I need an IP Lawyer referral, or is it even worth it to fight unauthorized use?

I find my work used all over the place. I use to issue DMCA takedowns, but as fast as I issue 1, I can find many other infringing sites/products.

I'm curious what an Intellectual Property Lawyer feel my options are, if they feel this is a battle worth fighting, and/or if they have a more efficient way to fight this.

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Brook

Well my feelings are that it's only worth it to fight it if the site doesn't take it down and you have a chance of getting compensation out of it. If it's being used by a generic popup SEO blog, honestly I think the chances of that are impossible.

Is there a more effective way to fight it? Definitely no. Huge movie studios with billions of dollars cannot even stop piracy of their content with their entire technical and legal team so I doubt you can do better than issuing takedown notices yourself.

Bionic963 said:

I find my work used all over the place. I use to issue DMCA takedowns, but as fast as I issue 1, I can find many other infringing sites/products.

I'm curious what an Intellectual Property Lawyer feel my options are, if they feel this is a battle worth fighting, and/or if they have a more efficient way to fight this.

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Instituting legal proceedings is expensive, aggravating, time-consuming and can go on, seemingly, forever. Before embarking on that strategy, make certain you have a viable case. If you think there is a chance of recovering any losses you have suffered as a result of someone using your work without authorization, you will have to bite the bullet and pay a lawyer for a consultation so that you can get a legal opinion on your question. Hopefully, you will fin a reputable and honest law firm that won't lead you down the wrong path. If the legal fees exceed the settlement or there's no settlement or judgement in yo favour- it's more money down the flusher accompanied by more wasted time and lots of stress!

If you have not taken preventative steps to protect your work, including a notice of copyright or a watermark with online postings, etc., you may not have a case. If you have not somehow mitigated the damages, you may be in bad standing. You can check with a law society in your jurisdiction as to a list of lawyers that specializes in IP and copyright law.

You may find out that you money, time and effort, will be better spent on preventative measures to protect your current work from unauthorized usage going forward. If you are doing commercial work, protective stipulations need to be intrinsic in your contracts as to limited usage, licensing and other such limitations and restrictions. If you sell your work along with unlimited rights, you lose control. If you put yo work online, even with notifications of copyright, you can not police the entered Internet to protect your rights. When you enter contests, competitions and exhibition, read the small print- you may be inadvertently surrendering to your rights.

Over the years, when I caught someone being naughty and using my work without payment or authorization, I simply sent them an invoice, In some cases, they simply sent me a check. In a few cases, they ignored my bill and then received my lawyer's letter and eventually they paid. All is good for a nominal legal fee and the cost of a registered letter!

I have been in the photograph business for a very long time and I have a simple policy about legal and financial matters. I pay upfront! I will consult my lawyer and accountant BEFORE I get into trouble to make certain my contracts and financial strategies are in order. I will design all my contract forms, work orders, and run the past the experts before print things up or adopting an important policy.

An ounce of prevent is worth a pound of cure! Wise words!

Ed Shapiro- Commercial and Portrait Photographer. Ottawa, Ontario Canada

JasonTheBirder said:

If it's being used by a generic popup SEO blog, honestly I think the chances of that are impossible.

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The photos I am having a problem with are fashion photos for a fashion design and apparel manufacturing company. Other sites take my photos, remove or crop out the watermarks, then post them on their own site, so that they can sell their own version of the garment to their customers.. I find my photos on Amazon, Pinterest, Ebay, and tons of other small online shops... Using my photos to sell a copy of the garment that is not even made by the apparel brand that is in my photo.

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Brook

Ed Shapiro said:

If you think there is a chance of recovering any losses you have suffered as a result of someone using your work without authorization, you will have to bite the bullet and pay a lawyer for a consultation so that you can get a legal opinion on your question.

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I really don't think there is anything I can do.. A lot of these infringers are in another country. I am in America.

Ed Shapiro said:

If you have not taken preventative steps to protect your work, including a notice of copyright or a watermark with online postings, etc., you may not have a case.

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I use watermarks, but they just crop them out, or remove them.. Some people remove them better than others.. Some of the photo I can clearly tell they removed them, and some of the photos, the watermark is removed very good! I guess it just depends how well the person knows how to use photoshop to alter the images.

Bionic963 said:

JasonTheBirder said:

If it's being used by a generic popup SEO blog, honestly I think the chances of that are impossible.

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The photos I am having a problem with are fashion photos for a fashion design and apparel manufacturing company. Other sites take my photos, remove or crop out the watermarks, then post them on their own site, so that they can sell their own version of the garment to their customers.. I find my photos on Amazon, Pinterest, Ebay, and tons of other small online shops... Using my photos to sell a copy of the garment that is not even made by the apparel brand that is in my photo.

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Dude, that is sad. Maybe you could do something if it is a major company with an Amazon storefront, but if it's a tiny temp company in another country making cheap knock offs probably the best you can do is report it to Amazon. Amazon has been cracking down on fraud so I would at least try and contact them about this store.

