photo getting published

[SS Photo Images]

I took pics of the NYC Halloween Parade. I was approached by this woman who happends to work for a local non-profit newpaper. I email her about 5 pics that I took of her and her friends in a car which was being used to promote RCN Cable, no big deal. I email her the pics which had my name but not copyrighted, i wrote "SS photo Images 2009 NYC Halloween Parade"
Today I called her because she had told me that she wanted to meet for an interview to discuss the possibilities of me working for their newpaper. Well I was excited when she told me that one of my pics were published in last weeks paper but i there was a problem with the editing and i wasnt given credit and they had to take my name off the pics in order to use my pic in the paper....So here is my dilema?

1. Was she wrong in using my pic without my permission or asking me first? and even though it wasnt copyright, did they have the right to delete my name off my pic?

Thanks
SS

[tim]

You owned copyright as soon as you took the image, and deleting your name was a clear way to avoid paying fees. I see no dilemma. They should be charged a usage fee, and a penalty (perhaps 100% of usage fee) for not obtaining a license in advance. Newspapers have standard rates, they can be as low as $20, but since there was no agreement you don't have to go with that. Personally i'd invoice $500 or more, plus penalty. Then again I know nothing about newspaper rates, except here they pay so little I don't even bother any more.

[SnapLocally.com]

I once was offered $15 by a paper for an event I shot. That would've covered parking. I did not accept their generous offer. I did however make $700 in sales and got published in an international publication.

[SS Photo Images]

thanks alot for your feedback, i have never been approached by a newspaer so this is all a leaning process for me

[amfoto1]

Tim is right... Your image is automatically copyrighted the moment you take it. In order for anyone to use it, they need permission from you in writing.

Assuming you are in the US, what you should do now is...

1. Register your copyright immediately. (for info, Google the US Copyright Office)

2. Then go see an attorney who is knowledgeable about Intellectual Property. (If you have trouble finding one, see if there is a "Lawyers for the Arts" office near you.)

As you describe it, the newspaper willfully and deliberately used your image without your permission, and even went so far as to remove your name from it, which is an enhancment. Any publisher should know better than this.

Congratulations, sounds like you now own a newspaper.

(Okay, not quite. But you get the idea.)

[Floriantrojer.com]

Ok, food for thought, playing devil's advocate here:

You gave her the photos. Did you imply in any way that she may use them?! If not fine, they made a mistake. She said they had an issue with giving credit, so they way you write it I see it as she said she made a honest mistake.

She wants to give you a job.

That wouldn't be bad would it?

You can now

a.) go and sue them over a one-time small usage problem and probably ruin your name in the entire region over that (even if you're in the right!)

or

b.) tell her politely that you didn't think they'd be published and found it wrong you didn't get credited.

Tell here you'd love working for them (if you do) and talk about payment, you may as well turn it into something lasting. 1000 bucks every month is better money than 5000 bucks (if at all) one time over a photo usage.

[Floriantrojer.com]

Just to back my argument further that it is not always right letting the dogs off the chain right away:

Huge business (in the aviation industry) uses a photo of mine on their website (in low res), taken from a website, without my permission.

I take a screenshot, send their head of marketing an e-mail and an invoice.

I get a call the next morning, he is very apologetic, sends me bottles of champagne right away and tells me to compile a low-res CD of work so that he can look into buying stock material.

I do so, 900px sized photos, with small watermarks on them and they love them. An order is on the way.

The key is, think outside the box! It would be stupid to push ahead with the invoice for small unauthorized web use if I can get a lot more out of it in the long run. Plus, you never know where good relationships lead to.

[Joe the Photog]

The thing I would ask you to consider is if you would want to work for a publication that has already infringed on your copyright. Can you trust them to do the right thing ever? They've already proven they can be trusted to do the WRONG thing once. I also don't agree that you would ruin your name by taking proper legal action. The advice so far seems to be one of two things -- 1.) fight for your rights and get fair treatment now or 2.) play nice and hope maybe someday they'll reward you for being a good guy. This isn't preschool. They're a business who did you wrong. Go get them. Now.

I'm on my lunch break and don't have time to write in detail. But I had to deal with this a few months ago. I let them know from the get go that they made a mistake and I wasn't going to pay for it. It took less than a week for it to work out to my betterment. At one point, they tried holding a dog biscuit out for me saying they loved my work and would hate to fracture the relationship. I replied that I appreciated the comment on my work and we could talk about working together in the future when they fixed what they had already done.

Here's a link to my question and the advice I got on another web site --

http://forums.railpictures.net/showthread.php?t=10514&highlight=copyright

[Joe the Photog]

Just to note that I feel I know more about how to handle this in the future than I did when I originally posted the question to the other forum.

[noxcuses1]

1. Was she wrong in using my pic without my permission or asking me first? and even though it wasnt copyright, did they have the right to delete my name off my pic?

Thanks
SS

Yes..Yes..No.