Any copyright Lawyers out there?.....
Discussion
I've started another thread to attract more help.....
(As posted earlier -)
Not a good morning......
Opened the mail to find a settlement demand from a large and well known Publishing house for £3K+ over the use of 2 small industry-related pictures on my Company website. They state that even if I remove them, they will continue to pursue my Company for the settlement amount. They've featured on the site for over 4 years now (although I doubt they would be able to discover that).
I used a 3rd party IT Company for all design and completion of the website and at no time did they highlight this possibility. It was the IT Company that suggested the particular pictures in question and I assumed they had the legal right of use.
I've emailed the IT Company seeking their opinion/advice and so far there has been no response. Too early to contact a lawyer?
In the interim, any thoughts people?
Thanks,
K
(As posted earlier -)
Not a good morning......
Opened the mail to find a settlement demand from a large and well known Publishing house for £3K+ over the use of 2 small industry-related pictures on my Company website. They state that even if I remove them, they will continue to pursue my Company for the settlement amount. They've featured on the site for over 4 years now (although I doubt they would be able to discover that).
I used a 3rd party IT Company for all design and completion of the website and at no time did they highlight this possibility. It was the IT Company that suggested the particular pictures in question and I assumed they had the legal right of use.
I've emailed the IT Company seeking their opinion/advice and so far there has been no response. Too early to contact a lawyer?
In the interim, any thoughts people?
Thanks,
K
It is unlikely that they will pursue this through the courts, but it is possible.
Get the images off your site ASAP (if you can) and phone the MD of the company and explain the situation - usually this sorts most of these type of problems - they may continue to seek money, but court time is expensive and they are only seeking £3000 - probably not worth it....If you are keen to continue to use the specific images than a compromise solution where you offer to pay a few hundred to continue using the images might work as they will get some cash that they weren't expecting. A cash offer to cover their copyright lawyers' fees may also be appreciated to make the problem go away. Lawyers cost time and money so making the problem go away without resorting to them is often preferred by both parties.
However, if it does get serious then you would want to see proof that the company asking for the money actually own the Copyright in the images....this can be difficult (and time consuming - hence costly) as they will need to be able to show that the photographer was an employee, or that they took an assignment of the copyright from the photographer - often this is assumed to have happened, but regularly doesn't.
You should certainly contact the company that supplied you with the images and see where they obtained them and whether they got a licence from the photographer - it is possible that the original photographer only gave company A a licence to use the images and was free to licence you to use them also.
Hope that helps.
Alex
Get the images off your site ASAP (if you can) and phone the MD of the company and explain the situation - usually this sorts most of these type of problems - they may continue to seek money, but court time is expensive and they are only seeking £3000 - probably not worth it....If you are keen to continue to use the specific images than a compromise solution where you offer to pay a few hundred to continue using the images might work as they will get some cash that they weren't expecting. A cash offer to cover their copyright lawyers' fees may also be appreciated to make the problem go away. Lawyers cost time and money so making the problem go away without resorting to them is often preferred by both parties.
However, if it does get serious then you would want to see proof that the company asking for the money actually own the Copyright in the images....this can be difficult (and time consuming - hence costly) as they will need to be able to show that the photographer was an employee, or that they took an assignment of the copyright from the photographer - often this is assumed to have happened, but regularly doesn't.
You should certainly contact the company that supplied you with the images and see where they obtained them and whether they got a licence from the photographer - it is possible that the original photographer only gave company A a licence to use the images and was free to licence you to use them also.
Hope that helps.
Alex
Edited by AlexB on Friday 17th November 12:57
Agree with AlexB.
If it does go leagl, you will be liable but do have the opportunity to sue the IT Company although this may be difficult as they would say that you signed the site off before going live, etc.
I'd also recommend that you hire a design studio to produce your website and let them hire an IT company for all the techie stuff. Designers know the rules over picture usage and stuff far better and will most likely have access to a huge resource of library, royalty free images.
If it does go leagl, you will be liable but do have the opportunity to sue the IT Company although this may be difficult as they would say that you signed the site off before going live, etc.
I'd also recommend that you hire a design studio to produce your website and let them hire an IT company for all the techie stuff. Designers know the rules over picture usage and stuff far better and will most likely have access to a huge resource of library, royalty free images.
