Advice please? Copyright enfringement
Discussion
Hi guys,
Last year I took what I considered to be a very nice picture of my then brand new Caterham. I uploaded this to the Bookatrack website, which automatically adds a copyright-style notice:
I was most suprised to see my photo being used in a commercial advert in this weeks Autocar magazine. If you have a copy to hand, it's right at the top of page 103. The notice has been cropped and cloned out - a three minute job for any competent image editor.
The advert looks like its a private ad, but in actual fact it's for a company called Tracsport, who specialise in rebuilding raced Caterhams for road use.
What I'd like to know is what my legal position is? The picture wasn't really copyrighted by myself, but it is my "intellectual property", if that's the right phrase. Is there anything I can do to stop Tracsport using my photo, or at least get them to cough up some kind of compensation?
All responses gratefully received.
As an aside, Autocar aren't particularly happy about this - the advertser has paid for classified, but as a company he should be paying full price for display. Naughty, naughty....
>>> Edited by BarryG on Friday 20th August 22:29
Last year I took what I considered to be a very nice picture of my then brand new Caterham. I uploaded this to the Bookatrack website, which automatically adds a copyright-style notice:
I was most suprised to see my photo being used in a commercial advert in this weeks Autocar magazine. If you have a copy to hand, it's right at the top of page 103. The notice has been cropped and cloned out - a three minute job for any competent image editor.
The advert looks like its a private ad, but in actual fact it's for a company called Tracsport, who specialise in rebuilding raced Caterhams for road use.
What I'd like to know is what my legal position is? The picture wasn't really copyrighted by myself, but it is my "intellectual property", if that's the right phrase. Is there anything I can do to stop Tracsport using my photo, or at least get them to cough up some kind of compensation?
All responses gratefully received.
As an aside, Autocar aren't particularly happy about this - the advertser has paid for classified, but as a company he should be paying full price for display. Naughty, naughty....
>>> Edited by BarryG on Friday 20th August 22:29
[quote=BarryG]Hmm! It may be that in BookaTrack's small print you hand over copyright to them when you upload an image. They could then pass it on to whoever they liked. I doubt that Autocar would knowingly steal an image, hence I think BookaTrack is your culprit, legally or otherwise. Check out their T&C's.
BarryG said:
Simpo,
I've spoken to Jonny at BaT, as well. He confirmed that he has not allowed anyone to use the photo, and the company is not linked with BaT or BLiNK in any way. B.
OK, then it looks like TracSport are being a bit 'whee' (to use a Fast Show phrase). I guess they were looking for an image and just found yours. They were just unlucky you saw it.
How far do you want to go? If it's digital you could prove when the photo was taken by the EXIF data. They might do nothing or say 'sorry'. I doubt they'd send money: a retraction and apology is the best you could hope for I think. I don't think it's worth getting legal for: if someone's determined not to pay, they won't.
"Works put on the Internet are considered “published” and therefore qualify for copyright protection. A work put on the Internet is not considered public domain simply because it was posted on the Internet and free for anyone to download and copy. You need permission from the site owner to publish any materials, including photographs, music, and artwork from the site."
As the photographer, you own the copyright to the image and the company in question will profit from your labours. Copyright infringement is serious business and is a criminal offence. However, the 'stolen' image will only be worth so much depending how it is used. i.e. how big it has been reproduced, circulation of magazine, how many times it's reproduced etc. You can only reasonably expect to receive what it's 'worth'. Haven't seen the ad but if the company were to buy an image from a stock library, for use in four insertions lets say, they may expect their quote to look something like this:
I used Alamy.com for this example. (hopefully, I have degraded the picture enough so it's value, as seen here, is next to worthless and does not infringe the photographers copyright.
)
A couple of years ago some pictures of mine were used in a local newspaper (who should have known better) to illustrate an article. I sent them an over inflated invoice. They only wanted to pay what they thought I had originally charged my original client. It wasn't a very big job and I wasn't interested in the money but after having a row on the phone with the editor the principle was at stake. They finally agreed to make out a cheque for £500 to a local charity.
Your best bet is a polite friendly phone call. If they are decent people they should fall over themselves to apologise for an honest mistake made by the part time receptionist or tea boy. The offer of a service and tune up sounds reasonable (as long as they do all the nuts up tightly) and would, no doubt, restore honour.
Some more copyright info here:
www.legal-database.com/intellectualproperty.htm
HTH Good luck and let us know the outcome.
As the photographer, you own the copyright to the image and the company in question will profit from your labours. Copyright infringement is serious business and is a criminal offence. However, the 'stolen' image will only be worth so much depending how it is used. i.e. how big it has been reproduced, circulation of magazine, how many times it's reproduced etc. You can only reasonably expect to receive what it's 'worth'. Haven't seen the ad but if the company were to buy an image from a stock library, for use in four insertions lets say, they may expect their quote to look something like this:
I used Alamy.com for this example. (hopefully, I have degraded the picture enough so it's value, as seen here, is next to worthless and does not infringe the photographers copyright.
) A couple of years ago some pictures of mine were used in a local newspaper (who should have known better) to illustrate an article. I sent them an over inflated invoice. They only wanted to pay what they thought I had originally charged my original client. It wasn't a very big job and I wasn't interested in the money but after having a row on the phone with the editor the principle was at stake. They finally agreed to make out a cheque for £500 to a local charity.
Your best bet is a polite friendly phone call. If they are decent people they should fall over themselves to apologise for an honest mistake made by the part time receptionist or tea boy. The offer of a service and tune up sounds reasonable (as long as they do all the nuts up tightly) and would, no doubt, restore honour.
Some more copyright info here:
www.legal-database.com/intellectualproperty.htm
HTH Good luck and let us know the outcome.
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