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Legal question

Jess Edward
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p.1 #1 · Legal question

Hey guys I need a little legal advice.

A friend of mine just sent me a link to a design company called 160over90.com who has some work in their portfolio for a company called Pirate Surf and they have used a few of my images from my portfolio without any permission from me.

I was wondering what the protocol would be in this situation. I called them and they said I need to speak with someone who will be in on Thursday so I left him a voicemail asking him to call me immediately.

The friend who sent me the link is also a graphic designer who works at Apple and he said that there is a good chance that none of the ads they show for this company are actually real since neither of the websites they list in them are real and the only images they had to work with were 800px wide, but regardless they are still using my images on their website as advertising to get new business. He said quite often smaller design companies will create a fake client to showcase work to try to get more business with that type of client.

Im not sure what my next step should be other than calling this guy on Thursday and asking him who I should be sending the invoice for the use of my images. The obvious comment from anyone I told is "sue those pricks" which is much easier said than done.

Any advice would help.

Feb 19, 2013 at 11:55 PM

myam203
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p.1 #2 · Legal question

I would definitely mention an invoice. If they don't want to pay, ask them to take down the photos, and if they won't do that, talk to a lawyer and have them send a formal notice to remove the photos.

If none of that works, I suppose you could sue, but because of the costs involved, it's really a lost cause at that point IMO.

Feb 20, 2013 at 12:10 AM

davenfl
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p.1 #3 · Legal question

Your Canadian the firm is American, complexity extremely high right out of the box. Certainly talk to them but remember they might not have sourced the images but rather they could have come from Pirate Surf to the agency which is quite common. They look like a real live agency so they will be sensitive no doubt. Frankly the best advice since this already involves international copyright law is go see a lawyer immediately if you don't get satisfaction and forget this forum.

Dave

Feb 20, 2013 at 12:17 AM

gschlact
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p.1 #4 · Legal question

Contact their websites hosting company and issue the request citing Copyright infraction and they should take it down. Look up the proper term for the digital millennium rights act etc. no need to wait until Thursday.

Feb 23, 2013 at 03:20 AM

kdphotography
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p.1 #5 · Legal question

Make sure you have records of the violation with screen grabs recorded....

Feb 23, 2013 at 02:56 PM

Michael White
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p.1 #6 · Legal question

First did you register the with the copy right office in DC?

There is a blog for the photo attorney that had a piece on how to handle this sometime last year I would check it out and the proceed with a copyright lawyer if you expect some financial reimbursement if al, you want them to do is pull the images you can send letters to the website company and the host. They need to be certified if you want results. Again check out that blog and follower the steps outlined there. Iirc PPA have the form or sample letters for download somewhere. Pricing damages will be hard as you got to list damages( loss of income) plus penally( the amount charged for not doing it correctly)

Feb 26, 2013 at 08:53 AM

Daniel Smith
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p.1 #7 · Legal question

Look at a DMCA takedown notice if you want to force the issue.

If not, start talking with them so they will know your invoice is coming and it would have been a lot less if they had paid for the work before using it. I and friends use a minimum of 10x our normal rate for unauthorized use. Don't quote a price before finding out more particulars on their use and situation so you don't lock yourself into a set price - that will only cost you money.

If you just want it to stop and don't care if they become a client - hit them with a DMCA takedown notice without warning and send an expensive invoice as well. After making sure you have screen capture of the offending site for backup and court use.

Mar 16, 2013 at 03:38 AM

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