Just re-read your first post....as they are a publishing house they _should_ know about copyright etc so most of the basic errors may not apply in this case - still, if it gets nasty it's always worth making them prove their case properly!
As I said earlier, a phone call often works, but be prepared to negotiate a bit over a sensible price.....£3000 sounds a bit OTT for two images (might be worth trying the photography forum to see what a reasonable fee from a pro photographer would be for stock images) - they may be trying it on as a first punt, but will probably settle for a lot less. DON'T let it become personal - even if it seems unfair - threats can be used as a business tactic and if taken personally (rather than seeing the larger business picture), people can rapidly spend the initial settlement figure in fees looking for a way of not paying the settlement.
As I mentioned above, copyright cases don't usually make it to court as the costs of court time, barristers etc are high compared with the likely damages (and you rarely get all your costs back anyway).
If you want to respond by letter rather than phone, it can be worth taking the images off your site and simply writing to let them know that you have done this, it was all innocent on your part, you won't do it again etc and see if they bother to follow up.
Hopefully in this case you should be able to negotiate a sensible result without having to spend too much.
Good luck with it!
Alex
As I said earlier, a phone call often works, but be prepared to negotiate a bit over a sensible price.....£3000 sounds a bit OTT for two images (might be worth trying the photography forum to see what a reasonable fee from a pro photographer would be for stock images) - they may be trying it on as a first punt, but will probably settle for a lot less. DON'T let it become personal - even if it seems unfair - threats can be used as a business tactic and if taken personally (rather than seeing the larger business picture), people can rapidly spend the initial settlement figure in fees looking for a way of not paying the settlement.
As I mentioned above, copyright cases don't usually make it to court as the costs of court time, barristers etc are high compared with the likely damages (and you rarely get all your costs back anyway).
If you want to respond by letter rather than phone, it can be worth taking the images off your site and simply writing to let them know that you have done this, it was all innocent on your part, you won't do it again etc and see if they bother to follow up.
Hopefully in this case you should be able to negotiate a sensible result without having to spend too much.
Good luck with it!
Alex
A quick look at a stock photo calculator gives a going rate of £275 per small photo (up to 1/4 page) for use on commercial website. So £275 x 2 photos = £550 x 4 years = £2200 (although licencing in advance for X years is always going to be cheaper than paying year by year). IF there is breach of copyright, then a claim of £3000 is very reasonable.
izzy said:
A quick look at a stock photo calculator gives a going rate of £275 per small photo (up to 1/4 page) for use on commercial website. So £275 x 2 photos = £550 x 4 years = £2200 (although licencing in advance for X years is always going to be cheaper than paying year by year). IF there is breach of copyright, then a claim of £3000 is very reasonable.
Thanks Izzy. It's a worrying thought but more so for the 3rd party IT Company.
I'm going to hard-ball it with the Publishers 1st and if they persist,then I'll deflect the pressure on to the guys that should've ensured free-licensed pictures had been used in the 1st place. K
The deflection may work, but it is your company that has been making use of the Images so the Publishers are correct to come after your company. You may have an action against the IT company yourself for breach of contract or similar, but the Publishers are unlikely to go after the IT Company instead as you have the more extensive use.
If you can, get the images off the website, let them know you've taken the images down and appologise - see where it goes from there....
If they have in-house Lawyers it gets a bit more tricky as the publishers won't have to pay a bill each time you are sent a letter - this often puts people off chasing something when the infringement is no longer taking place.
It can also depend whether the Publisher wants to make an example of someone.
Good luck...
Alex
Edited to say that I've just seen the other thread and people have mentioned that this can be a common practice for the publishers....may be best to remove the images (assuming that they were unauthorised copies) and not contact them further, see what happens..
A
If you can, get the images off the website, let them know you've taken the images down and appologise - see where it goes from there....
If they have in-house Lawyers it gets a bit more tricky as the publishers won't have to pay a bill each time you are sent a letter - this often puts people off chasing something when the infringement is no longer taking place.
It can also depend whether the Publisher wants to make an example of someone.
Good luck...
Alex
Edited to say that I've just seen the other thread and people have mentioned that this can be a common practice for the publishers....may be best to remove the images (assuming that they were unauthorised copies) and not contact them further, see what happens..
A
Edited by AlexB on Friday 17th November 16:52
Edited by AlexB on Friday 17th November 16:54
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