Haha, that's a really good idea! Print out an 8x10 (watermarked of course) and send it off with an invoice to the journo who wrote the story saying payment is required within 7 days or it will be taken to court...
That would be a good idea in part, by all means send a bill but the threat of court could be viewed as empty by the newspaper. If the copyright on the image wasn't registered before the infringement took place it only qualifies for actual damages. The newspaper is only liable for what they would have paid to publish the picture, plus court costs. Maybe 35 to 200 dollars in the states, hardly worth pursuing in court. There seems to be a misconception about just what the Copyright law says. If the image is registered before infringement it qualifies for a penalty of up to 150 thousand dollars ( I think that figure is correct) for each infringement. The "up to" is the key, the penalty is decided by the court.
The lesson is to register your images before you post them on the web, clearly mark them as registered and dare anyone to use them without permission.
There was no way he could've stole my raw, so I was convinced he actually took it.
