Cheap indeed. I actually have my eyes on a few of the other cheaper ones from his auctions as well.
Regarding the rights, well it becomes a tricky issue. Generally speaking, if you're doing one original painting from a photo, one that would hang in someone's home, then you don't necessarily have to buy the rights to do so - as it's an artistic representation. We (my agent and I) always end up buying the rights just to cover our butts, especially since the general society has become so litigious (or maybe it's just paranoia). Of course, sometimes the images that are out there (not necessarily in the realm of baseball) are in the public domain or were created before copyright laws came into effect. Those sorts of images are somewhat free of these boundaries.
However, if you're using the photo (or even multiple photos) to make a painting you plan on mass marketing some way, be it as reproductions, pillow cases or whatever, then they're a ton of legal hurdles one needs to jump over. Not only must you handle the rights to the photography, but since you're using the likeness(es) of specific players and teams for commercial gain, you would owe them something as well. That usually translates to MLB, MLBPA, and the collected estates of various players, such as CMG. The majority of these companies charge a FORTUNE for such licenses, and it's partially the reason we don't do any prints. The other being that we like the idea of each client having the 1/1 original.
Either way, intellectual property laws are an absolute b*tch to navigate.
|