Why you should not sign over your Copyright

•    You will lose control of how and where your images are used
•    They can sell/licence your work to a anyone they want
•    If the company goes into liquidation, the copyright in your images becomes an asset in the liquidation     of the company and can be used in future.
•    If the company is bought your copyright images go with the new compnay as an asset
•    The fee you initally receive wont cover further usage

How you should negotiate:

•    Explain you do not assign copyright, that your work is licenced
•    They do not need copyright, they need an exclusive licence to use
•    They do not need all media, worldwide, in perpetuity
•    Ask them where they need to use the work so that you can factor this in the price
•    Offer an exclusive licence for a paticular term

If at all possible , hold onto your copyright and offer the client a licence to use.

How to check if someone is using your images !!!

Here is a quick meathod of checking through Google if someone is using any of your images on the internet.

1. Start by going to http://images.google.com and clicking on the small camera icon shown in the picture below:

2. Click on “Upload an Image” 

3. Choose the image you want to check from your hard drive, press open, then press the search button.

4. Google Images will automatically find all identical and visually similar images that have been previously indexed. You can click on the thumbnails to visit specific pages (to check if they have permission to use your image).

You can then check if someone has your image on their site and take appropriate action....