Copyright infringement ???

Hello All!

I posted this question in the business section of the forum but thought I'd ask it here in this part since it is a motorsports specific incident that may have possibly happened to one of y'all.


I shot an AMA MC Road Racing event last September in NJ (NJMP) as a spectator and I posted some of my favs on FaceBook. Well, one of my FB friends who happens to be a Trackday Organization/Parts store liked one of my images since their business name is on one of the race bikes. He commented that he liked the photo and said that he was going to make it his profile pic on FB, at this point, I was ok with just that since I was a member of his trackday org.

Fast forward 8 months later, I notice an unauthorized membership charge on my credit card and when I went to his website to request a refund I noticed my photo on his main trackday sign up page. I was a little annoyed by its use without seeking my permission so I asked him to take it down or at least give me the appropriate credit for said image. A week later, he's never replied to my request.

I've already taken a printscreen of it's use just in case I decide to take legal action later.

My question is.....is it worth the trouble for the type of use that he's using it for?

ANY opinions/advice would be greatly appreciated.

I would tell him you're contacting a lawyer about it and see if he takes it down then. If that doesn't work, have one of your buddies call him acting as a lawyer asking the man to take your picture down or he'll file a complaint. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't. It'll be up to you to take the next step.

CameraMan wrote in post #12612432
If that doesn't work, have one of your buddies call him acting as a lawyer asking the man to take your picture down or he'll file a complaint.

....

First step: register your images with the U.S. Copyright Office. It takes a while, but it's pretty cheap. Tell him that you're considering a lawsuit. If he doesn't budge after that and if this means that much to you, hire a lawyer and send him a takedown notice/bill for usage. After that, it's up to you if you want to go to court.

Thanks for the quick reply guys!

Another question I forgot to ask in the first post and actually the reason why I decided to repost this question here. Can he potentially make the argument that I didn't have permission to photograph the bike to begin with or post it on FB for that matter?

I don't believe he's the owner of the racebike but just a sponsor.

fortisi876 wrote in post #12612499
Another question I forgot to ask in the first post and actually the reason why I decided to repost this question here. Can he potentially make the argument that I didn't have permission to photograph the bike to begin with or post it on FB for that matter?

From my knowledge: he can absolutely make the former argument. If the venue prohibits photography, then you didn't have permission to take a picture of it from where you were.

That being said, because you did take a photo of it means that the photographer is yours. Unless you signed away the rights to it (and I mean signed), because you put in a minimal amount of creative intent and fixed the photograph in a tangible medium (a memory card/computer disk counts), you own the copyright.

This is an interesting read...

http://www.krages.com/​ThePhotographersRight.​pdf

Just found this as well...

Source: http://photostop.istep​.com/Legal/asmp.txt

When legal action is necessary to remedy a copyright infringement, the
image must be registered before the legal action can be started. This
registration can be made after the infringement occurs. However, unless
you register before the infringement (or within three months after the
first publication even if after infringement, you will not be able to
sue for statutory damages, which are up to $100,000 per infringement
plus your legal fees. When statutory damages are unavailable to the
copyright owner a claim can still be made for actual damages, that is,
the amount of money lost as a result of the infringement plus the amount
of profits realized by the infringer. But actual damages can be
difficult and expensive to prove, and legal fees can be an additional
burden.

Thank you for the links!