So I find out my images are being used...

Mr_Flibble

Mr_Flibble

In Tabulas Argenteas Refero
Local time
4:58 PM
Joined
Jul 31, 2007
Messages
4,678
Location
The Lowlands
View My Gallery
...for profit.

Completely by chance I've found out some of my images ended up in a magazine as window dressing to an article that was sent in by an acquaintance.

I've asked him "What gives?" 5 days ago, but he hasn't answered my messages.

Most of my online photographer friends have said "Invoice the magazine", as it was their mistake for failing to check up on the copyright/permissions.

Not sure how to proceed, to be honest. 🙁
If I do invoice them I have no idea what to ask.

I'm an advanced amateur and I've invested quite a bit to take, develop, scan and process those photos, but I do this mostly for myself and the people in the photos.
 
I would think there are lots of things to consider, but others will know better.

Is the magazine in the same country as you are? Are the copyright laws in your favor, especially did you do what the law requires to own copyright, and does the law make it easy to force the magazine to pay you? Have you sent another query to your acquaintance to see if he in fact gave the magazine the photos as opposed to the magazine finding your photos? Was he paid for the article and accompanying photos?

Just for starters.

Normally, my best advice if you wish to pursue the matter, would be to find a lawyer who specializes in such matters.
 
If you don't hear back from your acquaintance, write to the magazine and let them know the photos are yours and were used without your permission. Give them a week or so, and follow up with another letter; this time, assert your copyright to the photos. A third letter billing them some outrageous amount should follow. There used to be, back in the dark ages, books like the one the Writers Digest published that gave magazine rates. Clearly that has changed, but do a little research. Try not to be testy, at least at first. Publishers can be very sensitive about using material that was submitted without the photographer's knowledge or permission. Hope this helps.
 
Get a lawyer. This happened to a friend of mine who happened to be passing a well known store that sells luggage. In the window, as a background, was a cropped blowup of what he suspected was one of his images. He took a picture of it to compare with the image he had at home. It was a perfect match. His lawyer sent a letter. Besides taking the image down, he sued for unauthorized usage. He collected a few thousand dollars plus legal fees.

Search Petapixel. There was a recent article about what to do, including a letter to send, for unauthorized usage. You are entitled to monetary compensation. More then the standard publication fee, plus any expenses incurred.

As for being testy... they stole your images and used them without your permission. This is theft. You can take them to small claims court if you like. Document everything.
 
How much financially do you figure those photos are worth to you? You, of course, have a defacto copyright on them. But to enforce that copyright, you have to defend it. And that is going to cost you a lot of money. And you likely cannot win if you have not explicitly copyrighted them.

Write the magazine a nice letter and ask them to credit you in the publication for the photos. And then let it go.
 
I got published in an online store, sent a mail asking for compensation, got a negative reply. Sent another mail, failure as well. Sent a huge bill for 7000 SEK (~$800+), and then finally they started talking.
It then took a few threathening with lawyer, shoving evidence in face, corporate bull**** emails to settle for a fair compensation.

In the end, since it was a camera store, I ended up getting film for a retail value of ~4500 SEK 🙂
 
Last edited:
All my web published images have my name and copyright symbol on them. Not sure if I'm fully credited in the text as I've only been sent phone snapshots of the pages with the photos on them (by a friend who discovered the article)....
...chances are I'll have to buy a copy of said magazine to check that.

I gave the acquaintance permission to use some of my images of that particular event on his group's webpage.
As he wrote the article I presume he sent in my images (and those of a couple of others) in to the magazine.

All the advice is appreciated, thanks.
 
The usual way would be to send an invoice. http://www.djv.de/uploads/media/Faire_Bildhonorare_0702131.pdf has a minimum price list for German press freelancers - by Dutch population size, you might want to apply a different scaling for the circulation (German magazines obviously will have higher circulation at the same relevance, given the much bigger German language audience). And double it for unauthorized use - and double it once more if you were not properly credited...
 
A few years ago I was covering a political event with a national politician for a small specialty paper in town. The paper paid me for the images and all was good. Then a few months later when this politician made more news, another publication lifted my pictures from the specialty paper and used them without compensation. I had the specialty paper contact them and the images were removed.

Images posted online (even by legitimate publications) are so easy to steal, and such a pain in the neck to track down and prosecute, that folks figure they can probably get away with it. Something needs to be done, but I'm not sure what.
 
I have no idea what my 'friend' told them as he hasn't responded to my messages in the last 5 days. I'm fairly certain he had no bad intentions though.

It is a UK-based niche magazine, don't know how big their client base is.
Want to contact them first, but not sure what to say;

"Hey, An article that was sent in to you contained some of my images without my permission. Show me some green!"?
 
