Legal question.

[micro]

ok, so i have a startup promotions company that wants to hire me to design flyers for them. That's all fine, but since they are a startup they want to use some of my designs on their site as examples to potential clients. They assured me i would be credited as a "team member" as they don't want their new clients to know they are outsourcing.

so i guess my only worry is image rights and whatnot. There will be a contract agreement so my ass is covered, but i'm still hesitent.


Do i have to worry about anything else or other legalities i'm not aware of?

[Gregory]

this is not me being sarcastic or a dick or any thing else but sincere: you should talk to a lawyer

[JustinHelton]

you should retain your rights to the images I would think, I think I would be more worried about being seen as a part of their team (Unless you are), basically your work looking to others as their work.

[squeegeethree]

I can haz cake and eat it too.
You're the cake btw.

[philaarts.com]

four?

[el Jefe]

Get a lawyer, this could go really well or horribly wrong. This happened to me when I freelanced to design companies and it got sticky a few times.

[micro]

this is what i'm really not to sure about.

I think I would be more worried about being seen as a part of their team (Unless you are), basically your work looking to others as their work.

[standard]

my corporate animation work appears on 2 different companies' sites without my name on it. They feed me work. It's not a biggie, providing -

1. You have a good relationship with these people and
2. you get some work out of it.

So I would say don't sign away anything (depending on your comfort level, don't sign anything), let em post your work and try to get you jobs. if after x-amount of time, if you see no jobs (or suspect they're taking jobs for themselves, or whatever), tell em "it's not working out, please take down my stuff". Then it's on them to comply, since you didn't sign anything giving them permission.

You can view the situation as someone trying to promote themselves and their name off of your hard work, or you can look at it as an agency trying to funnel you work. It really comes down to the personal relationship you may or may not have with these folks.

[Justin.Ryan]

I agree with Justin. Maybe have some kind of contract written up saying you retain the rights, etc. Also, one thing I would feel weird about is what if they are also outsourcing to other artists. Clients come in because they liked your stuff, they outsource to some other dude. That dude and the company just made some $ because a client liked YOUR work.

[standard]

* I should also note that I am the only freelancer these companies have that do the work I do... so any job that comes through the door from their websites would naturally go to me... my work is not on their site to provide work to other animators.... so if you are only 1 of several poster artists in this company's "roster", then maybe the benefit of the situation isn't as good. again, it comes down to your relationship with these dudes, i think.