Whereas the photography business, photojournalism and the way we do business has changed over the fifty years since the NPPA was chartered in ways that our originators could never have imagined, and

Whereas educating our members and all photographers is the best remedy for any conflict and that all photojournalists should be aware of current copyright laws, the rapid evolution of copyright law and the equally rapid evolution of business practices, to protect their rights and livelihood, and

Whereas NPPA is a voice for fairness for the images and rights of all photographers, and Whereas one of those rights is for professional contract and free-lance photojournalists to control any and all editorial and commercial uses of their wholly-owned and inherently copyrighted work, if they so choose and

Whereas the NPPA holds that the following are true:

-- Self-employed photojournalists maintain copyright ownership of their work, unless they expressly sell specific rights to a client. Continued ownership is the compensation self-employed photographers receive in place of staff benefits (medical, retirement, etc.) normally received by full-time staff.

-- When photojournalists sell anything more than first-use, one-time rights to their photographs, they are entitled to receive considerably more compensation for these additional rights. The overriding doctrine is: the greater the ownership granted to the client, the greater the compensation should be to the photographer who chooses to enter into such an agreement.

Therefore, be it resolved that the board of directors of the National Press Photographers Association believes any agreement that eliminates those rights is wrong, unjust and a violation and infringement of these rights.