Stolen Image - any advice for me ?

[J Gordon]

Trading Standards, I believe wont intervene because it is a business to business transaction, and not a business to consumer transaction.
You do need to find his address and then invoice by Recorded Mail, he may not check into the site for several weeks for all you know....£500 for a 12 month licence seems perfectly reasonable to me.
Working in graphics he ought to be fully aware of copyright, so even without notices on the site, he would have a hard task defending his actions in court, I doubt he needs the hassle, and wont want to go back to the drawing board for a design for his vehicle, plus those expenses.
If it goes to Court ie if you have to issue a summons and claim through Small Claims I believe you can add 8% interest from the time of theft to the the time of court action, plus your own costs.
Good luck with the recovery, it's a great image too good to be simply stolen by a wide boy. Give him hell until he pays.

 

[dseered]

Just had a PM back from him saying he will remove the image, going to have a think about the way forward today, I will most likely forget it now.

I am surprised to receive this PM and I shall, of course remove the image from my van as it was never my intention to cause offence. I'm very disappointed you didn't feel you could say anything to this effect directly to me, face to face at Park.
I understood photography to be your hobby rather than a profession and as the picture was posted on a public forum which anyone has access to, I don't believe any offence has been committed.
I do take a very dim view of accusation of crime either privately or publicly.
As I said the image will be removed immediately.

 

[2blue4u]

I have been unable to locate his business address, comapnies house show a similar sounding business name in the area that was dissolved some time ago.

If you want an address for him and his business then give me what you have. One of my businesses deals with just this type of 'research'.

Allan, that is a very interesting point you've raised there as usually ignorance of the law is not a defence under the UK Criminal Justice System. However, the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act does have this clause under Chapter VI s.97 (1) which states:

"Where in an action for infringement of copyright it is shown that at the time of the infringement the defendant did not know, and had no reason to believe, that copyright subsisted in the work to which the action relates, the plaintiff is not entitled to damages against him, but without prejudice to any other remedy."

This is very unusual and to the best of my knowledge it is the only Act of Parliament with this clause.

Hope I haven't rained on your parade but I thought you should be aware.

I very much doubt if someone working in the graphics business could use this as a defence. He'll know as much about copyright as pro togs do.

 

[allanm]

Just had a PM back from him saying he will remove the image, going to have a think about the way forward today, I will most likely forget it now.[/I]

Well I think you acheived the desired effect, pursuing any further really would be very difficult.

Hacker, thanks for expanding on the Act (Chapter VI s.97 (1)) I was aware of it but tried to put it in laymans terms. That act is very useful to know as it shows just how difficult it can be to retain ownership of your work.

Allan

 

[JumboBeef]

Sticking my neck out here, I would have done this differently.............

OK, he is going to remove the image, but both he (and you?) are pretty fed up about the situation. £500pa might be fair, but there was no way he would pay £10 per week to keep the image on the back of his van. I think I would have said to him he can use the image (on that van only, and it would need to be removed if he sold the van) for:

1/ a one off payment of £100
2/ your name/web address on the bottom corner (free advertising for you).

You would have received £100 plus free, on-going advertising...........

 

[Byker28i]

Just had a PM back from him saying he will remove the image, going to have a think about the way forward today, I will most likely forget it now.

I am surprised to receive this PM and I shall, of course remove the image from my van as it was never my intention to cause offence. I'm very disappointed you didn't feel you could say anything to this effect directly to me, face to face at Park.
I understood photography to be your hobby rather than a profession and as the picture was posted on a public forum which anyone has access to, I don't believe any offence has been committed.
I do take a very dim view of accusation of crime either privately or publicly.
As I said the image will be removed immediately.

I think I'd point out that you spent a lot of money on your equipment and ask how he'd feel if someone just copied and used his work.

 

[pearce_jj]

In all seriousness how about getting your name / number on it? I think getting any money paid will be a fruitless exercise that will only stress you out.

Plus, you might be able to get more work through his customers?

 

[dseered]

Well came home from work to a message after the one I sent this morning....
Me

It is a hobby but why should your business benefit from my work ?

I didn't come back to talk it through with you because I was so angry, you knew it was my image but you didn't even have the courtesy to ask for its use.

Him...

If I forgot my manners on race then please accept my sincere apologises.
The image and the text "Image by dseered photography" have now been removed.

Well I have blown the back of the van up as big as it will go and I don't see no text, spotters are out now though and will just have to wait and see if it really has been removed - I doubt it !

Many thanks for all your advice, for now though the matter is closed.

 

[photon]

Nice shot!

It doesn't pay to be nice - the most it seems to get you is removal of the image and an apology.

I've had a case where the offender made the point that there was no contract so my invoice had no legal status. I was going to take him through Small Claims when I read the NUJ Freelance article about this no longer being an available route for copyright claims. The Govt's IP Office suggest mediation, but that'll cost at least £100/hour.

My suggestion is notification to the offender stating that an invoice is on the way, with a 7 or 14 day payment period. If that doesn't work, Thomas Higgins are an online debt recovery solicitor who will send a Letter Before Action for £2.35 (but if that doesn't work . . . ?)

Suggest that all correspondence will be blogged. My copyright statement now mentions a couple of offenders stating that no licence will be granted, to give them some adverse publicity.

For six months I've had a dispute with local government. They've got their own legal dept and so must be fully aware they are immune from a court case. However, a complaint to their ombudsman is starting to look attractive. The "elected" councillors have all sorts of business relationships and can't be trusted an inch. The local newspaper editor is one of their cronies so blogging could be the best option for similar cases.

Hacker's quote:
"Where in an action for infringement of copyright it is shown that at the time of the infringement the defendant did not know, and had no reason to believe, that copyright subsisted in the work to which the action relates, the plaintiff is not entitled to damages against him, but without prejudice to any other remedy."

-- I see this as a defence against an accusation of secondary infringement e.g. when someone has been granted a licence by the primary offender. Secondary infringement can be treated as a criminal offence.

 

[mewstar]

it's not even as if he's used you pic subtley... it covers the whole of the back of the van

 

[Gary]

i dont agree with some of the posts on this thread. It seems quite a few people have advised 'going for the jugular'.
In my experience it normally pays to be polite. I've had situations where people have used my photos, I've explained the situation to them, they have apologised, we've come to an arrangement on supplying more photos. They then recommend me to their friends and i get more work.

Forgive me, but the whole 'go for the jugular' method sounds like the kind of internet bravado that people suggest to others, but wouldnt necessarily do themselves in the same situation.

 

[Treesie]

We have gone as far as issuing a summons before with a resulting court order. We didn't 'go for the jugular'. We'd tried the polite route to negotiate but as Photon says it didn't get us anywhere. The other party were
This was a last resort and the only way to go. I certainly wouldn't suggest anything I wouldn't do myself.