Hello everyone,

I am thinking about putting some of my designs on here for bidding / sale, but I see a lot of people offering "full rights" and a few offering "exclusive rights". How does one go about getting rights for something they have made from scratch / with stock images. More importantly, how does one go about selling or giving the rights to a design?

Any feedback will be appriciated,
Thanks,
Sphox

Well if you have made something from scratch you automatically own the right - the "copyright" - to that work. You don't need to apply for a copyright, it is automatically denoted to you when you create an original work. You are then able to sell, exclusively or otherwise, the rights to whoever you like.

If you are wanting the sale to be watertight then you will need to sign a contract.

Remembering that if you are using "stock images", someone still owns the copyright to that original work. It is best to check that you have the permission of the copyright owner to alter the image - because if it is a recognisable derivative and you do not have their permission you are in breach of their copyright.

That is in general terms how it works.

Thank you T{H}R. I normally make complete sites and Include everything in the binding agreement, but for a simple template contract I was not sure how to clearify this.

Also I am aware of the stock photo issue, most cases I, or my contracted photographer, will take our own photos for use in web and print media.

How would I word such a clause in a binding agreement for a template?

To be honest it's best to see if you can have a look for similar contracts as the wording needs to be quite precise ... the laws pertaining to the Internet are still heavily under development and many areas remain untested - but it's just a standard IP issue really.

Google may just be your best friend - if I find any sources I'll let you know.

Thanks again.

*added -T{H}R- to buddy list*

Are you in the US? If so this might be useful reading. If not, ... it's probably still quite useful but your government probably has their own legislation covering copyright.

Some general information on copyright (http://www.sitepoint.com/article/illegal-use-web-graphics)

Yet more copyright info (http://www.cs.georgetown.edu/~denning/cosc450/papers/kranack.html)

And this site seems to have some good examples. You'll need to read through the full contract to make sure that it is relevant to your situation. The "Total Assignment of Copyright" and "Nonexclusive Copyright License" are probably the ones you're looking for.

Example licenses (http://www.siteprocentral.com/contracts/contracts.html)