Chinese book company, Copyright.

Hey all, I just found out a Chinese book company has published a few of my photos without my permission. Is there anything I can do? Being that it is China and China isn't exactly strict on copyright laws, am I basically screwed?

I'm gonna say the odds are definitely against you, considering even world-renowned brands have their designs and products taken / copied / reproduced there and can do diddly squat about it.

Watermark your images.

ashdavid wrote in post #11368547
Hey all, I just found out a Chinese book company has published a few of my photos without my permission. Is there anything I can do? Being that it is China and China isn't exactly strict on copyright laws, am I basically screwed?

considering how the Chinese auto industry blatantly copies car designs from other manufacturers, i have little hope in them doing anything about this.

I also recommend watermarking your photos.

Unless they're only going to sell the book in China, you might be able to stop their sales in other countries that respect ©. You're going to need better advice than I can give, so see my entire post at the bottom.
So this magazine stole my pics and used them in a feature

Sorry to hear that! I know how you feel.

I haven't had to deal with China yet, but my illustrations (drawing clipart and other art is what I do for a living) have been used for various professionally printed stuff in Taiwan among other places.

Since it's not illegal in Taiwan there is nothing I can do about it there, but as soon as I find out about items being sold in countries where it is illegal I contact the re-sellers. So far they have been a big help. They have returned items in question to Taiwan and demanded to get their money back.

It's frustrating, but I try not to worry about it or else I wouldn't be able to draw anymore, because I'm told about new cases of copyright infringement several times a week. For example, Office Max used to sell stickers made from my artwork, and in Mexico there's a bookshop with a whole line of products made from my illustrations. They have even used one for the store welcome sign.

ashdavid wrote in post #11368547
... am I basically screwed?

Duhh,
Of course you are.

And don't think that it's not part of the government's overall plans against non-Chinese industries. That is still a totalitarian government that has no compunctions against putting a bullet in the head of anyone who harms its own interests. They could control copyright violation if they wanted to.

My photos are watermarked and copyrighted, due to having photos stolen in the past.

I am looking into things, but the book may also be sold in Asia which could help things a little as some of those countries have laws for this.

Anyway thanks for all the advise and PhotosGuy, thanks for the link, very helpful.

In most parts of the world, an image you make is automatically copyrighted the moment you click the shutter. You don't need to do anything. It's yours, with the possible exception that if you are working for someone else taking the photos, in some situations they would own the image instead of you.

A watermark isn't necessary. Nor is a (C) and the date or your name or anything at all.

Those are just enhanced protections, to discourage theft of your images... But see the note below.

With an image where the copyright is unregistered you are entitled to pursue payment for any use without your permission. You should contact the company. demand they cease and desist, and demand payment for usage based upon standard usage rates. If they fail to respond, you can file suit for standard usage rates and will usually bring your case in a small claims court (or the equivalent in whatever country where you are located). Usually in these cases the award is not enough to hire an attorney, so you are pretty much on your own. There are probably some minor court costs involved in filing the lawsuit, too, which you cannot recover. You can win a judgment by default if it's a foreign user who fails to respond in any way. That might be all you end up with, but the company will have that judgment hanging over their head if they ever want to do business in your country.

Now, to best protect your images you should register your copyright. This can be done in large batches at relatively low cost. You'll have to look into how it's done in your country. Here in the U.S. it's simply a matter of burning a disk with as many thumbnails of the images as you can fit onto it, then sending that and a check for $35 or $40 to the government copyright office.

The main advantage of registering your copyright is that you have recourse to much more if any of your images are ever stolen. In addition to usage fees, you can be awarded punitive damages and have your legal expenses reimbursed.

The difference here is one or a few hundreds or perhaps a few thousands of dollars in the case of an unregistered image, compared to potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in the case of one that's been properly registered. I seem to recall reading about one of the largest awards not too long ago, with something like 50 images involved, all properly registered, where $12 million was awarded.

Also, at least here in the U.S., with a registered image you will be bringing suit in federal court and you will have a much easier time getting legal representation since your legal expenses will be paid. A judgment from federal court will have much more weight than one from a small claims court.

Note: Further, at least here in the U.S., if the person who used the image deliberately removed or otherwise circumvented copyright protections, such as removing a watermark or EXIF data embedded within the image, with a registered image there is an additional $35,000 per instance award, on top of the usage, punitive and legal expense awards.

Any country that signed the Berne Convention is obliged to act to protect the copyright of the resident of any other signing country. So, look up to see who signed. As of 2008, 164 countries had agreed to participate.

amfoto1 wrote in post #11372339
Also, at least here in the U.S., with a registered image you will be bringing suit in federal court and you will have a much easier time getting legal representation since your legal expenses will be paid. A judgment from federal court will have much more weight than one from a small claims court.

Don't forget the cookbook was printed in China and probably for Asian distribution.. Asia is the knock off capital of the world (I love my knock off Rolexes and Mont Blanc watches) and threatening legal action will only be ignored.. There is nothing you can do about it..

A note to the OP, move on and take it on board as experience..