Who should I contact to request permission to reprint (in a book) a
still photo from the 1963 United Artists film "From Russia With Love"?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 10 Nov 2003 07:33 PST

Please describe the picture and let us know how/where you came across
it.  That will help in answering your question.

Thanks.

Hello Alice4215~

The best way to ask permission to reprint a photo is to first search
the book for photo credits. Look over the copyright page, the page the
photo is on, and the back of the book for clues.

If there are photo credits included in the book, and if the photo you
wish to use gives credit to an obvious source (like United Artists),
then you you?ll want to write directly to them. If a source is given,
but you don?t know who it is and there?s no contact information given,
then write to the book?s publisher. And, if you can?t find any sources
for the photograph, write to the book publisher.

You will typically find the address of the publisher in the front of
the book, probably near the copyright information. If you want to make
sure that address is current, or if you can?t find the address, just
post a clarification here, and I will uncover that information for
you.

When requesting permission from the publisher, write a letter that
gives complete information about the photograph (what book you saw it
in, the year of publication, the author, and the page number the photo
is on) and what you want permission to reprint it for. Be specific: Is
it for a newsletter? A classroom assignment? Another book? If it will
be published, be sure to include the name and address of your
publisher, as well as the name of your editor (if possible).

Be sure to mention that if they or their author is not in control of
the copyright, you?d appreciate them steering you in the direction of
the true copyright holder.

Although some publishing houses will prefer to use their own
permission form, it?s a good idea to include one with your letter.
Here is a good basic form, from ?Business & Legal Forms For Authors &
Self Publishers? (Tad Crawford, Allworth Press, New York, 1990, p.
78). If your project is not a book, simply adjust the form
accordingly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Undersigned hereby grant(s) permission to __________________
(hereinafter referred to as the "Author?), located at
____________________________________, and to the Author?s successors
and assigns, to use the material specified in this Permission Form in
the book titled ____________________________________ to be published
by ____________________________________.

This permission is for the following material:

Nature of material: ____________________________________
Source: ______________________________________________________
Exact description of material, including page numbers:
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Date of publication: __________________
Publisher: __________________
Author(s): ____________________________________

This material may be used in the Author?s book and in any future
revisions and editions thereof, including nonexclusive world rights in
all languages.

If specified here, the material shall be accompanied on publication by
a copyright notice as follows:
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
And a credit line as follows:
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Other provisions, if any:
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

If specified here, the requested rights are not controlled in their
entirety by the Undersigned and the following owners must be
contacted: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

One copy of this Permission form shall be retuned to the Author and
one copy shall be retained by the Undersigned.

Authorized Signatory
Date

Authorized Signatory
Date

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do be sure to include two copies, as well as a self addressed stamped
envelope. Also, be sure to address your letter to the attention of the
permissions department or the legal department.


If United Artists is noted as the copyright holder, you can request
further information from their website. (Note: United Artists and MGM
are part of the same company.) Go to their licensing page at:
http://www.mgmstills.com/MainRoot.php3?location=

From this page, you can do a search for ?From Russia With Love.?
(Unfortunately, the site won?t let me post a link to the search
results.) Be sure to read the Terms (found on the menu at the top of
the page; again, the site doesn?t allow me to post a direct link). If
the info you discover here doesn?t completely do the trick, then
contact UA by clicking the ?Contact? link also in the menu at the top
of the page.

Please be aware that whether you request information via snail mail or
the Internet, it may be a longish process. You will be dealing with
large companies who, unfortunately, have higher priorities than
granting reprint permissions. So plan ahead, and allow at least six
months for the process to be completed.

Good luck!

Kriswrite

Keywords Used:
"United Artists" licensing
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22United+Artists%22+licensing&btnG=Google+Search

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Request for Answer Clarification by alice4215-ga on 10 Nov 2003 08:52 PST

I am familiar with how to request reprint permission for photos
published in books.  My situation is that the photo is a glossy print
with no markings on the back.  The subjects in the photo are actors
Sean Connery and Daniela Bianchi.  When I have attempted to contact
United Artists via the Web site www.mgmstills.com I have not been
allowe to log in.  I am trying to identify an individual I can send a
copy of the photo to along with my request to reprint it.