Mr_Flibble said:
All my web published images have my name and copyright symbol on them. Not sure if I'm fully credited in the text as I've only been sent phone snapshots of the pages with the photos on them (by a friend who discovered the article)....
...chances are I'll have to buy a copy of said magazine to check that.

I gave the acquaintance permission to use some of my images of that particular event on his group's webpage.
As he wrote the article I presume he sent in my images (and those of a couple of others) in to the magazine.

All the advice is appreciated, thanks.
Click to expand...

Now you're giving the full story? As what JP Owens says....

If you gave your friend permission to use your imagery on his group's website, he is solely responsible for sending those images in to the magazine. Did he get paid for his article? He may very well owe you money. I don't know the specifics of your original conversation with your friend, but the magazine is now off the hook. Your friend is the one you have issue with. Without a written agreement or documentation between you and your friend, there is nothing you can do. The magazine probably thought they were the author's images in whatever agreement they had with your friend. They should have asked. You should ask your friend what happened and ask him to compensate you out of his fee.
 
If you want to be serious about selling images to the editorial and commercial markets, you need a tool like fotoquote to help you find a ballpark market value. According to fotoquote, web use of an editorial image up to 1/2 screen size for three months on a UK-based trade magazine's website is $154. My experience dealing with small niche magazines tells me their budget, if they even have one, is nowhere near that much. Because you gave the images to your acquaintance without limiting what they could do with them, you may face a lengthy struggle to recover a small amount of money from the magazine. In the future, make sure that when you give images to friends for personal use, they know that if they wish to use the images, you need to be consulted as you retain copyright. All that being said - what kind of pictures are these? Because photos of a group of people holding a novelty check at the local pub have a different value than spot news photos of an important event with broad appeal. Anyways... hope this is of some use. It's never a good feeling to be surprised in this way. It occurs to me that this could actually open a dialogue with the magazine in question, and you could shoot for them when they had similar stories running in the future. It never hurts to send a polite email explaining the miscommunication - they may have no idea that they stepped on your toes.
 
The problem with sending an invoice, is they can just ignore it. I wrote an article for a very well known US camera magazine, with photographs from my work. All for an agreed upon rate, per word. They guy published it, then sent me 4-5 magazines of that issue. Something I didn't need and we never talked about. I did some research, and MOST authors for his magazine get "paid" in a few free issues.

I kept sending him my professional invoice. It was ignored. emails, phone calls "he's not in right now, we'll leave a message", even signed for snail mail - all ignored until I finally gave up after 2 years of periodically trying. That's the thing - there is no one to MAKE them pay, unless you want to take it to court. And some rotten people bank on that.
 
Why is everyone so frightened of defending their copyright?
An email or letter to the magazine explaining the situation including the OP seeking compensation for the use of the photos is the first step. If the magazine is run by someone with any intelligence and experience in publishing, the magazine will immediately find a solution. If the letter does not produce the desired result, a follow up mentioning a lawyer and legal proceedings may get things moving.
Copyright law allows for not only the recovery of actual financial costs incurred by also inferred costs such as loss of other potential sales, reputation of the artist, time involved for enforcing their copyright, and legal fees. The final settlement is always much more than if the magazine simply paid a reasonable usage fee at the beginning. Most copyright fights never reach the courts.
 
In the US if you haven't registered the copyright with the copyright office in Washington then all you can do is get a court order to stop them from using them. If it's registered then you can collect damages and legal fees through the courts.

I've registered a series of historic and important images of a deceased person and have a release from that person to sell for profit those images. On numerous occasions Ive had to contact companies to get them to remove my images from advertising material, music videos, T shirts, playing cards and other uses. Most when presented with the facts comply with my request. Several I collected substantial money and almost had to take one celebrity musician to court. He and his agent were defiant but I convinced them I'd take them to court and take his farm if he didn't immediately remove my work from his music video.

For you to have any teeth to your request you must have registered the copyright.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
Did Nikon really blow Leitz and Zeiss out of the water in 1950? Not quite, but....
Replies
9
Views
1K
aoresteen
aoresteen
J
  • Article Article
The Rise & Fall of the Kodak Empire:Part 2: How the Colossus of Film was broken by a disruptive technology
2
Replies
23
Views
4K
Muggins
Muggins
J
  • Article Article
My Bout With Bronicas: One man's adventures in the mysterious Land of Zenza
2 3 4
Replies
74
Views
14K
wes loder
wes loder
lynnb
If only all publishers were like this!
Replies
10
Views
2K
mawilliams
M
jbrianfoto
The Maniac-Genius - Jim Marshall; His influence on my photography...
2
Replies
25
Views
13K
jbrianfoto
jbrianfoto
Back
Top Bottom