Jeff Lawrence on fri 27 nov 98
Hello clayartists!
I have been talking to an outstanding potter about producing ware for me,
with an eye to making molds and producing on a larger scale.
My feeling is that there are some black and white situations:
- royalties are right if I produce his designs developed on his own.
- royalties are not right if he produces ware of my design while on my clock.
I am in a gray area, though. I give him a drawing and he comes up with good
improvements while making it. What have any of you found appropriate in such
a situation?
Lost at sea on this one, but my ship will come in if I can just get a
copyright on a turned cylinder!
TIA,
Jeff
D. Kim Lindaberry on sat 28 nov 98
Jeff Lawrence wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>
>
> I am in a gray area, though. I give him a drawing and he comes up with good
> improvements while making it. What have any of you found appropriate in such
> a situation?
Jeff,
You don't mention if he is on the clock and getting paid by you while he
is working on the designs. If so, you own the design and no royality is
technically necessary. Of course a "bonus" in the paycheck is always a
nice way to keep creative & productive people happy.
On the other hand, if he isn't on the clock, things change a bit. Your
design is exactly that, it's your design. You can always reproduce your
original design without paying him any royalities. It sounds like what
he has done is make a derivative work based on your original design.
Since your design was the basis for his "new" design, technically he
shouldn't be able to produce the new design without your permission.
Likewise, you shouldn't be able to utilize his "new" derivative work
without his permission.
It's a potential quagmire. Perhaps since this isn't a black and white
situation, but a grey area as you say, you should settle for a
compromise. Split the difference. If you normally pay him 10% in
royalities for his original designs, in this case pay him 5% for his
derivation to your design.
Please take what I say here with a grain of salt. I am basing my
comments on what I have read. By no means am I an authority on copyright
law.
cheers
Kim
--
D. Kim Lindaberry
Longview Community College
500 SW Longview Road
Art Department
Lee's Summit, MO 64108
USA
to visit my web site go to:
http://www.kcmetro.cc.mo.us/longview/humanities/art/kiml/
to send e-mail to me use: mailto:kiml@kcmetro.cc.mo.us
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