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Clarification of Answer by kriswrite-ga on 10 Nov 2003 09:18 PST

Alice4215~

Ah, your comment about "in a book" made me believe the photograph was
in a book that you had read :)

If you're having trouble logging into the UA website, here is some contact info:


UA Still Licensing 
2500 Broadway Street
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Fax: 310-449-3277
Email: clipstill@mgm.com 


For tech support on the UA/MGM website, contact New Mexico Software: 

Phone: 505-256-2979
Email: help@nmxs.com 

Kriswrite

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Clarification of Answer by kriswrite-ga on 12 Nov 2003 08:03 PST

Alice4215~

What's interesting is that I was never asked to log into the site!
Nontheless, you will be able to readily get the information you need
by emailing, faxing, or snail mailing your request at the addresses
and number I posted. :)

Kriswrite

The researcher clearly is trying to be helpful.  However, I have not
been able to access the information I want.  I have gone to the
mgmstill.com Web site and have requested and received a password, but
the Web site refused to allow me to sign in, which seems to be a
necessary step before obtaining more information/material from the Web
site.  I repeatedly receive the message "log in failed."

Hello Alice4215-- You might try addressing your inquiry at the below
address in care of Barbara Broccoli. A phone/fax number I found for a
film production company listed as Eon Productions Ltd. in London may
or may not be the same 'Eon Productions', but here it is --  phone --
020 7493 7953 or fax -- 020 7408 1236.  As a picture researcher, I
understand the problem you're having - - you don't know the source of
the glossy photograph in your possession and therefore are uncertain
who to contact regarding publication rights.  It could be an original
print from the studio that produced the film "From Russia, With
Love"--which is Eon Productions/Danjac LLC,  reachable in England -- 
Eon Productions, Pinewood Studios, Pinewood Road, Iverheath,
Buckinghamshire, SLOONH  -- but that is unlikely because usually a
still photograph produced by a photographer working for the production
company will be clearly stamped with information relating to the
subject matter, with copyright information clearly labeled. The
photograph could have originated from a 'publicity shoot' -- that is,
a planned event where representatives of the media --newspapers,
magazines, wire services -- are invited by the production company to
take photographs that will be used  to publicize the film -- sometimes
the photos are taken on the set during the filming and other times the
media is invited to a 'photo opportunity' -- sometimes during a break
in the filming or perhaps at another location entirely. I don't know
that I could be of further help even if I had a physical decription of
the photo -- other than the fact that Mr. Connery and Ms. Bianchi are
in it. Celebrity photographs have been copied and re-copied so many
times and distributed to so many venues it is impossible for any
licensing company to keep track of. There are dozens, perhaps hundreds
of websites using stills from the James Bond movies and almost all
list their posted material as copyrighted from 'Eon/Danjac LLC/United
Artists'  --  whether they actually received written permission to use
the material from the producers is a question that I found asked --
but not answered -- on several forum sites that discussed the issue. 
I will tell you this. Eon/Danjac LLC holds the world-wide licensing
rights to the James Bond franchise. But  as you probably are aware,
there are most definitely photographs out there taken by working
professionals, images that are owned by persons other than the
production company. Perhaps a Google researcher can be more helpful,
but if there is any further information I can help you with, I will be
most pleased to do so. In the meantime, good luck with your book.

Alice,

I see you have a number of questions about rights to photographs.

If you haven't already, you should look at some of the big photo
warehouses to see if any prints of interest to you are
available...they have already worked out rights issues with the photos
owners, and can help you get access to what you need.

The two biggest such archives are:

http://pro.corbis.com/

and

http://www.hultonarchive.com

Enter "from russia with love" (including quote marks) in their search
boxes to see what they have available.

I am familiar with Corbis.  The problem is that, based on my
discussions with a representative from that service, they typically
charge something on the order of $300--sometimes much more--for an
author such as myself to use a photo.  For a lowly college professor
who receives a modest advance for a book manuscript, $300 times 20
photos comes out to something on the order of $6,000, which in my
world is a lot!  (I didn't mean for that comment to be snide.  I
appreciate the suggest regarding hultonarchive, as I am not familiar
with it and will explore it when I have a chance.)

I see your problem.  But I can't help wondering...do you need to get
copyright permission at all?

There is certainly something called "creative fair use" which allows
an author to use bits and pieces of existing material without getting
actual permission/license from the original author.  You can certainly
extract a paragraph from a book (and cite it appropriately) without
getting permission from the author.  You may be able to extract a
photo from a movie in the same way, without getting advance
permission.

I'm not sure about this...and I certainly don't pretend to know where
the boundaries are between fair use and infringement...but you might
want to look into it some more.  Even (dare I say it) post a question
here at Google Answers on this topic.

Good luck.

pafalafa-ga

To pafalafa-ga
I agree with you completely regarding fair use.  Besides, United
Artists is going to be happy that I am writing about James Bond movies
of the 1960s, as it might propel some readers to go to their local
video stores and check out the films.  Unfortunately, the lawyer at
the publisher doesn't see it the same way.  He is cautious--overly
cautious, in my opinion--and insists that I track down written
permission.  @#*%!!