Very very long shot - contract for drone footage purchase?

TheEngineer · Feb 5, 2018

Hi All

Long time lurker - have mainly used the mavic which is why I am posting this here.

Has anyone ever sold the rights to drone footage? Not just a licence to use the footage, the actual copyright / ownership of the footage?

I am asking as a company I work with is in the process of doing this and they want to make sure all the bases are covered. Yes that is what lawyers are for but drones are "new tech" so they are just being paranoid.

Appreciate it is a long shot but thought I would ask the question.

nuclearheli · Feb 5, 2018

I do it all the time for a small production company in PA. They pay me by the job and at the end of the shoot I hand them a stick with all the days raw footage. Its not copyright material unless I declare it as such. This company mainly does commercials and combined with all their other media they produce a commercial or promotional piece. The price is determined prior to the shoot and they cut me a check that very same day or at the end of the shoot.

TheEngineer · Feb 6, 2018

nuclearheli said:
I do it all the time for a small production company in PA. They pay me by the job and at the end of the shoot I hand them a stick with all the days raw footage. Its not copyright material unless I declare it as such. This company mainly does commercials and combined with all their other media they produce a commercial or promotional piece. The price is determined prior to the shoot and they cut me a check that very same day or at the end of the shoot.

Sorry I am being dense - do you have to sign a contract with them or not?

My understanding is that copyright belongs to you regardless. Obviously you can choose to hand it over to them and they trust you.

Unfortunately the company I work feed would need a paper trail.

nuclearheli · Feb 6, 2018

They provide me with a RFQ for the job including the location, specs of the job, date and so on. I quote it to them and they cut a purchase order. I am nothing more than a contractor for them, the footage I shoot is theirs, they pay for it. Occasionally there are several days of shooting and they purchase the media for the shoot. It's a straight forward procurement on their part. Your company is overthinking this.

Kilrah · Feb 6, 2018

nuclearheli said:
They provide me with a RFQ for the job including the location, specs of the job, date and so on. I quote it to them and they cut a purchase order. I am nothing more than a contractor for them, the footage I shoot is theirs

That's what "common sense" would suggest but in "legalese" copyright is something the author (you) retains and holds unless explicitly stated in a contract. Which almost nobody ever does, what you'd do instead is retain copyright and license the use of the material under certain terms (which could be exclusive and unlimited use forever, practically leading to the same for the customer but making you still retain your rights and recognition as author). Most authors will however limit exclusivity in time or include a clause that allows them to use the footage for their own promotion, maybe after some exclusivity period again.
If you hand over ALL your rights then you're giving full control to the client and may never be able to even show off what you did again.

TheEngineer · Feb 10, 2018

Kilrah said:
That's what "common sense" would suggest but in "legalese" copyright is something the author (you) retains and holds unless explicitly stated in a contract. Which almost nobody ever does, what you'd do instead is retain copyright and license the use of the material under certain terms (which could be exclusive and unlimited use forever, practically leading to the same for the customer but making you still retain your rights and recognition as author). Most authors will however limit exclusivity in time or include a clause that allows them to use the footage for their own promotion, maybe after some exclusivity period again.
If you hand over ALL your rights then you're giving full control to the client and may never be able to even show off what you did again.

Completely understand what nuclearheli is saying but this is the issue that I am dealing with.

We are potentially going to buy footage from hundreds of drone pilots and will need to be covered for a variety of potential issues, As an example the pilot selling the footage would have to indemnify us from claims arsing from footage that was shot in breach of the laws of the country in which it was filmed in the event of a claim arising. We do not have time to check all the laws or every country (ignoring the fact that drone laws are changing all the time so it might have been legal when it was shot but not now).

Sorry for the delay in replying - been travelling a lot recently.

nuclearheli · Feb 11, 2018

Now I am confused, you are describing a large expensive business. My best advice to you is to spend some of the capital you must have and get a lawyer. You are not going to find what you need in these forums. Good luck with your business.

TheEngineer · Feb 11, 2018

We are not a big company - but the people that we deal with are and so we need to make sure we have everything in order.

Sprocket · Feb 11, 2018

I don't know if this will be helpful, but an interesting read anyway.
Attorney: Before Hiring Third-Party Drone Services, Exercise Due Diligence - Unmanned Aerial

I am not affiliated with the link, but I thought I would pass it on. Just something to think about.

nuclearheli · Feb 11, 2018

TheEngineer said:
we need to make sure we have everything in order.

