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Images used but no acknowledegement or payment !

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cello33

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I recently covered some motorsport events and @ one event caught some interesting action shots , back at the press centre the publications representative suggested they they could use the images and asked if I would send them in to a particular email for viewing.

After not hearing anything from them , despite me following up the initial message I sometime later while flicking through the publication find one of my images reproduced in colour , size 2 x 3 . No credit on the photo was attributed to me and no payment or communication as ever been received.

What should I do now ? The magazine has a 100,000 uk circulation and possibly another 100,000 to 250,000 + world wide. The magazine has a disclaimer saying they admit no responsibility for unsolicited material - although I did discus the photographs with one of their employees befor sending it in. In my iniatial mail #i made this clear and requested they contact me itf they wanted to use the images in their publication so we could discus T+C.

I would be interested to hear how I should approach them and what I could expect in the way of payment . Thanks
 
They asked you to send in the images for evaluation, then they steal them ... breach of (oral) contract AND theft.

Give them a chance to avoid a letter from your lawyer and bill them triple your normal rate.

If they don't pay, sue. This kind of cr@p boils my blood.

Regards,
Mike

--
'shoot early, shoot often'
 
Stop the e-mail and place a phone call to them or better yet go see them in person. Talk to them and express your displeasure then ask then to compensate you for the use.

Bob]
cello33 said:
I recently covered some motorsport events and @ one event caught
some interesting action shots , back at the press centre the
publications representative suggested they they could use the
images and asked if I would send them in to a particular email for
viewing.

After not hearing anything from them , despite me following up the
initial message I sometime later while flicking through the
publication find one of my images reproduced in colour , size 2 x 3
. No credit on the photo was attributed to me and no payment or
communication as ever been received.

What should I do now ? The magazine has a 100,000 uk circulation
and possibly another 100,000 to 250,000 + world wide. The magazine
has a disclaimer saying they admit no responsibility for
unsolicited material - although I did discus the photographs with
one of their employees befor sending it in. In my iniatial mail #i
made this clear and requested they contact me itf they wanted to
use the images in their publication so we could discus T+C.

I would be interested to hear how I should approach them and what I
could expect in the way of payment . Thanks
Click to expand...
 
I had this same scenario with a Newspaper which had got the image off a CD I'd given to a racer who'd bought a lot of prints from me. The CD had a "copyright of" on it.

I emailed their picture editor, advised them that the image was my copyright, and had been used without my permission and without acknowledgement. I told them where and when I took the image (exif tells you), and advised then that they were in breach of the Copyright Design and Patent Act 1998.

I then stated that:- "As is customary in these situations and to avoid further action I amprepared to accept payment at your usual rates."

They apologised, said they thought the image was "Copyright Free", and paid up.

Getting too agressive might ruin your chances of either getting paid, or selling images to them in the future. Going to law will cost you more than the image is worth, and you will need deep pockets!

You do need to be careful with Press centres at Sports meetings, a lot of image swapping goes on, and most journalists are always on the lookout for freebies. If you do email images to them, always state "payment at usual rates", and keep a hard copy of your email. The trouble is that thesedays there are so many images floating about on the web that just get lifted, as well as Freebies in the Press sections of Team websites, assuming you have the password, that a lot of publications just think that's the standard practice.

Wasn't nearly so easy for them before Digital, scanners and the web.
Bob Neil said:
Bob]
cello33 said:
I recently covered some motorsport events and @ one event caught
some interesting action shots , back at the press centre the
publications representative suggested they they could use the
images and asked if I would send them in to a particular email for
viewing.

After not hearing anything from them , despite me following up the
initial message I sometime later while flicking through the
publication find one of my images reproduced in colour , size 2 x 3
. No credit on the photo was attributed to me and no payment or
communication as ever been received.

What should I do now ? The magazine has a 100,000 uk circulation
and possibly another 100,000 to 250,000 + world wide. The magazine
has a disclaimer saying they admit no responsibility for
unsolicited material - although I did discus the photographs with
one of their employees befor sending it in. In my iniatial mail #i
made this clear and requested they contact me itf they wanted to
use the images in their publication so we could discus T+C.

