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I found one of my pictures being used on a commercial site –basically it was a place hawking travel destinations. Nobody has asked my permission,and my copy right symbol with my name is still on it. What (or even should) Ido about unauthorized use of my photograph?
Any thoughts?
Has anyone else run across this probelm - what did you do?
Pat
Contact them. Let them know you are the owner of the image, and they are indeed using it without your permission. You can either give them permission to use the image with accreditation (for a fee, or for free, if you like), or tell them to remove the image. If they do not comply, or ignore your requests, you can escalate your tactics.
Your within your rights to ask for money. After all they are using it to make money.
Who was it that just used an arrow symbol off the web for his site, and Getty or whoever tried to sue him for a large sum? I think that was settled for like $600 and that was just an arrow.
Do you know how long they've been using it? I'm originally a lawyer but this isn't my area. That being said, I helped a friend a few years ago in a similar situation. An arborist supplier used a photo of him on the cover of their catalog without permission. They were in Michigan, which has a law that specifically protects against unauthorized use of photos. As the lawyer I called the company, made a demand (the catalog had already been printed and sent out; so they couldn't just take it down), and my friend got a $1200 check. And I got a fancy dinner courtesy of my friend!
So first look for a relevant law in he state where the website operates. Hopefully it will be like MI. Then make a demand, although it really helps if you have a lawyer friend call on your behalf.
Good luck!
Sean - I thought I would start with quick note to them. There are two diferent ways to contact them through their web page. I kind of was planning on that route first... just thought I would throw it out for comment because I have no idea how much to charge or if this is was just a hazard of posting on flickr.
thekingb - I have no idea what state they are out of. I did look through thier site, including all there disclamers linked at the bottom, but I did not see any adresses anywhere. I also do not know how long they have been using it. I only found out by doing a google image search of an area I had photographed and and saw my picture, but the refernce site was not one I had posted on. So I went to the site and saw my picture which still has my name on it. The only thing I can do at this point is to contact them through their web site and see where it goes from there.
Any ideas out there on what should be charged?
However, my guess is they would drop the picture before paying anything... but you never know!
What's the site?Quote:
Originally Posted by conropl
http://www.whois.net/
Type in the bare URL and you get all the contact details for the person who owns the domian name.
(although, you only get what they've written in when they register the domain, http://www.whois.net/whois/the-digital-picture.com has all the fields left blank so we can't get Bryan's address and nick all his camera gear, he's obviously smart enough there...)
And of course that only works if the person who stole the image is also the one who owns the domain name, like if it's a *.blogspot.com or something it's useless. But it's a start.
I didn't really want to say beacause I did not want them to get more hits on there site - personally, I did not think they deserve the added traffic. It is a .org site, which I thought was supposed to be a non-profit site, but they advertise and they have the following statement:Quote:
Originally Posted by thekingb
AFFILIATE STATUS DISCLOSURE:
You should assume that the owner of this website is an affiliate for providers of goods and services mentioned on this website and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider.
I understand. But go after them and protect your intellectual property. At the very least they should take down the photo.Quote:
Originally Posted by conropl
I agree.Quote:
Originally Posted by thekingb
I sent you a PM with the site if you want to look. I just did not want to broadcast it.
Thanks.
Thanks Doc. That worked. www.whois.net gave me the name and address of the person that registered the web site. It out of Ely Nevada.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Croubie
I was the one that Getty Images contacted. They ended up going after the company I did the website for. They had more to loose then I did as I would have put up a much bigger fight. The company settled out of court for like 300 to 400 dollars. Wrote them a check and wrote the matter off. The image was of a road sign and the downloaded copy from yahoo images in 2006 was a thumbnail sized image if you can believe that. If I where you I would try and document the images being used like taking a screen snap shot or something. Contact them and tell them they owe you this amount of money for using your image to enhance their site. The rules and law are pretty clear on this matter and the creator of the image will always win in court. Try to settle out of court but if it goes further then you need to specify that there will be additional money owed if it has to go to court. If its an individual with nothing to lose then you may have to charge less but if its a bigger well known company then you can up your fee.
Start at 500 dollars and then they may try and settle at a smaller amount like 250 or 300. If you want to pursue the matter further you will need to contact a copyright attorney. See what he will charge to write them an official letter and call them a few times and then tack that additional amount onto the final amount totaling approx 600.00 to 700.00.
You can then also come up with an amount for them to continue to sue your image if you want or just remove it.
Remember to just be professional and don't get upset what ever their approach is. In the end if you want to really collect a fee you can do it.