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Advice REQ : what do yo do if someone USED one of your photos?

iiiNelson

iiiNelson

Well-known member
Find the guy and punch him in the face would be my initial thought but one that would lead to more issues probably. LOL
 
S

Stuart Richardson

Active member
Have you copyrighted the images and registered them with the copyright office? If you have, then you can sue for damages. If you have not, I believe you can be compensated for the use, but not for damages. Given the prevalence of this, I think you should talk to a copyright lawyer and explore what your best options are. Given the fact that they are being explicitly used to sell something and they are in Walmart (which implies that these are being produced on a very large scale), I would think you could probably get actual compensation for this without much effort. You should too, as it appears to be blatant copyright infringement.
P.S. Saw you were in Canada, so not sure on the copyright laws there, but they are probably not that different than the US...
 
dude163

dude163

Active member
I thin copyright is a bit diff up here for damages, but heck being walmart, even if I got 10 cents per item I could be rich! lol

I will do that on Monday talk to someone who deals with copyrights. Im going to pop by the mall tomorrow to get some bday presents, so Ill see if thet walmart has these also I assume they will

Robert
 
R

RS

New member
I am not a lawyer so I would say go talk to the lawyer, get some advice, and get some evidence.
I would even buy the frame and keep the receipt as a souvenir of your great work.
I would guess is that walmart will blame the manufacturer (hometrends) since most items on sale through consignment and will probably take them off the shelf immediately they receive the lawsuit.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Good luck
 
V

Vivek

Guest
Few Qs.

1. Did you watermark the image when you displayed it online?

2. How large an image did you display online?

3. What camera/lens did you use for the capture?
 
V

Vivek

Guest
First thing I would do is to remove the instagram posts, especially if I am going to explore copyrights and legal avenues.

In the future, watermark everything in such a way that it becomes more of a chore to alter them.

I would have posted this in the sunset area if you think the Pentax forum is nearly dead. It has no Leica content at all (other than exposing the limitatiosn of Leica gear, except the ones with live view or the reflex ones).

Good luck!
 
dude163

dude163

Active member
Hmm I checked out getty and no funds incoming from me or to them either, Ill get this figured out and let you all know
 
dude163

dude163

Active member
Also I cant edit the title to say someone USED my photo is there a way for a moderator to do this for me pls
 
Jorgen Udvang

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
I would do it simple:
Invoice them with a simple explanation about the copyright and that if they don't pay, they will have to deal with a copyright lawyer.
 
6

6x7

New member
private persons / small companies sometimes don't even know about the copyright laws. as a photographer pro or non pro you will always have to deal with this kind of problems. here, from case to case I'd always try to solve the problem by communicating personally. sometimes friendships and business partnerships can develop.

companies on a scale like Walmart should and do have standardized procedures/lawyers for this type of issues. but, they mostly and simply may not communicate with you as a private person. not really…

1.
save a jpeg with the full exif data (where the serial number of the camera is included)
2.
make a picture of the bottom of the camera where the serial-no of the camera is visible
3.
buy the items you can find. make some pictures of how it is displayed and at what price.
4.
pray that by posting on flickr or elsewhere and by agreeing with their policy/terms and conditions you didn't allow anyone to use your picture. (I think facebook had foreseen this in their general terms and conditions at some time). a lawyer will tell you. if you're not good at praying, READ the terms and conditions.. :)
5.
find a GOOD lawyer (one who is specialized in this kind of media) and let him do his job. (he knows how to communicate) I'm shure walmart is safe to legally sell these items. however they may be responsible.

6. have some patience and relax.
7. order all those leica toys :))) in case you don't have them already…
8. post some pics


regards, paul
 
2

250swb

Member
If you have not had an email asking you permission, and agreeing fees etc, from Getty it suggests that the image was lifted without permission. Getty have a copyright infringement policy, and if you can show that there are no other web sites it could have been lifted from Getty themselves should be able to start proceedings to license the image for use by Walmart, or take it further if Walmart don't accept the license agreement.

Steve
 
johnnygoesdigital

johnnygoesdigital

New member
This appears to be a stock photo based on you Getty licensing agreement. Always be cautious of the "non exclusive" contracts. You must have at some point submitted to Getty or why all the keywording and links? When posting online, in addition to watermarks, always scale down the image so up rez won't be acceptable for print, just in case someone tries to "right click" your image. Many magazines and publications run contests with non exclusive agreements just to get content. It's a sneaky trick that allows photos to be used for any purpose without compensation.

Re-reading the Getty link, it clearly states that it's available for commercial use with no release. If you have an agreement with Getty, then only you and they should have a high res version w/ metadata.
 
dude163

dude163

Active member
Johnny thats what Im going to do, I dont recall signing this up for getty , but I emailed them and we shall see what they say, even if it was available, under my getty account there are no records of anyone purchasing anything so hopefully we can get this straightened out

I must admit it gave me an equal thrill/outrage seeing my picture in the store, haha!
 
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