A 'copyright grab' is a contract term that acquires an assignment of copyright or a licence of such wide scope that it removes most or all control of the image from the copyright holder.

Copyright grabs have become extremely widespread in recent years, and their usage by unscrupulous clients is so commonplace that you must carefully read the terms of any license proposed. They are often masked by reassuring statements that you retain copyright, but then go on to propose 'a perpetual, irrevocable, fully paid, royalty free, sub-licensable right to use, adapt and incorporate into derivative works the image for any purpose in any media including those yet to be invented, in all territories across the universe' or something similar.

Basically this means they can do absolutely anything they like with your photo, forever, and you have no further say in the matter whatsoever. And they get to keep all the income they generate too.

There is absolutely no sensible reason why anyone should ever agree to such terms. And if you do, you will almost always find an accompanying clause that places unlimited legal liability for costs onto you should their usage hit legal problems.

You might expect to be very handsomely paid in return for agreeing such generous terms, but copyright grabs often turn up in photographic competition rules and the small print of websites that invite users to send in material in return for nothing more than a byline. They are also a frequent addition to the terms of commission of newspapers, magazines and other clients, with little or no extra payment offered above that which they previously paid for First British Rights. All professional photographer organisations strongly oppose such exploitative terms.