Sony and Me

I was chosen along with 2 other photographers (Dr. Erwin Lim and someone who's name escapes me) to use a Sony-Ericsson K850i until the 5th of May and use it's 5.0MP (Megapixels) Cybershot camera and present it's capabilities through our photographs.

I dearly wanted to do Landscapes (being an easier shoot) but I was beaten to the draw and Erwin chose to do night shots, and so i was stuck with doing portraiture or fashion. A bit scary though as I am not used to the colors that the Sony-Ericsson produces and I'm not sure how it works inside my studio but this will be fun.

By the way, the images will be displayed at SM Cebu Northwing on May 8.

Mine, Mine, Mine.

As usual, I haven't really been doing any writing. But I felt that I should let you know about this, I am currently being asked by a publication to take down all the photos that I took for them from my websites claiming that they own the copyright to the images.

I disagree. why?

I have not signed any contract surrendering the ownership of the said images.

But they paid you to do the job

They only commissioned me to do the work. The copyright is still mine.

But aren't you a staff photographer for the publication?

Yes. But only on March 2008. Therefore, all the photos I took before I was included in the payroll are still mine. Nobody has paid me for the copyright or exclusive ownership of the images. In fact, I am not even a full-time employee but a contractual employee that has not signed any contract.

I am still confused when I was actually put in the payroll.

So what happens now?

Well, if they do insist on taking it down, then I'll have to ask them to write a formal request or a demand letter stating their claim and I will answer them appropriately.

Truthfully, I might not be able to shoot for them anymore because of this but I have to protect my rights as a photographer. Hopefully, my clients will still be there.

By the way, here's a link to the Philippine Copyright Law:

http://www.chanrobles.com/legal7copyright.htm