I am posting to make a series of observations and ask a couple of questions about copyright. I work for one of those places that has a kiosk and accepts internet orders. Hardly a day goes by without my asking a customer do you have a release and frequently I ask 4 or 5 times. Customers are bringing in photos to scan, CD's, DVD's etc. (In fact it appears to me that more and more photographers are selling DVD's or CD's without selling prints.) This is compounded because many photographs by amateurs have improved to the point it is questionable, and conversely I've seen professional photographs that shouldn't be printed. More and more often there is nothing to ID the photograph as being taken by a professional. They are not stamped on the back, nor do they have the studio name on the front. THis is frustrating for me, but customers become angry and others cry.
Customers are also getting more crafty sometimes ordering 100 or more prints and "hiding" the copyright prints in the middle, or ordering them on line to be picked up in store when there is little ability to check every print.
Here are my questions: Do you explain copyright or feel a need to explain it to your customers?
If you have sold a CD do you expect customers to to print from them?
I'd think if they were delivered files, there's an expectation they will be printed. However, the photographer can easily clarify that with a release including a text or jpg file with license details on the disk.
Failure to be clear puts the customer and the "printer" in a bad place. The customer may be confused and the printer has some legal liability as well. OTOH, most commercial operations I've seen cover the details in the contract, even if sometimes too subtly.
