GCU Forum - Licencing agreements

Catherine_131549

Full Member
artist

Posts: 141

Licencing agreements
Jul 18^th, 2008, 1:04am

Hi

I was wondering if any artist here had any experience with licencing agreements. undecided

I've been contacted by an online company wanting to sell some of my cards and they are sending me their licencing agreement in the next few days to look at.

I've been at GCU for about 14months and love it and this company found me thru them- which is fantastic Grin

However, i started this as a hobby really and have no experience of licencing agreements so was wondering if anybody here has, and could give me a few pointers on what not to agree to. In addition to that, I do not want to lose/upset GCU, so any advise from more experienced artists on how to check a licencing agreement and what to look out for I would very very, very grateful. Cheesy

Thanks everyone!

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cheryl_133782

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artist

Posts: 1350

Re: Licencing agreements
Reply #1 - Jul 18^th, 2008, 1:25am

Hi Catherine

There was talk of a few artists from here who received that type of email offer from another company. It was talked about in another thread. I remember a mention of the said company retaining copyright for a year or so or something along those lines. I think the general consensus was that it wasn't that great an offer. I have not received one of the emails myself so can't say for sure how genuine it all is. Regardless of that you do not want to give copyright away for any of your work. Please be sure of that when you read the fine print. Another thing was that the artists payment wasn't very high and apparently it was a non US company so with the exchange rate it became even less. It may very well be a genuine offer and I wish you luck whichever way you decide to go.

Cheryl

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Catherine_131549

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artist

Posts: 141

Re: Licencing agreements
Reply #2 - Jul 18^th, 2008, 3:09am

Hi Cheryl

Thanks for replying!

It is an american company so for me the issue of exchange rate is still there, because the $ is weak against the £ at the mo.

Agreed about copyright, will check when I get the agreement.

Thanks again.
Catherine

PS. If anyone can send me similar threads to this i would be grateful - I can't find them.

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Pattiann_132699 Senior Member artist Posts: 361	Re: Licencing agreements Reply #3 - Jul 18^th, 2008, 8:30am Catherine, The other thread can be found here http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/forum/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1215704355/13#13 Pattiann
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Catherine_131549 Full Member artist Posts: 141	Re: Licencing agreements Reply #4 - Jul 19^th, 2008, 1:20am Hi Patiann, Thanks for the thread link It isn't photobox so I'm feeling positive about that. I won't be releasing copyright either though. I'll just wait and see if/when they send me the licencing agreement. Thanks again for replying!
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Ernestine_131365

Gold Member
artist

Posts: 853

Re: Licencing agreements
Reply #5 - Jul 19^th, 2008, 8:56pm

Catherine and all-

Just my bit of input on this issue. I think I chimed in on that other thread as well. With our "art" being "out there" on the net, you may get offers to have other companies want to promote your art. This can be a good thing or maybe not.

You have to check ALL the details. I have agreements with other companies where I need to be "exclusive" --- these ARE NOT images that I have on GCU. Just read all of the info CAREFULLY. Companies will "troll" other sites in search for art. If a contract. or anything like that IS offered to you, CONTACT the company and get all their "Terms of Service" (or whatever they call it) BEFORE YOU AGREE TO ANYTHING!!! Read it carefully, and decide for yourself: are you selling "rights," (what are they???) Do they limit your use of your art on other sites? Are they charging you something??

We are all real excited when someone contacts us saying: "We want your art" but TREAD CAREFULLY! Read everything!

Our art is protected on GCU. When one artist "gives that away" it affects all of us in the long run.

"E"

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