Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York

Re: Intellectual Property use

This almost entirely depends on the copyright ownership of the video. The holder of the copyright generally can dictate the use of the final product. So your first best objective is to determine who holds the copyright.

This may be answered by looking at the operative contracts in place. Often creative agencies (i.e., web designers, video producers, etc.) build into their contracts a license provision that enables them to feature the final product in their portfolios. In conjunction with that clause there might be an assignment of the copyright to the client.

If there is no contract in place or language that speaks to copyright ownership, as a technical matter, the author of the copyright owns the copyright. Again, this assumes that the author is not an employee but an independent contractor. Based on your post it seems that you are the latter. However, the spot may incorporate other copyrighted (and/or trademarked) elements that you are not the owner of (e.g., logos, visual elements, music, scripts, etc.) You will have to see if you or the client holds the copyrights to these as well.

So in the end, you will have to conduct an analysis of the copyrighted elements to see who is the owner. If you need further advice, please feel free to contact us for a consultation. I hope that the situation is resolved amicably.

Re: Intellectual Property use

Mr. Wahab's answer omits the contract that exists between you and the client whose video you're using. If that client feels that they have proprietary information in the video, for example, that would enable them to require that you stop using it but would not necessarily be covered under copyright law.

If there is any term of the contract that requires that you get their permission before using the video, that's also relevant.

If there is any term of the contract that talks about trade secret, confidentiality, proprietary information, or any similar property that you agree not to disseminate, that's relevant.

And there's the whole issue of whether this client wants it known that you did work for them. That's covered under trademark law (you're using their hard-won goodwill to gain clients for your own business...they may have a colorable trademark cause of action).

I generally advise clients who want to use work done for someone to demo that client's skill to get the permission of the party for whom the work was done before using such work.

THE INFORMATION PRESENTED HERE IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND IS NOT INTENDED, NOR SHOULD IT BE CONSTRUED, AS LEGAL ADVICE. THIS POSTING DOES NOT CREATE ANY ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN US. FOR SPECIFIC ADVICE ABOUT YOUR PARTICULAR SITUATION, CONSULT YOUR ATTORNEY.