have more?" from everyone I show. Its cool to see a $70k car commiting suicide and losing out to two rice vehicles.

Would you really believe a middle aged driver of a Viper would wrecklessly drive his exotic sportscar and hit two cars head on at a stoplight???

If it goes public on a billboard...cool, but as mentioned above by others, if all rights are signed away, and those rights are sold to Toyota (longshot), or someone else who become interested after seeing them on a billbaord, then I will miss out. Already a scenerio has been predicted. The customer does not want to limit it to one site, as previously requested.

I don't realy care if no one else is interested in it. I don't want full rights to be sold. I'm not being crass here, but I'm in a bad place personally, and could use cash. I didn't go to the market with my pic, the customer came to me. I've been out of a job for two years, just got out of emergency surgery (no insurance) and Photography is my hobby, I am far from a professional photographer, but I am close friends with two who are just starting out. Damn, I need money to get my cars going as well. For now, I have to make a 100 mile trip just to work on them. My cars have all the typical rust spots and I need a welder and so on. My cars are far from where I want them to be, so why not take advatage of an opportunity?

Plus, I have about 40 pictures in the series, from all angles. It would make a interesting series of advertising.

How about this pic? Doesn't it make us 914 lovers want to yell out, "If it was a 914, a welder could take care of that!"