Big company or not you are not going to hang your business hat on the advice from the mavicpilots forum, at least I wouldn't. Regardless of the size of your company everyone that needs to protect their business interest at some point needs an attorney. I would bet most if not all of the businesses on this forum have been there. I suggest you do the same. I have a standard release which was prepared by an attorney in NJ. I won't provide that release to you for several reasons. The first is that I am not in the habit of giving legal advice to anyone not only because I am not a lawyer, but more importantly I don't want to be responsible for any problems you might have in the future due to my advice. Secondly, my release does not incorporate any language that might protect you if you purchase "illegal" footage. I don't worry about that because I am the originator of the footage that I sell and I am a certified sUAS pilot and am not in the habit of breaking laws when I fly. And of course there is the little issue of the costs involved in forming and protecting my business from legal action. Those costs are not cheap and not something I wish to share. Paying a lawyer is part of doing business. If you are going to start a venture of the size that you describe you would be foolish not to start by consulting with an attorney. You can always roll the dice and browse the internet for legal documents that may fit your need. I wouldn't do it but that's up to you.

TheEngineer · Feb 11, 2018

nuclearheli said:
Big company or not you are not going to hang your business hat on the advice from the mavicpilots forum, at least I wouldn't. Regardless of the size of your company everyone that needs to protect their business interest at some point needs an attorney. I would bet most if not all of the businesses on this forum have been there. I suggest you do the same. I have a standard release which was prepared by an attorney in NJ. I won't provide that release to you for several reasons. The first is that I am not in the habit of giving legal advice to anyone not only because I am not a lawyer, but more importantly I don't want to be responsible for any problems you might have in the future due to my advice. Secondly, my release does not incorporate any language that might protect you if you purchase "illegal" footage. I don't worry about that because I am the originator of the footage that I sell and I am a certified sUAS pilot and am not in the habit of breaking laws when I fly. And of course there is the little issue of the costs involved in forming and protecting my business from legal action. Those costs are not cheap and not something I wish to share. Paying a lawyer is part of doing business. If you are going to start a venture of the size that you describe you would be foolish not to start by consulting with an attorney. You can always roll the dice and browse the internet for legal documents that may fit your need. I wouldn't do it but that's up to you.

Should have made it clearer - not looking for free advice as such more general pointers. As drone work is a relatively new area I was more looking for things that people had needed to consider when entering into a contract and anything that was unusual / specific to drones. I need to and will get a contract drawn up that is specific to my home country.

What I am trying to avoid is falling foul of something that gets missed as it is drone specific.

As Sprocket pointed out, for example, there is a difference between hiring a drone pilot for a specific job and (in the link provided) the risks of liability that might ensue from doing that. This would be different to purchasing footage that had already been shot as the drone pilot would not have been acting under our instructions.

Thanks for the input.

gjmphoto · Feb 11, 2018

nuclearheli said:
Big company or not you are not going to hang your business hat on the advice from the mavicpilots forum, at least I wouldn't. Regardless of the size of your company everyone that needs to protect their business interest at some point needs an attorney. I would bet most if not all of the businesses on this forum have been there. I suggest you do the same. I have a standard release which was prepared by an attorney in NJ. I won't provide that release to you for several reasons. The first is that I am not in the habit of giving legal advice to anyone not only because I am not a lawyer, but more importantly I don't want to be responsible for any problems you might have in the future due to my advice. Secondly, my release does not incorporate any language that might protect you if you purchase "illegal" footage. I don't worry about that because I am the originator of the footage that I sell and I am a certified sUAS pilot and am not in the habit of breaking laws when I fly. And of course there is the little issue of the costs involved in forming and protecting my business from legal action. Those costs are not cheap and not something I wish to share. Paying a lawyer is part of doing business. If you are going to start a venture of the size that you describe you would be foolish not to start by consulting with an attorney. You can always roll the dice and browse the internet for legal documents that may fit your need. I wouldn't do it but that's up to you.

Yeah...This ^^^.
The kinds of indemnification you're describing needs to be crafted correctly and within the common vernacular. It requires a lawyer. Any patent / copyright law firm worth their salt is keeping up on "new" technologies. And drones are only "new-ish" (it's a technical term) - they've actually been around long enough to not be an unknown. Get a good copyright attorney. Pay for it so you don't pay for it later.