Visual Connections New York 2017

Sponsored by

Get your permissions right. Copy that!

Target audience: All image/footage/art buyers

Our popular annual industry overview returns to examine the ins and outs of copyrights, trademarks and releases. We’ll cover the key questions you need answers to before licensing visual media. An image or clip may have multiple rights holders, all of whose permissions you need. What are your responsibilities? What are your liabilities if you get it wrong? What responsibilities and liabilities fall to the licensing agency, photo/videographer or production house? Moderated by DMLA Executive Director Cathy Aron.

Questions asked to date

• How accepted are electronic signatures in this day and age - on Release Forms and simplified licenses? Is there still a legal reason for ink?
• What are the legal differences between embedding a social post (Instagram, for example) in an article on your website as opposed to directly publishing?
• Please explain the role of second permissions in regard to licensing images of fine art for publication in the US. When is it required, when is it not required? Also, what about licensing images of Museums and museum interiors? What are the considerations when seeking permissions?
• What would be a good way to start developing a copyright policy in a non-profit, image-driven institution? I've done a simple cheat-sheet, but it still leaves huge gaps.
• The enhanced license option is fairly new to Shutterstock. Do we need always to purchase an "Enhanced license" for a Shutterstock image that will be used on packaging?
• Can you shed some light on the use of screenshots from software applications and social media sites especially with regards to potential Fair Use determinations and potential pitfalls of use?

Panelists & moderator

Nancy Wolff

Copyright attorney

Cowan DeBaets Abrahams & Sheppard

Nancy Wolff

Nancy Wolff is a partner at Cowan DeBaets Abrahams & Sheppard LLP in New York City and DMLA Counsel, specializes in copyright, trademark, rights of privacy/publicity and digital media law. Nancy offers full legal support to a wide range of traditional and digital media clients. She is currently Vice President of the Copyright Society of the USA and Co-Chair of the ABA subcommittee on Copyright Legislation. She is a frequent speaker throughout the United States and Europe on copyright, technology and licensing, and is the author of The Professional Photographer’s Legal Handbook. Nancy features in the 2018 edition of Best Lawyers in America.

Cynthia Sharp

Legal Counsel

Adobe

Cynthia Sharp

Cynthia Sharp is Legal Counsel at Adobe, where she focuses on Adobe Stock. Cynthia arrived at Adobe via Amazon Web Services, Getty Images and Corbis, after her first career in arts administration. She is particularly interested in how law, art, business and technology intersect in a global environment.

Will Clark

Assistant General Counsel – Licensing

Shutterstock

Will Clark

Will Clark is Assistant General Counsel – Licensing at Shutterstock, Inc., involved in the development of Shutterstock’s commercial products, including content license agreements, customized enterprise agreements, and integration of new products and services. He also provides counsel to Shutterstock’s business and corporate development teams.

Rita Dorgan

Director of Rights & Clearances

CBS News

Rita Dorgan

V. Rita Dorgan is Director of Rights & Clearances for CBS News, a section of the CBS Law Department. She has negotiated and drafted employee/talent agreements, consulting agreements, and third-party content licenses. She has also partnered with in-house counsel on legal inquiries, litigation, copyright and trademark matters. Currently she leads her team in clearing content for all CBS News programs for broadcast and web. Her goals for the team are to negotiate reasonable rates for the best set of rights; to settle claims well before they reach ligation counsel; and to know when to exercise fair use determinations. Previously Rita worked at CBS News Productions, Sony Music, and Fox News Channel.

Cathy Aron

Executive Director

DMLA

Cathy Aron

Cathy Aron is Executive Director (and a former President) of DMLA (Digital Media Licensing Association – formerly PACA). She has been working with the coalition of Visual Associations, focused on the Copyright Office modernization and the Small Claims Court Bill for content creators. Cathy has been involved in the stock photo industry for over 35 years, including as President of Photo Network Stock. She has been a speaker/panelist at numerous industry events, and has presented classes on copyright protection at US colleges. She has also mentored photographers and start-ups.

Sponsored by

Optimizing your footage licensing: five essential steps

Target audience: Footage buyers & clearance managers (registration not required)

Footage licensing is equal parts art and strategy. Attending this session will help research and clearance professionals understand how to optimize the footage licensing process. Session highlights include: essential steps of researching, finding, clearing, and licensing footage for various projects including advertising, television, film, and new media. The session will be moderated by industry veteran Bobby Dicks.

Panelists & moderator

Branden Smith

Director of Business Development

NewsHour Productions

Branden Smith

Branden G Smith is the Director of Business Development for NewsHour Productions LLC, responsible for the global syndication and licensing of PBS NewsHour and NewsHour Productions content. Previously, Branden held consulting and business development roles in the digital media and tech sectors with Red Clay Digital LLC, Online News Association, Alcatel-Lucent, The Weather Channel Interactive and MTV Networks.

