Re: Who owns raw footage?

I spoke to my contract/intellectual property lawyer about this a while back during a big legal battle here in Phoenix.

W-2 = The employer owns it. Let's say you work for GM in the video dept. When you shoot anything for the company, they own it because, in effect, they own you while you are on their payroll. Same as if you work for Motorola and you discover the secret to Iridium on company time.

1099 = You own it. GM hires you, ABC Video, to shoot footage for a production. And here's where it gets sticky: If someone hires your company to shoot footage, you own the footage. If you hire a guy, you still own the footage because you were the photographer of record, not the college kid you hired to hang from a rope in a poisoned well.

The "Work for hire" contracts give the copyright to the person doing the hiring.

In other words, I believe that you own the raw materials. Now, here's a catch 22. Did you bill for the tape? If so, they own the tape and what's on it. We NEVER bill for tape when we feel that the footage might be handy to own in the future. We bill for storage of raw footage.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It's a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 on the way.