Hi there
Long story short, a UK based news agency was passed copies of my family photgraphs by us as part of background to a story.
A contract was never entered into to work with said agency, they published a story without consent and we chose to get out rather than get involved.
They were never given permission to syndicate the story or photographs.
It now transpires that my photos are being sold on an international news syndication website with the copyright credited with the UK agency.
The issues so far as I can see are as follows:
1. The copyright is not theirs, it is mine. They are claiming false copyright.
2. The photos [and presumably syndicated news story] are for sale internationally, the company is based in Europe and hence not the sort of place I can drop into. This surely takes it outside the realms of a civil case where someone uses my photo without crediting me.
3. The managing director of the company has refused to speak to me.
4. They have done this before but because the photos were of unidentifiable objects no action was successful.
On the basis that it appears to be intentional misrepresentation of copyright ownership in a purely commercial context, does that make this a criminal issue?
I really hope it does because this agency is vile and I hope to take their trousers down and bend them over from this....
I sincerely appreciate your views on this, it's making my wife ill and me apoplectic!
Many thanks
You should buy Photo Professional this month. I have written a 3 page article on copyright, and will be doing a monthly column from next month.
Admin is spot on as always.
Thanks for trying, but this is all as wrong as it's possible to be.
The question is not where the Telegraph got the picture. As with car theft, it doesn't matter from where they stole it.
There is no "right to use" a photo from a blog with "a single quote". There is only the fair dealing exception which allows use for the purpose of criticism or review. That is not a general permission to use in any old context so long as you keep it brief. Nor is it what the Telegraph did.
Unless a photo is granted a Creative Commons license by the copyright owner, Creative Commons has absolutely nothing to do with this. Even where a CC license is issued, copyright law still applies.
The existence or absence of a copyright statement has no relevance either. It is not required by law, the onus is on the publisher/user to determine the copyright status and seek permission from the owner. The only safe assumption for any photo created later than about 1920 is that it is someone's copyright, and usage without permission will be infringement.
©A admin
The question is where did they take the picture from you?
Maybe if it was on a blog platform, they considered they had the right to use it with a single quote (creative commoms).
Did they quote you? What was the copyright underneath the picture?
I bumped into an article by the Telegraph that is using one of my copyrighted images without my permission:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/stephenhough/100052066/the-journey-...
It's the one of Buckfast Abbey.
I've sent them a takedown request, sent 3/Sept/11 and have had no reply and the image is still there.
What are my next steps? How can I maximise any revenue due?
Cheers
~~Mark Highton Ridley
The very first question one has to ask is what terms and conditions did you pass these pictures on with? If as you say you passed them on for them to use with the story, then from your description it sounds like that is what they are doing.
What contract did you arrange around reproduction etc?
Without having the full details it sounds like the agency are taking full advantage of what you made available to them. Whilst of course it is true that you have the copyright in your own work, did you assert this at the time and did you make it clear that you required payment?
These things can frequently be distressing and it is not uncommon for journalists to take advantage of material made available to them. But if you did not specify terms and conditions when giving them the images freely then it might be considered by some as a bit late to change your mind now.
They are a news agency and syndicating stories is what news agencies do. Were the family aware of this when the images were passed on? Did the person who passed the images on to them have your permission to do this? Have you discussed this with them as well?
Have you approached the agency with your concerns and what was their response? If not in writing them perhaps you might consider this as your next approach.
As a cast iron rule, never, ever give anyone any of your images without making it clear what they can and cannot do with them.
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