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Watchdog, advocate, proactive and effective.
ASMP is in the legal trenches for you. ASMP is the leading legal advocate for publication photographers and actively lobbies against state and federal laws that have detrimental effects on photographers. ASMP has been active in changing tax laws, right of privacy laws and in shaping legislation.
ASMP is recognized as the association of photographers that has the determination and the clout to make changes happen. The following is a sampling of ASMP activities in areas of major interest to publication photographers.
Legislation supported successfully
- Home office deduction -providing for the tax deductibility of a home office
- Health insurance premiums -providing for deductibility by self employed
- Copyright retroactivity -providing additional copyright protection to pre-1978 images
- Copyright life extension -providing additional copyright term for post 1977 images
- Visual Artists Rights -providing additional copyright rights to fine art photography
- Elimination of Eleventh Amendment shield -holding states liable for copyright infringement
- Digital Millennium Copyright Act - expanded copyright protection
- Copyright term extension - added 20 years to length of copyright
- National lands photography permit requirements and fees
- California sales tax law -exempting publication photography from sales tax
Legislation opposed successfully
- Omnibus Patent Reform Act -eliminating the Copyright Office's independence
- New York Models bill -making models the employees of photographers
- New York Negative ownership bill -providing ownership of processed film to clients
- New York Celebrity rights bill- giving celebrities extended rights of privacy
- New Jersey Negative ownership bill -providing ownership of processed film to clients
- Pennsylvania Negative ownership bill -providing ownership of processed film to clients
- Federal celebrity rights of privacy (paparazzi) bill
- Ohio trademark protection of buildings
Pending Legislation Involvement
- Bills granting antitrust exemptions for creators of copyrighted works
- Bills aimed at eliminating state sovereign immunity for copyright infringements
- Legislation relating to digital rights management
Legal cases supported successfully
- Reid v. CCNV -Appeals court over work for hire right
- CCNV v. Reid -Supreme Court case regulating work for hire
- Reid v. CCNV -Appeals court case over right of copyright owners access to works.
- Alper v. L. A. Times -the right to compensation for omitted and incorrect credit line
- Greenberg v. National Geographic - unauthorized derivation from photographers images
- Baker v. IRS Records -validity of a delivery memo
- Ergenbright v. Amex -validity of a delivery memo
- Finger v. Omni -need for releases in editorial publication
- Hall v. Pelton -Work for hire
- Marco v. Accent -Work for hire
- Wolff v. IEEE Spectrum -limiting derivative cover rights to specific terms
- Sharpshooters v. Belkin -copyright infringement of stock images
- Rogers v. Koons -copyright infringement of photography via sculpture
- Kaplan v. Automatic Productions - validity of a delivery memo's no scanning provision
- Purcells v. America Online -copyright infringement by on-line provider
- Gentile v. Rock & roll Hall of Fame - reversing injunction preventing use of photographs
- Tasini, et al v. New York Times, et al - unauthorized electronic use of print contribution
- Preston v. CA BOE - State Sales Tax
- Napster - internet copyright infringement
- Ets-Hokin v. Skyy Spirits - copyrightability of product shots
Legal cases pending and being supported
- Greenberg v. NGS - copyright infringement by republication in CD-ROM
- ETW v. Jireh - use of celebrity's (Tiger Woods) likeness
- DeCSS cases - the use of technology to bypass digital encryption
- Ashcroft v. Eldred and other cases challenging constitutionality of copyright term extension
- Marx v. Boston Newspapers - challenge to Boston Globe contract
- Gentieu v. TSI - breaches of contract and duties of agent
- Kelly v. Arriba Soft (Ditto.com) - fair use of photos on the web
Regulatory action completed successfully
- Revised Copyright registration regulations to include deposit for bulk registration on video tape and by ganging prints and slides into a single slide or print.
- Revised National Parks policy requiring permits and fees for professional photography to require permits only when models or props or advertising are involved.
- Revised New Jersey Parks photography permit requirements to comply with federal policy
- Revised Copyright registration regulations to allow simplified group registration of an entire year's published images in a single registration and for a single fee
Major Industry Advocacy
- Participated in the development of copyright fair use guidelines regulating the use of images with the Consortium of College and University Multimedia Centers.
- Participated as member of CONFU of America; (Conference of Fair Use) to develop industry wide fair use standards for all forms of copyrighted content
- Promoted editorial day rate increases in 1989 and 1994, and currently working to achieve fair compensation for editorial photographers in 1999
- Participated in the development of TIME INC. electronic rights policy, making payment for such rights in addition to print rights from assignments a defacto standard practice
- Participated in the development of TIME INC. Picture Library agency contract which offers photographers a greater percentage of sales than stock agency contracts
- Participated in the campaign against Associated Press effort to impose a unilateral contract on its freelance photographers
- Participated in the effort to from a coalition of European photographer organizations to achieve better international relations between groups
- Developed reciprocal relationships with eleven international photography organizations to share information and to assist each other in advocacy operations
- Worked with other organizations to fight unfair Conde Nast contract
- Worked with photographers and creditors committee in Pictor bankruptcy
- Worked with other organizations to protest unfair newspaper contracts