I would be interested to hear how I should approach them and what I
could expect in the way of payment . Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
KenC
 
I would print or send a copy of the original message regarding the initial contact about the image asking for them to contact you should they decide to use the image. Then give them a chance to pay the bill you hand them with it. If that did not work I'd file a law suit.

Sean
cello33 said:
I recently covered some motorsport events and @ one event caught
some interesting action shots , back at the press centre the
publications representative suggested they they could use the
images and asked if I would send them in to a particular email for
viewing.

After not hearing anything from them , despite me following up the
initial message I sometime later while flicking through the
publication find one of my images reproduced in colour , size 2 x 3
. No credit on the photo was attributed to me and no payment or
communication as ever been received.

What should I do now ? The magazine has a 100,000 uk circulation
and possibly another 100,000 to 250,000 + world wide. The magazine
has a disclaimer saying they admit no responsibility for
unsolicited material - although I did discus the photographs with
one of their employees befor sending it in. In my iniatial mail #i
made this clear and requested they contact me itf they wanted to
use the images in their publication so we could discus T+C.

I would be interested to hear how I should approach them and what I
could expect in the way of payment . Thanks
Click to expand...
 
same thing happened to me once - i billed double rates & received it, no problem. was an honest mistake. forget about legal action.
 
You may have done it already, but most people don't. Make sure you really copywrite the photo before you contact them. You may find they have already copywrited the photo before you. Keep in mind that you can batch copywrite numerous photo at the same time for the same cost. But I don't remember the details or benefit of the number copywrited at one time.
cello33 said:
I recently covered some motorsport events and @ one event caught
some interesting action shots , back at the press centre the
publications representative suggested they they could use the
images and asked if I would send them in to a particular email for
viewing.

After not hearing anything from them , despite me following up the
initial message I sometime later while flicking through the
publication find one of my images reproduced in colour , size 2 x 3
. No credit on the photo was attributed to me and no payment or
communication as ever been received.

What should I do now ? The magazine has a 100,000 uk circulation
and possibly another 100,000 to 250,000 + world wide. The magazine
has a disclaimer saying they admit no responsibility for
unsolicited material - although I did discus the photographs with
one of their employees befor sending it in. In my iniatial mail #i
made this clear and requested they contact me itf they wanted to
use the images in their publication so we could discus T+C.

I would be interested to hear how I should approach them and what I
could expect in the way of payment . Thanks
Click to expand...
--
GaryK
 
Thanks for your advice , I will keep you posted on developments but from talking to people it seems this publication has a habit of forgeting to contacting its contributors.

Is it normal practice to double or treble charge a offending magazine ?

As for price what would be a reasonable charge for a shot featuring a accident , ie know one else has contacted the publication withthe image or mine was more photogenic. The image was only produced 2x3 not a half page spread or anything.

Maybe if I had watermarked the image they would have contacted me or maybe they would not have printed it in the first place because of deadlines ?
Gary Kirkpatrick said:
cello33 said:
I recently covered some motorsport events and @ one event caught
some interesting action shots , back at the press centre the
publications representative suggested they they could use the
images and asked if I would send them in to a particular email for
viewing.

After not hearing anything from them , despite me following up the
initial message I sometime later while flicking through the
publication find one of my images reproduced in colour , size 2 x 3
. No credit on the photo was attributed to me and no payment or
communication as ever been received.

What should I do now ? The magazine has a 100,000 uk circulation
and possibly another 100,000 to 250,000 + world wide. The magazine
has a disclaimer saying they admit no responsibility for
unsolicited material - although I did discus the photographs with
one of their employees befor sending it in. In my iniatial mail #i
made this clear and requested they contact me itf they wanted to
use the images in their publication so we could discus T+C.

