Question about licensing? Urgent

[Tyson Lackman]

Hey everybody! I have a question about a potential client who would like to license one of my beauty images. I want to pay the makeup artist and the model of the shot, the problem is that the model is now signed to an agency. The shot my client wants to license was taken about three years ago, when the model WASN'T signed to an agency and was freelancing. My question is: does my client have to pay the agency as well?

What I would like (ideally), is to keep the agency out of it. This is a really good client, and I know the agency is going to complicate things and I want to respect their budget. However, I realize that as much as I would like this, this might not be an option legally. I don't want to get sued, and due to this being so sensitive I would rather just be clear To me, it wouldn't make sense for the agency to request a fee because the photo was taken through a collab between me, the makeup artist and the model, the agency had absolutely nothing to do with it.

I live in Canada, I'm wondering if anybody has any LEGAL information on this. I probrably will have to look into the model's contract, but before doing any of this I want to know if it even is a possibility that the agency could be excluded out of the equation.

Anything helps, thank you so much

 

[jeffW]

Did the model sign a(your) release when you originally photographed them?

 

[tirediron]

I am not a lawyer, I don't play one on television and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, HOWEVER.... I make it my business to know the law surrounding my craft and I have had some experience in contract law (unrelated to photography). In my non-legal opinion that this is a [potential] can of worms.

First off, is she under agreement or contract? No contract is enforceable retroactively, so since the image was taken before she signed with the agency and nothing can prevent you from licensing the image to her and the agency isn't entitled to a piece of it, BUT... there may be an exclusivity clause, so even if she does license it, publishing it could violate the terms of her agreement with the agency, however that is between her and the agency, not you. That said, I would not want to put a client in harm's way by permitting or encouraging her to do something which could cause problems. The simple solution is: Read her agreement and see what it says. If it's not there, it's not an issue.