Magazine Publishing Images from Facebook?

I did a shoot back for a university a few months ago for their Vietnamese Student Association club. I got the gig from a friend who is on the board of the org. She forwarded me the info today that her parents found her in a Vietnamese magazine, and she herself wasn't even aware that they used the picture.

The images are found on my Facebook page, and no digital copies were given to the Vietnamese student association. They just took it directly from my facebook page. Also, they have the watermark cropped, and no photo credit is given -even though it clearly says in the caption to please credit and not crop logo..

Magazine (4 bottom images are mine) - http://imgur.com/mZP1s​DB

Original images can be found here:
Image 1
Image 2
Image 3
Image 4

So what seemed to happen is that there is an organization called IVHS (Illinois Vietnamese Student Union) who published the page in a Vietnamese Magazine. The friend who told me that the pictures were on the magazine said that another person on the e-board of the student org told IVHS to "pick a photo" for their story, but seemed to still have cropped the watermark.

No contract for event coverage, what happened was that I was there to take headshot pictures of the members of the club after the show, and they had asked me since I got there early to take some pictures of the event. Not sure if there was anything I could do, but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

It'd help to have a watermark that runs across the image, rather than just on a corner or border, methinks.

supfresh wrote in post #16980562
any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Not sure this time around as you may be an implied contract at play.

Only real advice is use a contract next time. Then you have a clear starting point for where you stand.

memoriesoftomorrow wrote in post #16980684
Not sure this time around as you may be an implied contract at play.

Only real advice is use a contract next time. Then you have a clear starting point for where you stand.

So anyone can just use images from the web or facebook images, crop out watermark and its fine as long as they don't have a contract?

supfresh wrote in post #16980692
So anyone can just use images from the web or facebook images, crop out watermark and its fine as long as they don't have a contract?

No. But we have no way of knowing what was or wasn't said between you and the organisation that employed you... and as you didn't put a contract in place to stipulate things it is now rather messy.

I'd be guessing... but I'd imagine most student bodies would be wanting rights to use images for promotional purposes which would include articles being written about their events to promote the student organisation.

I'm not in any way saying what has happened is right however the complete absence for the event of a contract with the organisation you were shooting for is just asking for trouble through misunderstandings of rights, usage etc.

I'm not sure I understand, but this is what I gather from what you've written so far... You were hired to take head shots. You got there early and they asked you to take photos of the event - you agreed. Was there an agreement in place to cover the usage of the head shots? If so, I would expect the same usage would be implied for the other shots. If not, there may be a difference between yours and their expectations. Hard to prove either way without a contract.

supfresh wrote in post #16980562
I did a shoot back for a university a few months ago for their Vietnamese Student Association club...
...and no digital copies were given to the Vietnamese student association.

I'm trying to wrap my mind around this. You did a shoot and didn't give the client pictures? How does that work?

supfresh wrote in post #16980692
So anyone can just use images from the web or facebook images, crop out watermark and its fine as long as they don't have a contract?

happens everyday.

supfresh wrote in post #16980562
Also, they have the watermark cropped, and no photo credit is given

Leverage, if you need it -
Removing the watermark is a separate issue to © violations: From Carolyn E Wright's blog: Section 1202 of the U.S. Copyright Act makes it illegal for someone to remove the watermark from your photo so that it can disguise the infringement when used. The fines start at $2500 and go to $25,000 in addition to attorneys' fees and any damages for the infringement.
The pertinent part of the statute is included the link.

You really need to let us know what county the magazine was published in, not that it particularly changes the legalities of the situation, but it does affect the the chances of doing something about it.

If the magazine was published in Vietnam then you don't have much chance to do anything about it, as you would need to use the Vietnamese courts to pursue any claim. If the magazine was published in the USA then you may have some ability to do something about this. There may in that situation be the possibility that the rewards will actually make pursuing a claim in the courts a worthwhile venture. As if they have cropped off your watermark then that may introduce heavy statutory payments under US laws.

Alan

BigAl007 wrote in post #16981840
You really need to let us know what county the magazine was published in, not that it particularly changes the legalities of the situation, but it does affect the the chances of doing something about it.

If the magazine was published in Vietnam then you don't have much chance to do anything about it, as you would need to use the Vietnamese courts to pursue any claim. If the magazine was published in the USA then you may have some ability to do something about this. There may in that situation be the possibility that the rewards will actually make pursuing a claim in the courts a worthwhile venture. As if they have cropped off your watermark then that may introduce heavy statutory payments under US laws.

Alan

Click the link. They're in Illinois.

The question here no one has asked yet is did the photographer register the photos with the copyright office? If he/she didn't, then there's not much in damages they can get. If they did register the photos however, a lot more can be awarded in damages.

They cropped the watermark out, which is considered willful infringement and allows for additional damages regardless of registration. See the above link from Ms. Wright's website.

Im pretty sure we have this discussion (willful infringement damages) twice a month.

jmarsz wrote in post #16982125
The question here no one has asked yet is did the photographer register the photos with the copyright office? If he/she didn't, then there's not much in damages they can get. If they did register the photos however, a lot more can be awarded in damages.

Post #9, above.

It's pretty simple to me.

If you don't want pics published without your permission, don't put them on the web.
Not like this is some new or unprecedented thing, it's talked about on forums every day.
The answer to avoid it happening is pretty damn simple.