Royal Mail have lost my image.......

nickjohnwatson

nickjohnwatson

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Nick
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Just wondered what everyones opinions on this matter are.....
I had an image selected for use as part of a limited edition print run, these were to be sold as limited numbers of anything between 5-50
I'd signed a contract that stated that the image would only be used for that purpose and would not be sold or advertised anywhere else for sale. The minimum advertised prices for the photos would be £250. I sent a USB stick along with the contract back to the printer via signed for recorded delivery (i know the guy and he is trustworthy) and he's recieved the envelope which was barely sealed back up with no USB stick in.
Obviously the photograph can't now be sold as exclusive as theres a 100MB TIFF file floating about somwhere due to the mess up.
Is there any point in complaining to royal mail about it? Theres no guarantee my photo would have sold but thats not really the point, the point is that the exclusivity has gone.....

just your thoughts?

Nick
 
Put the file on a new USB stick and courier it over.

It's probably on the floor of a sorting warehouse somewhere.
 
nickjohnwatson said:
more than likely, what if I do and then for some random reason (unlikely) it does turn up and someone who's possibly purchased it of the premise if it being a ltd edition sees it somewhere else?

very unlikely i know but still......
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To be honest Nick there is nothing you can do about that, lets face it I've seen examples where people have ripped of web size files and used them to sell stuff, okay the quality has been s***e but there is nothing your going to be able to do, this is unfortunate but theres not a lot you can do about it in reality
 
MWHCVT said:
To be honest Nick there is nothing you can do about that, lets face it I've seen examples where people have ripped of web size files and used them to sell stuff, okay the quality has been tummymude but there is nothing your going to be able to do, this is unfortunate but theres not a lot you can do about it in reality
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i figured that would be the answer lol
oh well!
 
I think it's quite a stretch to say the exclusivity has gone.
 
nickjohnwatson said:
I sent a USB stick along with the contract back to the printer via signed for recorded delivery

Nick
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Bad, bad idea Nick. All Recorded does is add at signature at the other end, the item just gets dumped into the mess that is normal post and could be lost or damaged at any point in it's journey.

If the item has a value to you (which it obviously does), do yourself a huge favour and send it Special Delivery. It would then be kept in a separate channel and has to be checked and signed for at each handover.
 
Surely the image can still be sold as limited edition? There would still only be your limited set of authorised prints for sale. If any others turned up on the market, they would be illegal and you would be within your rights as the copyright holder to take legal action (I assume you've got the RAW file, or some other proof that you took the image, if it ever came to that).

Even if you'd never lost the image, someone could still lift it off your website, or buy one of the limited edition prints, scan it and then start selling their own unauthorised (and illegal) copies. I don't see any difference here. Just send them a new digital file and don't worry about it.
 
nickjohnwatson said:
well it wouldn't be exclusive if its in more than one place lol
pretty much resigned myself to the fact theres not much i can do :)
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Because of course the person stole the USB stick simply to get your photo?

Your photo is still exclusive.
 
Archy said:
Adding to what Dave1 said I recommend encrypting any file you send out into the world with a password that you can convey to the recipient once they do receive the thumb drive. That would reduce any potential IP infraction.
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Good idea, encrypt the file and email the password to the receiver. Though hopefully with RMSD the problem shouldn't occur again.
 
Dave1 said:
Bad, bad idea Nick. All Recorded does is add at signature at the other end, the item just gets dumped into the mess that is normal post and could be lost or damaged at any point in it's journey.

If the item has a value to you (which it obviously does), do yourself a huge favour and send it Special Delivery. It would then be kept in a separate channel and has to be checked and signed for at each handover.
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Lesson learned eh :-) cheers for the reply :)
melaniejane said:
Surely the image can still be sold as limited edition? There would still only be your limited set of authorised prints for sale. If any others turned up on the market, they would be illegal and you would be within your rights as the copyright holder to take legal action (I assume you've got the RAW file, or some other proof that you took the image, if it ever came to that).

Even if you'd never lost the image, someone could still lift it off your website, or buy one of the limited edition prints, scan it and then start selling their own unauthorised (and illegal) copies. I don't see any difference here. Just send them a new digital file and don't worry about it.
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Yeah I've got the RAW file, could put them to them and see what they say i guess
inkiboo said:
Because of course the person stole the USB stick simply to get your photo?

Your photo is still exclusive.
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i wasnt implying that someone has magically somehow known it was a photo on a USB stick lol
 
I think most people would probably see the value of the USB stick rather than the photo and just delete the contents so they can use the stick themselves. Though I think its more likely that the stick fell on the floor of a sorting office somewhere and has since been trodden on or lost.
Just pop the image on another stick and send it special delivery this time.
 
Mandoo said:
Though I think its more likely that the stick fell on the floor of a sorting office somewhere and has since been trodden on or lost.
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That's extremely likely, sending something like a USB stick in an envelope through the normal post means it's got a good chance of getting caught up in a sorting machine or similar and ending up on the floor while the envelope continues through the machine.

When the cleaner came around the stick probably went into the bin.
 
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