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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Need Sportshooter members thoughts
Jesse Beals, Photographer
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Tracyton | WA | USA | Posted: 5:56 PM on 10.25.09 |
->> Ok about a month ago I did a photo shoot for a local paper covering golf. Two days later I got a google hit e-mail showing that two of the photos I had shot were appearing on a Golf Website.
I looked into this and found the Golf website had actually taken the story and photos off my clients site and posted it on their site using the story and photos with the proper credits. I sent the golf website an e-mail / invoice for the two photos. I took screen shots of the web pages as well and added them in with the bill. The photos were taken down the next day but the story stayed up.
After 30 days I sent a second invoice, this time with a late fee added on. The owner of the site sent me an e-mail today saying don't expect payment ever. The website is located in Canada, I work in the USA. So any thoughts what I should do next? The photos ran for about 2 days. I have gotten the contact info for work / home on the guy who did this. Anybody dealt with collections on a third party usage out of country? |
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Michael McNamara, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Phoenix | AZ | USA | Posted: 6:06 PM on 10.25.09 |
->> (standard first question)
are your photos registered with the copyright office? |
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Nick Morris, Photographer
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San Marcos | CA | United States | Posted: 6:30 PM on 10.25.09 |
| ->> Just curious... (Please don't flame me) but, do you register every photo shoot you do? I'm not being a smart ass I really am curious... I don't. |
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Jesse Beals, Photographer
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Tracyton | WA | USA | Posted: 6:34 PM on 10.25.09 |
| ->> No, in a normal week I shoot like 4,000-5,000 frames and send off a couple hundred frames to many news outlets. This person seen a story with my photos on one of these publications and decided they wanted to run the story and photos on their site with out asking. So they basically cut and pasted the content on their website and ran with it. Gad I not caught them they never of would have asked to do this. To date they are still doing this business practice. |
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Jeff Mills, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Columbus | OH | USA | Posted: 7:13 PM on 10.25.09 |
->> Another question that has to be answered is do you have the rights to those photos in the first place or does the paper ?
What type of work for hire contract do you have with the paper ? |
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Clark Brooks, Photo Editor, Photographer
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Urbana | IL | USA | Posted: 7:14 PM on 10.25.09 |
->> Nick: You need only register images you publish or make available to the general public. Consider setting up a monthly workflow you can do the last day of the month.
Jesse: If you haven't registered or are not willing to register the image there isn't a lot you can do...you are as they say SOL. That's why the editor can taunt you and basically ignore your invoice. He knows how to play the cards and has called you.
To raise and turn the tables you need to register that image along other made available for publication that month. You should have done this as soon as you discovered the infringement instead of firing off the invoice/email. You need to do that now before the registration window closes if you wish to pursue it further. You have three month window from the first date of publication.
Keep all the documentation you have so far and once you have the registration certificate contact a intellectual property attorney and let them take over negotiation from there.
From now on, you really want to include in your monthly workflow, a process to register all the images you make available to the general public or media outlets. I have a folder on a external drive that all files made available are copied to. At the end of them month I use PhotoMechanic to create files that burned to a DVD archive and submitted. Really easy.
For more info on copyright registration go here: http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html
FWIW - Good luck |
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Alan Look, Photographer
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Bloomington/Normal | IL | United States | Posted: 7:15 PM on 10.25.09 |
| ->> FWIW - if the image is worth keeping, it's worth registering. |
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Clark Brooks, Photo Editor, Photographer
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Jesse Beals, Photographer
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Tracyton | WA | USA | Posted: 8:06 PM on 10.25.09 |
| ->> Ok I am looking at registering these two photos in question, but here is my other concern. I took these photos in the USA, the website in question is based out of Canada. US laws and Canadian laws in copyright are they on the same page? |
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Mark Peters, Photographer
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Highland | IL | USA | Posted: 8:17 PM on 10.25.09 |
->> Standard not an attorney disclaimer, talk to one if you want advice that's actually meaningful.....
1) The site he "stole" them from is US domiciled, no?
2) Does he have any US assets you can attach if you happen to win?
3) Is he doing business in the US (via subscriptions, advertisement, etc.)
Don't assume that you have to bring action against him in Canada. If you bring suit in the US and he fails to appear to answer the complaint, you just may be able to get a declaratory order and then you just need to go hunting for assets to attach. In the meantime, he'll have an outstanding judgement hanging around his credit records. |
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Larry Lawson, Photographer
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Portland | OR | USA | Posted: 6:19 PM on 10.28.09 |
->> The above link to the copyright.gov site didn't work for me, but http://www.copyright.gov/register/ did. That said, if I read it right it's $65 to register a group of photographs on CDDVD. That's better than the $35 charge I thought was for each photo. But it's certainly a process.
In looking at the list of types of charges that the copyright office can assess, and how and why so register a copyright, it's clear that the lawyers are the ones making out on this. There's even a "pre-registration" (and subsequent fee), which I'm not so sure really does anything at all - except eat up $100+ :) |
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Russ Isabella, Photographer
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Salt Lake City | UT | USA | Posted: 2:47 AM on 10.29.09 |
| ->> Larry: In my experience, the process is not nearly as complicated or as expensive as you're suggesting, though it has been a short while since I last registered images. I paid $35 (total) for the full set of images I needed to register. Working from the government website was a straightforward process. |
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Rick Rickman, Photographer
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Laguna Niguel | CA | USA | Posted: 9:26 AM on 10.29.09 |
->> Jesse:
This problem is an escalating one because most of the photographers in this country quack incessantly about registering their images with the US Copyright office but, only about 2 % of all the working photographers in this country do it.
DO IT !!!! You have no recourse otherwise.
Clark's advice is technically correct when he says you only have to register images that are published or made available to the public. However, it doesn't cost a penny more to register an entire take so why not just register the entire take ??????? Who knows when a couple of the images you didn't register might be used by a client. Then you have to pay another fee to register those images. Why pay several times when you can pay once for the entire take ???
Everyone of you members of Sports Shooter should buy a copy of John Harrington's book, "Best Business Practices" and read it carefully. The chapters that talk about registering your copyright are perfect.
Stop whining. Start registering your images or continue to be taken advantage of. It's a simple choice. |
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