Copyright Involving Sale of Commissioned Photo to Two People

[Photo]

I have a sticky situation with a client. Here is the chain of events and my question

Adult ( we do not know relationship to teen) calls to commission a senior portrait for son. Pays session fee

Son comes in alone for photos. ( no adult accompanied)!

Dad and another woman come to place order We find out that dad paid session fee and indicates he will be purchasing a portrait package but unable to make up mind at this time

Someone calls identifies the self as subjects mom wants to place an order. We assume because she called the studio and knew to ask to see photos of a specific person that she was told to come in and order. We figure out that parents are divorced

Dad calls upset and does not want us to allow mom to "leech off session and be entitled to discounts etc that come with his package". We take this to mean discounted prints as he indicated he will be purchasing a collection of prints ( collections are discounted from ala carte)
We indicate that we will work with her independently and she is not entitled to any discounts etc from his order. They will be treated separately.

Mom places small order
Mom picks up small order

Dad places larger order. Signs off on contract which stated all orders final non changeable. Non returnable. Also that policies are understood and gives us permission to use images marketing etc

Dad calls later same day upset that he found out mom was allowed to purchase. I indicated that she was not given any discount promos etc because of the size of his order and it was kept completely separate. He stated that he meant he did not want her being allowed to order from his package meaning his session. We took the term package to mean package of photos and any discounting applicable when combining orders for larger value. I explained there was a miscommunication and apologized for that.

He was upset that she was allowed to see the images or order the images and wanted order voided.

I obviously do not want to refund him as the work is completed and i have spent money and time creating the images. He said it was against privacy rights to show his photos to anyone besides him and we needed permission to do this. I'm thinking under copyright law I have rights to show/sell this work particularly as the contract was signed ( though it was signed the same day that the mom picked up her order)

It is possible the son was 17 at the time of photos. We believe it was the step mom who called to set up the appointment but that is not confirmed nor did the son have an adult with him for the session. We were not malicious in allowing the mom to see the photos...that was a simple misunderstanding but I also need to be able to accurately articulate my rights on not refunding if that is an option with this client.

Additionally would my signed order form protect me anyway from order cancellations?

[jk]

Additionally would my signed order form protect me anyway from order cancellations?

from dad cancelling the order; yes. From you cancelling mom's order; if it was illegal to do what you did; no.


let's step away from mom and dad for a moment as that confused the situation unnecessarily.


what would you do if I came in and had my child photographed. Then some stranger walked in and wanted copies of the pictures. What would you do? Do you believe you have the right to sell them copies of the pictures I paid to have taken?

I have not seen your contract but your very short description stated this:

gives us permission to use images marketing etc

selling copies to another interested party is not considered marketing so, does your contract allow you to sell copies of the photo's to anybody else you choose to?