I would be interested to hear how I should approach them and what I
could expect in the way of payment . Thanks
Click to expand...
--
GaryK
Click to expand...
 
just a thought here..

when i used to freelance pictures to the daily newspapers in my city....

their standard mantra.. was along the lines of

invoice us... for the photo if it runs...... they would always say it was my responsibility to find out if it ran...

they are either to busy or dont care about calling you, rather than being upto something..... they figure if you see it and you want to be paid.. that you will send an invoice

so maybe your call should be an inquiry as to who to send the invoice too and what their standard rate is..

Geoff
 
Gary Kirkpatrick said:
cello33 said:
I recently covered some motorsport events and @ one event caught
some interesting action shots , back at the press centre the
publications representative suggested they they could use the
images and asked if I would send them in to a particular email for
viewing.

After not hearing anything from them , despite me following up the
initial message I sometime later while flicking through the
publication find one of my images reproduced in colour , size 2 x 3
. No credit on the photo was attributed to me and no payment or
communication as ever been received.

What should I do now ? The magazine has a 100,000 uk circulation
and possibly another 100,000 to 250,000 + world wide. The magazine
has a disclaimer saying they admit no responsibility for
unsolicited material - although I did discus the photographs with
one of their employees befor sending it in. In my iniatial mail #i
made this clear and requested they contact me itf they wanted to
use the images in their publication so we could discus T+C.

I would be interested to hear how I should approach them and what I
could expect in the way of payment . Thanks
Click to expand...
--
GaryK
Click to expand...
 
Never EVER send a non-watermarked image unless you have something in writing (good) or payment (better). The only exception is if you have an existing relationship with a publication or client and know that they will pay you.

The usage could have quite possibly been an innocent mistake...the guy that receives your email forwards the image to an editor or production person and asks if they're interested in using this shot. Close to deadline someone's looking for an image to fill a gap and they find yours, totally forgetting that they haven't cleared the rights to it. The bigger the publication - the easier it is to make this kind of mistake. I've been on staff at a few large publishers, and behind the scenes they are as disorganized as you can imagine.

Not that a mistake makes what they did any less forgivable, but a watermarked image would prevent this kind of mistake.

Dave
--
cello33 said:
Is it normal practice to double or treble charge a offending
magazine ?

As for price what would be a reasonable charge for a shot featuring
a accident , ie know one else has contacted the publication withthe
image or mine was more photogenic. The image was only produced 2x3
not a half page spread or anything.

Maybe if I had watermarked the image they would have contacted me
or maybe they would not have printed it in the first place because
of deadlines ?
Gary Kirkpatrick said:
cello33 said:
I recently covered some motorsport events and @ one event caught
some interesting action shots , back at the press centre the
publications representative suggested they they could use the
images and asked if I would send them in to a particular email for
viewing.

After not hearing anything from them , despite me following up the
initial message I sometime later while flicking through the
publication find one of my images reproduced in colour , size 2 x 3
. No credit on the photo was attributed to me and no payment or
communication as ever been received.

What should I do now ? The magazine has a 100,000 uk circulation
and possibly another 100,000 to 250,000 + world wide. The magazine
has a disclaimer saying they admit no responsibility for
unsolicited material - although I did discus the photographs with
one of their employees befor sending it in. In my iniatial mail #i
made this clear and requested they contact me itf they wanted to
use the images in their publication so we could discus T+C.

I would be interested to hear how I should approach them and what I
could expect in the way of payment . Thanks
Click to expand...
--
GaryK
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
cello33 said:
I recently covered some motorsport events and @ one event caught
some interesting action shots , back at the press centre the
publications representative suggested they they could use the
images and asked if I would send them in to a particular email for
viewing.

After not hearing anything from them , despite me following up the
initial message I sometime later while flicking through the
publication find one of my images reproduced in colour , size 2 x 3
. No credit on the photo was attributed to me and no payment or
communication as ever been received.

What should I do now ? The magazine has a 100,000 uk circulation
and possibly another 100,000 to 250,000 + world wide. The magazine
has a disclaimer saying they admit no responsibility for
unsolicited material - although I did discus the photographs with
one of their employees befor sending it in. In my iniatial mail #i
made this clear and requested they contact me itf they wanted to
use the images in their publication so we could discus T+C.

