I'm annoyed

Kev M

Kev M

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You can call me Sir.
Edit My Images
Yes
Perhaps I've no right to be but I'm annoyed and need somewhere to vent my spleen. I've just had a look at the forum of the local autocross club that I photograph at and someone has put together a slideshow to music of a load of photos of his car from this seasons racing. Watching it I see that he's lifted almost every photo I've taken of him from my web pages to use in his slide show. Perhaps I should be flattered, perhaps not when I see some of the crap that's in there with them. I try to sell my photos to the drivers, I have to pay an entry fee to the races and even though I have to sign on as a marshal to get into the infield I don't claim any of the marshalls perks. If he'd asked maybe I wouldn't be so grumpy. It wouldn't have taken much to PM me and ask would it.:bang:

Sorry, rant over.
 
have you got a copyright logo and statement on your website? if so he's broken the law.
 
Darksaber said:
have you got a copyright logo and statement on your website? if so he's broken the law.
Click to expand...

You don't even need that, he has infringed on your copyright (which is automatically generated when you press the shutter button (sorry, squeeze the shutter button :D ).
Just drop him a polite email stating that you are a working professional (as I'm sure he already knows) & that the images copyright is yours. Also that you would be happy to allow him to use your images for a set fee (£, promotion, etc, etc - whatever you decide to charge) however he may not use the images for free - what is fair business practice in your eyes is not allowing one client to steal your images whilst charging another (obviously not those exact words, but you get the picture (ha!) as you have a professional reputation to uphold. I really stamp down hard on copyright infringement as it's just sneaky theft of someone elses property :bang: .
Also make sure that he understands that another reason that you do this is so you have a say in where your images are displayed & (depending on how vindictive you're feeling) also pass comment on the images that he is using apart from yours & say that you would not allow your images to be displayed alongside these.
I'm sure you'll sort it out amicably, but if not, you hold all the cards here (& can always send the mod's around :rules: :bat: :gag: )
 
Glad you don't think I was being unreasonable. I've sent him a polite email reminding him of my copyright status and asking him to remove the slideshow, remove my images from it or buy the images from me. I await his reply.

Out of interest, when you sell a JPEG instead of a print do you have any control over what can be done with it?
 
Even if you sell a jpg unless you specify that you are transferring copyright of that picture to a person you retain all rights to it - so you can have a say over what it can and cannot be used for - you'd get a list of prior agreed uses before the person busys it.

Thats my take on it anyway.
 
Darksaber said:
Thats my take on it anyway.
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And your take on it is spot on Matt, that's why a lot of companies demand full image reproduction rights & some even ask for you to sign over the copyright (never a good idea unless it's for a stupid amount of money - If one company wants it that much, its more than likely another will too).

Good on you for sticking by your guns with this Kev :thumbs: .
 
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