Is it worth it? I think it would definitely be worth it to the brands you are photographing for. Why aren’t they doing it?

Bionic963 said:

I find my work used all over the place. I use to issue DMCA takedowns, but as fast as I issue 1, I can find many other infringing sites/products.

I'm curious what an Intellectual Property Lawyer feel my options are, if they feel this is a battle worth fighting, and/or if they have a more efficient way to fight this.

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Checkout lawtog on Facebook. But I think you're looking at around $1500 for a lawyer to get heavy on people. And if they are the US at least, reckon you stand a good chance of getting your money back and maybe making a little.

It seems to me that the client is making the images or parts thereof available to their retail or online sales customers. If the photographs are used on the packaging, the retailers can show images of the package or parts thereof. If this is the case, it is possible that the ?" violators" are not doing anything they consider illegal or unethical. They are removing watermarks because they are distracting. In other words, they are assuming they are not violating anything.

If you want to prevent this or be properly remunerated for the extended usage you have two alternatives. You can include stipulations in your contracts that make the original client responsible for their customers utilizing the images whereby THEY will have to pay for extended usages. That is complex and difficult to monitor.

This suggestion is more practical. Usually, fashion photographs used for retail advertising have a limited lifespan or usefulness. Simply charge you the client a high fee that includes extended use by their customers. You are big compensated in advance, you don't have to worry of feel that you have been ripped off. After all, how can you "police" this situation? You find your images being misused by accident or chance in foreign countries- who and how are you gonna sue anybody?

The same problem exists if folks are using you images for generic clip art, etc. I doubt that a major corporation or ad agency would do that.

If you still feel you are suffering major financial losses because of these practices, it is wise to consult with a lawyer who specializes in copyright and IP issues and discuss the strategies of licensing, and other means of securing more control over your images and their usage. Perhaps designing a contract form to accommodate these matters.

Adjust your price list to accommodate various usages, subsequent insertions in ads and publications, local, national and international usage and display and exhibition venues such as posters, billboards, etc.

In my own case, some of my commercial work is exclusive to the clients. They are of no use to anyone else. They are not generic in nature. For example, shots of electronic equipment, industrial tools, items with visible logos and trademarks, unique jewelry or other handcrafted items., etc. These images are used in advertising campaigns or online E-business sites or printed catalogues or brochures and I am paid accordingly. The useful lifespan of much of this is limited- especially fashion items.

Ed Shapiro- Commercial and Portrait Photographer. Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Bionic963 said:

I find my work used all over the place. I use to issue DMCA takedowns,

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As you have discovered, only rarely worth the time.

Bionic963 said:

but as fast as I issue 1, I can find many other infringing sites/products.

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That's fantastic, see my notes below.

Bionic963 said:

I'm curious what an Intellectual Property Lawyer feel my options are, if they feel this is a battle worth fighting, and/or if they have a more efficient way to fight this.

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Here are two "more efficient" ways:

• https://www.pixsy.com/
• https://app.copytrack.com/

Hence my word "fantastic". If there is out-of-control violation of your copyrights, you may see a small but steady stream of passive income.

If the images are registered in the US Copyright office and the violations are in litigable jurisdictions, the I would not use the above services, I'd use a lawyer. Because the statutory penalties for registered images are huge.

If the violators have relatively deep pockets, there is always Richard Liebowitz, registration or no.

Member said:

Dude, that is sad. Maybe you could do something if it is a major company with an Amazon storefront, but if it's a tiny temp company in another country making cheap knock offs probably the best you can do is report it to Amazon. Amazon has been cracking down on fraud so I would at least try and contact them about this store.

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A couple years ago I spent time reporting several products on Amazon and Ebay.. They remove them but they would just pop back up under a diffrent listing... I eventually gave up..

What recently sparked my renewed interest is that, the other day I was served an AD on Facebook that featured one of my photos! Unauthorized of course!! I was like.. you have to be f'n kidding me...

Ellis Vener said:

Is it worth it? I think it would definitely be worth it to the brands you are photographing for. Why aren’t they doing it?

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The brand is a small business, custom made, direct to consumer fashion design / apparel manufacturer. They are looking to me to figure this out... (BTW, I part own the fashion brand as well).

Ed Shapiro said:

It seems to me that the client is making the images or parts thereof available to their retail or online sales customers. If the photographs are used on the packaging, the retailers can show images of the package or parts thereof.

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This is definitely not the case. The garments are not for wholesale to any other retailers for them to resell. The garments are custom made to order for each client. There are no photos on the packaging. The photos are only orginally posted by the Brand for direct sales and marketing for the brands own custom made apparel.

Go for the hosing company, they alway remove the content as they never want to get into a fight that is not theirs, most have a takedown route and it’s really simple, it hurts the websites who steal them because most of the time they are not told, their images just vanish.