TV News Show used my photo without permission.

Okay so I would like to know what you guys would do in this situation. This happened just over 2 years ago, I live in New Zealand and TV news show that did this is one of the biggest ones in New Zealand. So what happened is that I uploaded a photo of some snow covered trees to a weather reporting group on facebook that had a watermark with my website on it on the bottom left corner. The next day this news show makes a story about the cold weather and broadcasts it on TV but they used my snow photo without my permission in the story and they EVEN cropped out my watermark! I have all the proof including the exact time my photo was approved on the facebook weather reporting group.

I was furious at this, if they hadn't cropped out my watermark then thousands of people would have gone onto my website which at the time redirected to my youtube channel and I would have got hundreds of new subscribers if not thousands. The reason why I didn't take action about it comes down to my personality at the time - I was a laid back person and very shy but now I am more likely to stand up for myself and I would like to stand up against freebooting. As of right now the video that has my photo that was broadcast on tv is still on their website (their website has ads as well) another thing that I don't like is that they have put their watermark on the whole video on the bottom right corner so when they broadcasted it, their watermark is on my photo.

At this stage I'm either going to:

- Contact them and say they have to pay me a big amount of money (not sure how much)
- If they refuse to pay I will threaten legal action and tell another news website/channel about this to raise awareness about freebooting.

I wasn't making any money from my photography at the time of when this happened but I believe had they not cropped out my watermark or at the very least given credit by putting my name on the photo when was broadcast that my audience would have grown significantly and then I would've been able to make money from people buying prints etc.

You really need to talk to whatever you call an intellectual property lawyer over there. The Bern Convention doesn't work the same in every country as some have modified it to fit their needs.
https://www.google.com …WYMXkSozhNGwN_V​KP0HuptCIQ

Depends on laws in your country.

From what I know (or at least think I know?):

1) The image has to be registered for it to become legal-actionable. A photo that is your property and watermarked for "copyright" purposes doesn't do squat in legal terms unless its registered.
2) The use will have been performed prior to your registration date now, no matter what. This may or may not matter, a lot.
3) Legal action on your part will cost you a lot more than it will matter to them. It won't be fast and simple. Be prepared to fork up or hope for a probono lawyer out there who's just looking for an easy one.

Very best,

MalVeauX wrote in post #18440499
1) The image has to be registered for it to become legal-actionable. A photo that is your property and watermarked for "copyright" purposes doesn't do squat in legal terms unless its registered.

Well, this is why I said to see a local lawyer, because that's not true in the US if the © watermark has been removed.
Here, (US), removing the watermark is a separate issue to © violations: From Carolyn E Wright's blog:

MalVeauX wrote in post #18440499
Depends on laws in your country.

From what I know (or at least think I know?):

1) The image has to be registered for it to become legal-actionable. A photo that is your property and watermarked for "copyright" purposes doesn't do squat in legal terms unless its registered.
2) The use will have been performed prior to your registration date now, no matter what. This may or may not matter, a lot.

Registration is only a requirement in a small handful of countries at most - mainly the US . The OP stated in their post that they are in New Zealand which has no requirement for copyright registration so neither of your first two points are valid.

MalVeauX wrote in post #18440499
3) Legal action on your part will cost you a lot more than it will matter to them. It won't be fast and simple. Be prepared to fork up or hope for a probono lawyer out there who's just looking for an easy one.

And as Dan disagrees with your first two points I will disagree with your third.
New Zealand has a small claims court whereby you pay a nominal fee depending on the amount of the claim you are making.

Okay guys thanks for the advice I have decided to first email or write them a letter to seek some kind of compensation but if they refuse I will not threaten legal action I will say that if we don't come to an agreement I might resort to legal action. If that's the case I will discuss this with someone who knows about copyright laws in New Zealand.

As I don’t live in New Zealand I don’t know their laws pertaining to photography and copyright, or the agreed fees that TV companies have to pay for image usage. But here in the UK the photographer owns the copyright of the photograph regardless of whether it is watermarked or not and there is no requirement to register the image. So therefore it is a breach of copyright for a TV company to use an image without permission, and it is also a breach of copyright to remove any watermark that is on the image.

