Stock Footage Copyright?

[masteryoda555]

I recently shot some stock footage that I plan to sell as royalty-free footage on a dvd, and was wandering how I would go about allowing people to use the footage freely for commercial and private projects, but not allow them to just resell my raw footage. Would I just copyright it or would it take a little more? What is the actual process for something like this? That being said, I am pretty new at all this stuff, and any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[cyclone]

Retain the copyright and then license it for specific uses. Make sure that you only warranty your ownership of the footage. Make the licensee responsible for clearing the images on the film (people, places, things, etc.).

 

[Steve House]

I recently shot some stock footage that I plan to sell as royalty-free footage on a dvd, and was wandering how I would go about allowing people to use the footage freely for commercial and private projects, but not allow them to just resell my raw footage. Would I just copyright it or would it take a little more? What is the actual process for something like this? That being said, I am pretty new at all this stuff, and any help would be greatly appreciated.

It already is copyright, that happens automatically the moment you record it in its final form. But if you're going to distribute and license the fottage I'd suggest definitely registering your copyright. Registration makes it more defensible and gives you more clout in court if you find someone has ripped you off. You might want to spend a few bucks and talk to an IP attorney about having a license agreement drawn up - what you're wanting to do is pretty straight-forward, essentially the same thing that the licenses accompanying CDs from buyout music and sound effects librarys require. But it should be drawn up by someone who knows what they're doing just to make sure you don't overlook something that would render it invalid.