Not sure if this should be IMO or GQ.
So, I’m doing 3D erotica as a hobbie. I’m contacted by someone who wants to commission a piece, but checking his page, I notice that he pastes the face of people on porn pictures (can’t tell if they’re anonymous people or celebrities, since I don’t know what most celebrities look like).
I don’t want to see the face of real people on what I do (unless it’s the face of the person ordering, and I model it rather than pasting a photo, because on top of the rest, pasting a photo on a 3D image is ugly unless you’re really good at photomontage).
If I accept a commission, can I put conditions like not subsequently adding the likeness of real people on my pictures?
And generally speaking, what kind of control, if any, can you retain when you sell a piece of art or are commissioned to do one, and if you can, how do you proceed?
I think the answer is yes, especially in the EU. The term is “droit moral.” I did a quick search and didn’t find the exact description of what is possible for you in France/the EU, but the info is out there.
You should however consider whether you trust this person to abide by your restrictions.
We also have moral rights in the US, but they’re largely toothless. You might sue under the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 to prevent or receive compensation for the mutilation of your work.
One possible complication here is that it’s done by commission. In a work-for-hire, you might be transferring your moral rights to the customer.
On the other hand, you can put all sorts of terms in a contract (as long as both parties get compensation, and as long as there’s nothing in the contract that’s contrary to public policy). If you sign a contract with this guy that he agrees (among other things) to not modify the works, and then he does anyway, you’d have recourse, not via moral rights laws, but via contract law. The complication there is that, depending on jurisdiction, pornography might be considered contrary to public policy, and so the contract might be unenforceable.
To complicate things even further, if you’re selling this over the Internet, it’s likely that you and your customer live in completely different countries. Which means that, even if the laws of both countries are firmly on your side, it might be difficult to enforce the laws.