Posted by Liz Bleier on November 13, 1999 at 15:55:55:
i'ma graphic artist doing work with one customer who now wants to purchase my operation. i've been designing his books and other published materials for four years. (sometimes he jobs out a project, but i get to do the hard work of preparing for print and backing up.) i've also been producing the pages on a computer, preparing them for printing and "babying" the electronic stripping through to blueprint. i have backed up all the material on DATs and keep it in the studio. to make matters more complicated i share office space with this customer. he keeps me busy seven out of 12 months, when the work is extremely intensive. so intensive, as a matter of fact, that i have no time at all to do any other work, and have as a result lost several customers, and other income. even though his custom has raised my income level, he wants to reduce his outlay for graphic work even more and he feels that i am "in his pocket". he does pay, but not nearly enough to support me, and certainly not the whole year.
what legal rights, if any, would i have? i realize that israel is not the u.s. or canada, but i have to start somewhere, to get a basis. how is the value set of the work i have in backup? does it have a real value? once there were papers and films, now it is all digitalized. is there a value to the bits on tape? can you lead me to a lawyer who deals in this field in israel?
thanks.