Image stolen, advice sought

I am a hobbyist photographer who makes a little money on the side by selling photos of canine agility competitions. Since there's little value of an image except to the dogs' owners, I send them the image file and they're free to print or put up on their web site. Each image goes out with the statement that "images are licensed for personal, non-commercial use".

I had one woman contact me asking to put up an image on her dog training web site. I quoted her a very reasonable fee (under $100), and never heard from her again.

Two weeks later, I now see her using the image on her website.

So where do I go from here? I'm tempted to send her a letter demanding several hundred dollars for use, or I'll get lawyers involved. Given the fact that she knew enough to ask permission, she obviously knows a license is needed.

What a cow..sorry to hear about that. Could spend a couple hundred bucks and get a lawyer to write her a nasty letter demanding to take it down. Or you could send her an invoice, and when she doesn't pay it; take her to small claims court and force her to. Say you assumed she had the interest in buying the license for the image if she already went ahead and used it on her site; she's effectively expressing her interest in buying it.

The best course of action would be to try to work it out with her directly. Before doing anything, capture the use of the image on the website. Then call her and get her side of the story, then tell her what the 'new' fee is. I'd give her 3x or more over your initial quote for the infringement.

If she balks, just politely inform her the images are copyrighted, and by pursuing it through legal channels you will be asking for the same amount, but also to have your attorneys fees covered. Point her to the copyright law so she can see the damages and awards for willful infringement. Let her know that you don't want a hassle, however without a written grant of rights from you she can not prove she didn't infringe on your copyright. Therefore, there is a very high probability she will end up paying the fees, your attorneys fees, and possibly statutory damages if the judge so sees fit. Hopefully she will see she is not in the best of positions, and try to work something out.

If that fails, then you have to decide if its worth it to hire an attorney for $100-$300 dollars, and have them draft giving her a chance to clear it up prior to filing for infringement, and asking her attorney to contact your attorney ASAP. It should also state the same amount, with the attorneys fees now added as well. Hopefully, she will see you are serious, and try to negotiate her way out.

If not, it's probably best to write it off. Trying to take it to court for the amount in question would be too costly. You could spent $10K trying to collect a couple hundred dollars, and even if you won, there is no guarantee you will ever be able to collect. Working it out as best you can outside the legal system is the best avenue to take IMO.

Another avenue if you don't get satisfaction, is to get a DMCA take down issued on her website. That will at least stop her from using the image if nothing else.

sfaust wrote in post #7733152
Another avenue if you don't get satisfaction, is to get a DMCA take down issued on her website. That will at least stop her from using the image if nothing else.

Thanks for your suggestions.

I forgot to mention I'm in Canada, so I doubt DMCA would work.

Definitely take a screenshot to prove it. Then I would email her telling her to pay this amount of money to continue using it or take it down. Make sure the offer this time is more than the original offer too. If you don't hear from her, try emailing or calling again and if you don't get onto her, go further.

Send her the invoice, with a separate copyright infringement fee at 2x to 3x the cost of the original quote. Include a screenshot of her website. Send it by regular mail if you have her address. Be polite and professional. If you write a letter post it here first so we can check it.

If she fails to take the image down you can also approach the web-sites service provider and inform them they are hosting "stolen" images. That should result in them taking her site down.

Best of luck!

TJ

Send her the invoice, with a separate copyright infringement fee at 2x to 3x the cost of the original quote. Include a screenshot of her website. Send it by regular mail if you have her address. Be polite and professional. If you write a letter post it here first so we can check it.

I would advise against sending an invoice, based on most lawyers previous advice. Once you send them an invoice, you've done a few things that are counterproductive for pursuing infringement. One, is that you just set the value of the image which takes away the attorneys ability to get much higher rates for you. Second, you've made it more of a collection issue rather than an infringement. It can be implied that since you are trying to collect on a bill, the user has the rights and just hasn't paid for them. Rather than the user used the image without permission, and thus has infringed on your rights.

I'm curious about the difference in copyright law in Canada vs. US, in the US the best advice is to register the image pronto. Is it the same in Canada?

You also might want to make the theft known to the organizers of any competition in which she advertises or has customers participating in. Make it known in the community what she has done. When her reputation takes a hit, it might change he mind about stealing images. Who knows how many other images on her website she has taken without proper permission.

JasonBr wrote in post #7734555
You also might want to make the theft known to the organizers of any competition in which she advertises or has customers participating in. Make it known in the community what she has done.

BAD idea. Escalating this to the public can lead to a very nasty legal battle that the OP isn't guaranteed to win. NOT a good idea to disparage someone else publicly until and unless (a) you have absolute proof of your position (what if the woman says the OP gave her verbal permission?) and (b) every other possible avenue has failed.

I agree with Tim.........send her an invoice. I have done this many times -- sometimes it works.

sorry to hijack, but going through a similar experience today.

I had the same issue, only with a swimsuit mag. the editor called me for use of a particular image. I sent the image and asked if there was compensation involved. They said if they decide to use the image they would get back in touch. I found my image of the model with what seems to be a photoshoped swimsuit for this months cover. Ive used their image of the cover they post on the website and layered my original jpeg ontop. 99% positive its my image. What can I do?

In the future every time you put images on your computer you should apply copyright info to the meta data. This will ensure that if this situation were to arise again it could be resolved much easier. It's quick, simple and most people wouldn't even know it was there until you get to that point. And most businesses, print labs and web masters would check for copyright release before proceeding. Trust me it works. I've had Walmart, CVS and the local camera shop call my office to inquire about images that were dropped off for printing. All were stolen from the web.