Re: Advice/Help needed.
Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 5:16 am
Unless you plan to use the content in the US.
Releases are not required in law, but they are EVIDENCE of the terms of a contract between the tog and model.
In LAW the copyright defaults to the tog, but what he can do with them is controlled by the terms of the contract between him and the model.
A contract can be verbal "Private use only, I promise", or written. Written contracts are called Model Releases.
Most adult publishers who pay for material will only accept material in which there is a clear contractual relationship between the model and photographer, for the simple commercial reason that they don't want to get involved in unproductive legal arguments.
More relaxed rules apply to "in public", which is how paps work, and there are various other legal aspects that can be used by deep pocketed media, but they don't have any practical application for us mortals.