Rich Remsberg

Archival and Visual Researcher

Atlas Films

Rich Remsberg

Rich Remsberg aka Atlas Films is an Emmy Award-winning archival and visual researcher. Credits include the feature documentaries Love Means Zero, The Bandit, Happy Valley, and Anita. He is the author of two books, most recently Hard Luck Blues: Roots Music Photographs from the Great Depression. Rich has served on the faculty of the Maine Media Workshops and the Library of Congress’s American Folklife Center Field School. He was a frequent collaborator with The Books, and has been a contributor to VICE, Esopus and NPR’s online feature, The Picture Show.

Judith Aley

Archival researcher and producer

CNN Collection

Judith Aley

Judith Aley is an archival researcher and producer for documentaries, feature films and television. Representative credits include two seasons of the climate change series Years of Living Dangerously, Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke and Bad 25, Shola Lynch’s Free Angela & All Political Prisoners, Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story and sIcko, and Amir Bar Lev’s The Tillman Story. More recent projects include The Rape of Recy Taylor, and Letters from Baghdad. She is currently working with Sabine Krayenbuehl and Nathaniel Kahn on an untitled documentary about the art world.

Avery Fox

Head of Archival

VICE Media

Avery Fox

Avery Fox is Head of Archival for VICE Media where the focus is on current events and human rights programming. He specializes in procuring large-scale media buys from vendors as well as sourcing unique content from individual copyright holders to meet the creative needs of production. He has eight years of experience working in archival research and licensing for a variety of documentary television, digital, branded and film productions. Avery started his career working on historical dramas such as The World Wars and The Making of the Mob.

Bobby Dicks

Director of Sales & Licensing

CNN Collection

Bobby Dicks

Bobby Dicks is Director of Sales & Licensing at CNN Collection, where he specializes in helping fiction and non-fiction storytellers establish and frame their narrative with current and archival footage from global and local news coverage. Bobby recently worked with Laura Poitras’s documentary Citizenfour, which earned an Oscar in the Best Documentary Feature category. As a veteran licensor, Bobby’s clients include major and independent film and multimedia production companies on every continent.

Anatomy of an ad

Target audience: Creative buyers and art producers (registration not required)

Come and listen to two dynamic women in the industry share examples of their latest projects and discuss the creative process behind an ad campaign and a re-branding exercise. Follow the story from a creative idea to visual reality: the practical challenges and decisions needed to create and secure the right imagery. Learn how they have built incredible companies based on exploring creative boundaries while overcoming obstacles in a highly competitive and constantly changing industry.

Presenters & Moderator

Meghan Labot

Managing Director

Spring Design Partners

Meghan Labot

Meghan Labot is Managing Director of Spring Design Partners, a branding and design consultancy located in New York City with over 20 years of experience helping build and grow consumer brands. Throughout the course of her career Meghan has focused on fostering connections between brands and their consumers through an astute understanding of the cultural context that influences relationships. With a background in art history combined with 17 years in brand strategy, Meghan is uniquely equipped to see the role that culture can play in influencing perception and defining communication. Her past brand experience includes Coca-Cola, Molson Coors, Boston Beer Company, Voss, Bacardi, and Absolut. Her perspective on culture, consumer behavior and brands has been featured in publications such as AdWeek, Brand Packaging, and The Dieline, as well as NPR Marketplace.

Janet Odgis

President and Creative Director

Odgis + Company

Janet Odgis

Janet Odgis is the President and Creative Director of Odgis + Company, an award-winning, woman-owned design firm based in New York City. Odgis + Company’s creative expertise differentiates businesses in a crowded marketplace by making them clean, clear and dynamic. Odgis + Co is a member of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and is a certified NYC Women’s Business Enterprise. Janet is a member of the Women President’s Organization and AIGA. She has an MFA from The Yale School of Art in Graphic Design and was an Adjunct Professor of Design at Parsons and The Cooper Union.

Darrell Perry

Executive Director

ASPP

Darrell Perry

Darrell B Perry is Executive Director of ASPP (American Society of Picture Professionals). He creates photography for all media, as an editor, producer and researcher. He has led teams at the Wall Street Journal, CBS, ImageDirect and Mulryan/Nash Advertising. Darrell shared in the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism for Breaking News Reporting for the coverage of the tragic events on and after September 11th, 2001.

The Great Mystery Picture Quiz

Target audience: Everyone (registration not required))

Let’s have some fun! Our quizmaster will be testing your general knowledge with visual questions. The winning team will go home with prizes!

Quizmaster

Michael Masterson

Owner

Masterson Consulting

Michael Masterson

Michael Masterson heads Masterson Consulting, working on projects ranging from business development and talent sourcing for creative companies, to promoting and marketing industry events. He also provides resumé and professional profile services for job-seekers. Previously he was creative director of his own graphic design firm, following long experience at the Workbook and Workbookstock. Michael has been a speaker or panelist at major industry events.