Help with an art querie

[AnnaBee]

Can you tell me: If you commission an original painting of a subject of your special choice does the artist have the right to then make copies of that artwork for resale as for example prints or greeting cards? Thanks for any advice.

[kengillam]

It depends on the basis of the contract between the artist and the person commissioning the painting. This site may provide some guidance www.dacs.org.uk

[AnnaBee]

Thank you for taking the time to find my question!!! I couldnt remember how to use the personal question thingy.
Obviously a question of how long is a piece of string then!
I commissioned a painting for my husband of a particular place shown to the artist. I believed that this would be the only one of its kind - the whole point of a very expensive exercise - and was so upset to find out that the artist has had greetings cards made of the picture. No written contract or agreement so I dont suppose I can do anything but morally I feel the need to question the action.
Again, many thanks Ken.

[Glomania]

Just a thought, if you commissioned the work based on a image that you supplied ie a photograph, for the artist to copy or reproduce then YOU own the right to that image , if however you said you wanted a picture of x and the artist created the image then it belongs to them. If you have an agreement where you own the copyright to the original finished work, then you can ask for royalty, or commission on the cards produced.
You also need to check the ipo.gov.uk
Hope this helps a little.

[deltadelta48]

Would be interesting to contact the artist and ask what the thinking was when that decision was made. Maybe you can get a case of cards in the bargain!

[JaBek1]

I would think that a commissioned work would come under "work for hire" and the copyright would belong to the one commissioning the work to be done. However, Ken is correct in pointing out that it would depend on the wording of the contract.

[HobbyHabitat]

Hi, although this happened almost 30 years ago, it may give you an idea of what rights you have. we had our own designer knitwear bussiness, our own lable etc.1 childrens design in particular became very popular, we made to measure and had a waiting list. (we were just a small shop selling wool and habberdashery during the day). very soon our very distinctive design was being copied by big manufacturers, and sold at a quarter of the price (the quality of their goods were rubbish). we asked if we could sue or claim copyright to our designs, going through legal chanels. the outcome was that 1) its very expensive to persue and takes a long time, 2) if there is just one small difference in the designs, you will loose.
in our design we used 4" lace, theirs used 2" lace. sooooooo i would check first that the pictures are.....the same size, and that on the reproduction they have not left anything out from the original, as this would make it different. it may only be something very small, BUT it would be different. i know its annoying but there is very little you can do.

[astral276]

Freelance or commissioned work will usually belong to the author of the work, unless there is an agreement to the contrary, (i.e. in a contract for service).

Source: http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/co..._copyright_law

[madelaine]

At the very least I think it is ill-mannered of your artist. We commissioned a painting (of Great Malvern station, as it happens) and the artist asked if we minded if she reproduced it as a card. On the other hand, the same artist had to enforce her copyright to stop a buyer from assuming that they had bought the copyright along with the painting.

[artistbank]

the outcome was that 1) its very expensive to persue and takes a long time, 2) if there is just one small difference in the designs, you will loose.
in our design we used 4" lace, theirs used 2" lace. sooooooo i would check first that the pictures are.....the same size, and that on the reproduction they have not left anything out from the original, as this would make it different. it may only be something very small, BUT it would be different. i know its annoying but there is very little you can do.

With clothing designs there has to be at least 6 differences. I remember the guy who does the fashion piece with Lorraine Kelly in the mornings showing a couple of dresses by primark and they were really similar. He said about the 6 differences and they both had to really look for the differences and couldn't believe how small they were.