Website Using My Images

I'll start off by saying I am not a professional by any means.

I was looking for a phone number on a local museums website when I noticed that they were using about 3 to 4 of my images (they are on my flickr account).

There is no mention of photo credit on the site.

Any advice on the matter? I have never sold an image in my life. Photography is not my profession just a hobby.

Never expected to see my images on a website before so I figured I would ask the question here.

Thanks,

Since it's local you might want to consider working with them as far as getting a credit and possibly getting paid.

If it were some commercial site abusing your photos then sure, I would probably consider more direct/invoice approach then a lawsuit but you might get a better exposure if you want this to be a serious gig.

It all depends on what you want out of it. Was the photo watermarked? Registered with the copyright office, etc?

Also Chrome is your friend; right click on any of your image and select "Search Google for this image" and may possibly bring up more copyright infringement.

I actually ran across this article the other day; it's pretty thorough: http://www.popphoto.co​m …thout-permission-now-what

Aki78 wrote in post #16860026
Was the photo watermarked?

This is a very important question. More 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.

russ925 wrote in post #16859962
I was looking for a phone number on a local museums website when I noticed that they were using about 3 to 4 of my images (they are on my flickr account).

When you say "using" I assume you mean as part of the website in order to promote the museum?

PhotosGuy wrote in post #16860259
This is a very important question. More 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.

They were NOT watermarked, they came off my Flickr account

The important thing is not that they removed a watermark (or didn't), but that that action is recognized as proof of willful infringement (which is what actually comes with the additional fines).

Museum or not, at this point I would ask for payment and credit, or payment and removal. If the photos have been up a while then they already owe you money and simple removal isn't enough.

Make sure you're absolutely certain they're your images first. Museum exhibits are photographed thousands of time and many images will look similar.

Are you talking about the Cradle of Aviation shots? I saw similar, but not exact versions on their site, e.g., lunar module. I didn't look long though.

Timely reading I just had this happen to me and the idiots printed the photo and put it on an award with the logo on it!!!!