Stolen Image

I was approached by someone at Toyo Tires about using my image for web, a print ad, and in a magazine. I gave him a reasonable price, probably too low for that type of usage. He said he would get back to me, I never heard back.

What would you do?

Send the invoice now. I would not wait. Sorry this happened to you It's almost as if we need to be putting our watermarks right in the middle of our photos to protect them....

Toyo should know better....

Image registered?

If so, I'd wait to see if they use it further and hire an IP attorney.
Slam Dunk infringement case.

Doubly so since they cropped it to remove your watermark.

An invoice means nothing in a situation where you weren't going to get paid in the first place.

It's not registered. I work for a couple of teams sponsored by Toyo, so I'm not sure that I want to cause too much of a stink about it beyond collecting the original quoted amount.

DO NOT SEND AN INVOICE!

They are liable for a lot more than the couple hundred bucks you would invoice.

From the EXIF, it looks like you shot that pic this month.

REGISTER THE IMAGE NOW You have 90 days from when you shot it.

Contact a copyright attorney. Mine is Carolyn Wright at www.photoattorney.com.

They removed your watermark. So they are liable for $2,500-$25,000 plus attorney's fees for that. Plus if you register the copyright within 90 days of first publication, you are entitled to up to $150,000 in damages PLUS actual damages.

Since your goal is to get properly rewarded for your work and keep on working for the Toyo sponsored racing teams, I would recommend talking with a real IP lawyer ASAP about this. Most likely, the lawyer will focus on simply getting the invoice paid without being more aggressive. Wining a lawsuit is short sighted if it gets you banned from racing and fired by your clients.

ryant35 wrote in post #15857439
It's not registered.

That doesn't matter, especially because they removed the watermark, so I agree with Tom.

The first person I'd talk to is Carolyn E Wright. 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.

lol I saw that post on their page. Sucks they got it like that, though. I haven't had any problems with them. They use a lot of my shots online and in their Connect Magazine.

you are getting good advice but before you do anything REGISTER THE DARN THING!
seriously
do it

the fact that they are using it, they could be even giving it to other companies or other people could be taking it and using it too!

dont be worried about causing a stink who cares. you were stolen from and you have a right to be pissed. this is why people steal stuff b/c people are too scared to cause a stink!

Its not like Toyo is a small company, talk to a attorney, you could get enough from this one issue to cover 5 years of payments from the teams. This is why large companies try and pull this kinda stuff.

ryant35 wrote in post #15857439
It's not registered. I work for a couple of teams sponsored by Toyo, so I'm not sure that I want to cause too much of a stink about it beyond collecting the original quoted amount.

Personally, I'd contact them, point out what's happened and submit your original invoice. While you may stand to gain financially if you pursue this from a legal stand point, I don't think it's quite as easy as is being suggested and you'll certainly jeopardize your standing with any teams that have a relationship to the company.

FWIW, I work with a lot of companies that have a corporate FB presence. Typically, the responsibility for maintaining the on-line presence is given to the lowest person in the marketing department who most likely hasn't a clue about these kinds of issues. Not that that's any excuse, but at this point in time I think it fair to assume that somebody screwed up and will most likely rectify the situation given the chance.
Just my .02.

It is extremely easy. I've been though it several times. A very black and white situation, companies settle quickly. He could end up with a 5-figure check in his hand in a week or two.

It is possible that he could jeopardize his standing, but these ****ers stole the content with no intention of paying. They deserve to pay a penalty for that.

Well sure. When someone is facing what could be a $200k judgement, they would obviously be quick to rectify the situation.

Getting a hundred bucks or so out of it is bull**** when they stole good content to market their brand.

Foodguy wrote in post #15858595
Personally, I'd contact them, point out what's happened and submit your original invoice. While you may stand to gain financially if you pursue this from a legal stand point, I don't think it's quite as easy as is being suggested and you'll certainly jeopardize your standing with any teams that have a relationship to the company.

FWIW, I work with a lot of companies that have a corporate FB presence. Typically, the responsibility for maintaining the on-line presence is given to the lowest person in the marketing department who most likely hasn't a clue about these kinds of issues. Not that that's any excuse, but at this point in time I think it fair to assume that somebody screwed up and will most likely rectify the situation given the chance.
Just my .02.

Wow. I had this thing all typed up and hit preview and then read your post that completely mirrored mine! Even the social media marketing part. (The company I work for has a social media marketer that is the lowest on the marketing totem pole) but she would never steal a pic like that....

....follow your gut. It sounds like you want to just invoice them for the amount you originally requested and move on. There is nothing wrong with that. The negatives to dragging it through the courts for a few thousand dollars seem to outweigh the positives. If it was me, in your situation, I would just invoice them for the original amount.

If it was me, NOT in your situation, I would register that image quick and wait a bit to see if they do anything else with it.....then pounce and see how much I could get out of them....

Thomas Campbell wrote in post #15858621
Well sure. When someone is facing what could be a $200k judgement, they would obviously be quick to rectify the situation.

Getting a hundred bucks or so out of it is bull**** when they stole good content to market their brand.

Your seeing dollar signs that aren't there. 200K? You would be laughed out of court. What are the damages that equal 200K?

ryant35 wrote in post #15857439
It's not registered. I work for a couple of teams sponsored by Toyo, so I'm not sure that I want to cause too much of a stink about it beyond collecting the original quoted amount.

Then why did you even bother to ask?