Here in the UK the National Union of Journalism rates for photographs broadcast on TV are as follows:

Single transmission – 4 seconds: £85
Single transmission – up to 10 seconds: £110

john crossley wrote in post #18440526
And as Dan disagrees with your first two points I will disagree with your third.
New Zealand has a small claims court whereby you pay a nominal fee depending on the amount of the claim you are making.

But does that small claims court have jurisdiction in copyright cases? In the vast majority of countries (inc the USA) state/county level and small claims courts don't have jurisdiction over copyright cases so you have to sue in the high court/supreme court. The only exception I know of is the UK which set up the IPEC (Intellectual Property Enterprise Court) as a small claims IP court.

New Zealand does have a copyright tribunal service https://www.justice.go​vt.nz/tribunals/copyri​ght/ but its scope is very limited - you can't sue for infringement.

I live in N.Z. & have no idea where you stand legally, but suspect that waiting 2 years before contacting the TV folks is a bit too long, and you'll likely find anyone involved in using your photograph may have moved on (especially the person who made the decision to air it)


do hope I'm wrong...

I agree with Joeseph......you've waited too long.

Not sure I understand the rationale behind waiting this long, but I think, at this point, you should forget about it simply move on.

If you try to pursue it the TV station will tie you up in legal bullcrap for the foreseeable future.

joeseph wrote in post #18440582
I live in N.Z. & have no idea where you stand legally, but suspect that waiting 2 years before contacting the TV folks is a bit too long, and you'll likely find anyone involved in using your photograph may have moved on (especially the person who made the decision to air it)


do hope I'm wrong...

saea501 wrote in post #18440607
I agree with Joeseph......you've waited too long.

Not sure I understand the rationale behind waiting this long, but I think, at this point, you should forget about it simply move on.

If you try to pursue it the TV station will tie you up in legal bullcrap for the foreseeable future.

Well I actually disagree with both of you. Here in the UK it would be the TV company that would be held accountable, NOT the individual employee who made the decision to use the photograph. And also here in the UK you have up to six years in which you can make a claim in the small claims court.
All the OP has to do is prove that the photograph was used without his/her consent, and then he/she would be entitled to whatever the transmission rates are in New Zealand.

I do live in NZ, and I do know something about copyright law.

Yes, it is infringement, no it is not fair use, and use you could pursue them.

But, the vast majority of such cases here cost more than any settlement is worth, and actual lost value to you isn't great.
It is worth taking them to task over it though, an invoice for $450 and follow up demands for payment will either get someones attention, or might even get payed if they put it in the too hard basket.
But, this happens a lot, they hire idiots and rely on most people not caring, or thinking it's cool if their image gets used.

A couple of points though, if this happened 2 years ago then it maybe too late to to anything and expect a positive out come.
And if they did show your water mark it would have made very little if any real difference. The simple fact is people watching would not have jumped up and visited your website.

Moppie wrote in post #18441196
I do live in NZ, and I do know something about copyright law.

Yes, it is infringement, no it is not fair use, and use you could pursue them.

But, the vast majority of such cases here cost more than any settlement is worth, and actual lost value to you isn't great.
It is worth taking them to task over it though, an invoice for $450 and follow up demands for payment will either get someones attention, or might even get payed if they put it in the too hard basket.
But, this happens a lot, they hire idiots and rely on most people not caring, or thinking it's cool if their image gets used.

A couple of points though, if this happened 2 years ago then it maybe too late to to anything and expect a positive out come.
And if they did show your water mark it would have made very little if any real difference. The simple fact is people watching would not have jumped up and visited your website.

You have up to SIX years in which to make a claim in the small claims court

https://www.disputestr​ibunal.govt.nz/how-to-make-a-claim
http://www.copyright.o​rg.nz/faq.php

john crossley wrote in post #18441240
You have up to SIX years in which to make a claim in the small claims court

https://www.disputestr​ibunal.govt.nz/how-to-make-a-claim
http://www.copyright.o​rg.nz/faq.php

Small Claims can't handle IP and Copyright

http://www.clendons.co​.nz/ will usually give free basic advice to AIPA and NZIPP members, and have resolved a number of copyright cases that I know about.