I would be interested to hear how I should approach them and what I
could expect in the way of payment . Thanks
Click to expand...
--
http://www.pbase.com/juuso
 
cello33 said:
Is it normal practice to double or treble charge a offending
magazine ?
Click to expand...
Most magazines are very aware of copyright issues and go to great lengths to ensure that they use only images that they have authority to publish.

I would consider this case both breach of oral contract and theft. A invoice triple the normal rate is normal in this situation.
cello33 said:
As for price what would be a reasonable charge for a shot featuring
a accident , ie know one else has contacted the publication withthe
The image was only produced 2x3
not a half page spread or anything.
Click to expand...
the amount most would charge for this type of image is not that great ... based on your original circulation and image size, I would say about $150 US.
cello33 said:
Maybe if I had watermarked the image they would have contacted me
or maybe they would not have printed it in the first place because
of deadlines ?
Click to expand...
Maybe, maybe not ... but the water mark advice is good ... all my e-mailed proofs contain the wording " proof only ... phone ###-#### for usage ".

And even this will not stop all unauthorized use ... there is still the potential for theft of your images after initial publication through scanning of prints and downloading of website images.

Regards,
Mike

--
'shoot early, shoot often'
 
I,ll call them early next week and see what they say as a email drawing attention to their error has not provoked any response.

Re copyright - in the UK I believe copyright is attributed to the owner of the work, i dont believe it is standard pracitce to contact a copyright body and register your images/words whatever ? Its standard practice to label in the info area that the image is copyrighted to whoever but even this is not required to own the copyright - 0bviously a good idea.

As for watermarking the images , we usually do but after speaking to the journo assumed ( ass - u + me ! ) that they would follow the guidelines as set down in the email. You live and learn - thanks for all the advice and I,ll let you know how it pans out.
Juuso said:
cello33 said:
I recently covered some motorsport events and @ one event caught
some interesting action shots , back at the press centre the
publications representative suggested they they could use the
images and asked if I would send them in to a particular email for
viewing.

After not hearing anything from them , despite me following up the
initial message I sometime later while flicking through the
publication find one of my images reproduced in colour , size 2 x 3
. No credit on the photo was attributed to me and no payment or
communication as ever been received.

What should I do now ? The magazine has a 100,000 uk circulation
and possibly another 100,000 to 250,000 + world wide. The magazine
has a disclaimer saying they admit no responsibility for
unsolicited material - although I did discus the photographs with
one of their employees befor sending it in. In my iniatial mail #i
made this clear and requested they contact me itf they wanted to
use the images in their publication so we could discus T+C.

I would be interested to hear how I should approach them and what I
could expect in the way of payment . Thanks
Click to expand...
--
http://www.pbase.com/juuso
Click to expand...
 
Copyright is automatically assigned to the creator of the picture. But if you go and register your copyright there is a big difference when there is a copyright violation. If the image copyright was registered before the violation you can get more money but the copyright is always yours.

--
Michael Salzlechner
StarZen Digital Imaging
http://www.starzen.com/imaging

photos at http://www.salzlechner.com/photo
 
Well I gave them a call and after speaking to them they agreed it was my image that they used and agreed to call me back regarding payment.

24 hrs later I,m still waiting for that call !

If i dont hear anything back by this time next week I will invocie them double my normal rate.

The only thing I,m not to sure of is what the normal rate is for that magazine - I dont want to sell myself short but also dont want to submit a overpriced bill. Anyone care to comment on a price for a 2x3 colour photo ( single use ) for a 100,000 circ publication.
Mike Salzlechner said:
Copyright is automatically assigned to the creator of the picture.
But if you go and register your copyright there is a big difference
when there is a copyright violation. If the image copyright was
registered before the violation you can get more money but the
copyright is always yours.

--
Michael Salzlechner
StarZen Digital Imaging
http://www.starzen.com/imaging

photos at http://www.salzlechner.com/photo
Click to expand...
 
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