Insurance

Are you insured properly?

Well, I ran into an interesting set of problems recently that taught me a few things about managing my business. I have equipment insurance and business liability insurance, but I never really looked at the medical side. Not medical insurance, which I have, but what happens to my affairs and my business if I have a medical issue?

I hit a few medical problems that became a little more serious than I expected and resulted in me spending a few days in the hospital, having a healthy bit of surgery, and a few more days recovering at home. I'm fine now, although I still have some more tests to get done, but they are just followup tests.

I'm not writing this post to talk about my medical adventures, but rather a risk to my business. How's that? Isn't my business separate from myself. Isn't that why I formed a company? Well, not quite, as you are unlikely to be able to completely separate yourself from your business. In the legal sense, your company is separate from your business, but not in the practical sense. Why? You are likely the most valuable asset in your business and the primary means for generating income.

Life gets interesting if something goes wrong with that business asset that is you.

What happens if you get sick or, even worse, pass away? Most single people think this is non-issue, as they have no dependents (usually), but that's wrong. Let's walk around this one.

Suppose you are sick, injured, or otherwise incapacitated, who makes medical decisions for you? I'm not talking about life or death ER decisions. I'm talking about the advocating for you while you're there and deciding between treatment options.

If you're married, this person is likely your wife or husband. If you're living with someone, regardless of how long, they are NOT able to make these decisions. I know this because I'm in that situation and I talked to my lawyer (ask yours). You need a medical power of attorney document, signed and witnessed, to make sure your significant other can watch out for you.

Same situation, how does your wife, husband, or person you're living with pay the bills, both for your business and the household itself. If you can't sign things and you haven't dealt with this, bad things can happen. You need ANOTHER document, called property power of attorney (or sometimes just power of attorney) to make sure someone is allowed to make financial decisions for yourself and your company. Some people use their spouse, some people use their attorney, some people use their business partner (you can limit to just personal or business or even both). In any case, someone needs to be assigned this or your business will come to a grinding halt.

Worst case scenario - you die. If you don't have a will, the state assigns someone to decide what to do with you assets. There is a good chance you would not like their decisions. You need a will. Not a home kit form like I had, but a real will, written by a lawyer, signed by you and witnessed. You do not get a second chance with these things, so do it right.

If you have a spouse (married or living together), typically you give everything to the other. However, you may have some specific things you want to give to specific people. This goes in your will. Fine, but what happens to your business? This REALLY needs to go into your will. What happens if your spouse passes away first or at the same time? Morbid thought, but this REALLY needs to go in your will.

The legal issues are different in different areas, so talk to your lawyer (If you don't have one, get one).You need to look into:

- Medical power of attorney
- property power of attorney
- your will

I had to take care of this while under fire and dealing with significant medical issues . If you don't have these three documents, I urge you to take the time now to address this issue and get it done. These are like parachutes. If you wait until you really need them, it's probably too late.

Free at Last.....Free at last

Canadian Copyright Revision

Today, after many years of lobbying by the Professional Photographers of Canada (PPOC) (www.ppoc.ca) and the Canadian Association of Photographers and Illustrators (CAPIC) (www.capic.org) have worked together to repeal section 13 (2) of the Canadian Copyright Act.

Photographers outside (and some inside) Canada will be shocked to hear that in Canada the copyright for assignment photography goes to the hiring agency by default. Yep, unlike the rest of the civilized world, unless you have a contract that specifically states you retain the copyright, it's automatically given to whoever hired you. Yes, all photographic rights are lost unless you get it in writing to keep them. (I know there are some Canadian shooters staring at the screen in shock, but I'm not kidding).

Today, Bill C-61 was entered into the House of Commons to append the Canadian Copyright act. You can read a summary of the bill here:
http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/crp-prda.nsf/en/rp01163e.html

Of course, people are also upset because this will also interfere with copying music, movies, and other electronic entertainments, but I have no problem with it. There are also mummers that this may be like the DMCA laws in the US. Hogwash, most people complaining about this have no understanding of US or Canadian copyright laws. Basically you don't get to use someone else's work for whatever you want, which means Canada will finally be in compliance with a treaty it signed in 1996.

Personally, I also have no problem with these laws. If you try to remove copyright information, you violate the law. If you post copyrighted material to a website, I want to be able to send a takedown notice to the ISP and have it removed. No lawyers, no hassle, I email the notice to them, identifying myself as the copyright holder and it's done.

Yes, this means you will no longer be able to trade copies of the transformer movie with your friends - go buy or rent a copy. It also means you can't steal my work. Copyright was designed specially to protect the individual artist of limited resources from larger organizations who want to steal it and use it.

All of the changes in this bill are good things. It reinforces that when someone creates something, they both own and control it. For the individual, this also means someone can't steal you photographs off facebook or myspace and use them at will. Too many people think these changes are for the benefit of corporations, but this actually benefits individual artists.

As a professional photographer, my copyright is my greatest asset. I'm ecstatic to hear that finally my copyright will remain with me by default as well as other protection. It means that a client cannot use my work in other mediums, like a website or video podcast, without my permission.

The Writer's strike in the US was about EXACTLY this issue. They wanted to be paid when a studio decided to release a movie on DVD, podcast, or itunes. A lot of people endured a lot of financial hardship in that strike for just this issue. Do you think the writer's were doing this to protect a corporation - no, they were protecting themselves.

I'm standing and applauding this bill. It's about time.

Pay the Writer

One of my favorite writers, Harlan Ellison, was recording discussing the common habit of publishers to expect content for free. Harlan had some choice comments for both the publishers who expect this and the writers who are stupid enough to comply.

Although he is discussing writers, it is just as applicable (if not more so) to photographers. It's the amateurs who make it difficult for the professionals.

Transcript
" a young woman calls me" about the a video interview he's done about his role on Babylon 5, and he recounts "she says 'we'd like to use it on the DVD, can that be arranged', I said, absolutely, all you've got to do is pay me, and she says 'what?', I said you gotta pay me, she said 'well, everyone else is just doing it for nothing', and I said 'everybody else may be an a*shole, but I'm not, I said, 'by what right would you call me and ask me to work for nothing, do you get a paycheck?" 'well yes' (she responded)....'how dare you call me and want me to work for nothing', 'well it would be good publicity' (she responded), 'lady, tell that to someone a little older than you who has just fallen off the turnip truck, there is no publicity value in my being on the DVD...the only value for me is to put money in my hand..."




Hopefully, this will provide a bit of guidance for the next time you're asked to donate your work.

Scott MacQuarrie