The Smiley Smile Message Board

So can someone explain to me how these things work? If Brian Wilson (or Capitol) paid Frank Holmes for his work on the SMiLE album, does that mean that Capitol Records would still to this day own the rights of the image? Or did their rights run out after a certain number of years? I was wondering this because I know that Mr. Holmes sells (or did sell) copies of the album slick. I didn't know if he would be able to do such a thing if Capitol owned the rights. Or do they both own rights to the image(s)? If this seems like a ridiculous question, please forgive me; I'm not well versed in these legal issue thingamabobs.

Stop right there ! According to Frank, he was never paid for his work. Ergo, he still holds the copyright.

A former lover bought me a full set of the SMiLE artwork, several years ago. It is fantastic, well worth the few quid he's asking and much nicer quality than it could have been in the booklet.

For new members to this board, you can still contact Holmes directly and order a color print of the front cover, signed or unsigned as you choose. 

www.frankholmes.com

You have to click around a bit and he's reworking some pages on the site.

I've had my print framed since the days of the old Smile Shop board, the one founded before this one took off.
 

It's kind of a gray area.  If Frank was never paid, he may indeed own the Smile shop image.  Nonetheless, the cover also contains the words "The Beach Boys," a registered trademark of Brother Records, Inc.    If the group wanted to be hardnosed about it, they probably could make some claim.

That's right, which is why they didn't use any of his artwork on BWPS.  Juggler makes a good point though about the BB trademark...I'm surprised Mike hasn't pressed for a lawsuit yet!

I didn't know that he wasn't paid. Kinda strange that they never got around to paying him.
On a side note, a few years ago a magazine called 'Fishwrap' had a special SMiLE issue. In this issue (if memory serves me right, I'd have to dig it out), Mr. Holmes did a couple of new drawings for the songs. I want to say that 'Wonderful' was one of them.

My understanding is that his artwork wasn't used for BWPS because Brian's management didn't want to pay his asking price.

Hopefully Capitol will stump up the funds to use it when the SMiLE sessions Blu-Ray multi-media box is released, which I believe is scheduled to happen right after Postcard From California comes out.

Frank's artwork is, to me, part of the whole SMiLE thing and its absence from BWPS was one of the reasons, in my heart, why BWPS wasn't SMiLE, brilliant though it was.

Ohhhh, Brian's management not wanting to pony up the dough. Always seems to get them in trouble.

Ultimately, I think it was a good idea not to use the original artwork for BWPS. New recordings deserved new artwork and I think Mark London did a fantastic job. The original artwork, however, should definitely be utilized if that Beach Boys' SMiLE Sessions thing ever happens.

In a weird way Wee Helper's point may have been a blessing in disguise, in spite of BriMel's cheepnis about paying Holmes.  Because his artwork was not on BWPS it became a lot harder for certain folk (OK, one guy) to claim any confusion between the Beach Boys "Smile" and BWPS.  Using some or all of the old artwork as the cover of BWPS might have made a confusion claim at least plausible, though not a sure winner.   As for a claim from BRI about Frank's selling the album cover, that's (1) chickenshit (a legal term of art), given that Frank is not marketing himself as the BB, or the cover as an official licensed product,  and (2) unworthy, given the distinct lack of $$ involved, and why pile on the guy for getting his tiny little taste?  They're actually smart to just let it go. If they simply have to insist on niceties, give the man a free license so long as he doesn't convey the artwork for any commercial use.

If Frank was never paid or signed away his rights doesn't he hold some sort of artist's copyright? Or did I misunderstand the question?

I had assumed that he was paid, and that The Beach Boys owned the rights to the artwork. I didn't understand how, if they owned it, Frank would be able to sell it. However, to my surprise, he was never paid anything. Hence, he's the sole owner of the work, and able to sell it.

I guess Frank must have something worked out with Capitol, because even though he has the rights to the artwork, Capitol owns the copyright to their logo on the front cover.