Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Re: copyright infringement

I agree with Attorney Cowin. You should have a contract drafted and have your clients sign it before these issues arise, which states what the client can expect to receive for their fee, what they will be able to do with the images, who owns the copyright, etc. This could be a one-pager so as not to be too intimidating to the potential client. By (apparently) not having done this earlier, you and your client are left to make conflicting assumptions about the rights that were included with their purchase.

Re: copyright infringement

How about just saying,

"well, actually, it is my policy not to provide images on disc.n. I am the owner of the copyrights in these images, and I make part of my living by selling prints. If I were to rely solely on the shooting fees, my charge for a sitting would have to be much much higher. Also, as an artist and a professional, I want to assure that every print is of the highest quality, and won't fade or disintegrate before its time."

Re: copyright infringement

When clients run into problems like this, I see an opportunity to evaluate your business strategy. Do you have this expectation expressed on your invoices? This might be a great time to explore whether there should be a gentle statement added.