I work for a magazine here in Montreal.
All photos are mine, meaning i have the copyright on them.
For who knows what reason, someone did a copy of 9 photos on a cd-rom
a gived it to an institution where we did the shooting.
I've never give the authorization to make copies and give them.
The guy who has the cd-rom now asked me to sell him a unlimited license
but didn't accept my price.
No problem here!
The only thing that bothers me is that someone gave a cd-rom without any authorization.
And I don't know if they were other copies.
And if someone would eventually use them.
What should I do?
Tell the guys at the magazine that its strictly forbidden to make copies without authorization?
Should I tell the guy who received the cd-rom the same thing?
Tell the clown who made the copy to contact whoever he passed the CD on to and point out that they cannot use the images without permission. He screwed up so he should fix it and get you a confirmation in writing.
You might need to cut him some slack if he didn't realize who owned the copyright but as a staffer he should have been aware that ALL photos belong to someone, whether the publisher or the photograher.
These threads always slightly amuse me as more often than not the OP knows what he/she needs to do but if after some magic answer or validation.
Best to tread lightly, dont rip him a new one unless he/she knew it was the wrong thing to do. I agree, the CD sender should call the client and explain.
Well, even if the miscreant is no longer part of the organization, it may still be necessary for the magazine to review it's policies and educate the "employees" (everyone, even if not paid, etc.) on legal compliance issues. This doesn't have to be a huge drawn out process but at some point if court actions developed or were a possibility (not necessarily out of this incident), staff ignorance is hardly going to be an acceptable defense.
Sending a letter confirming the ownership and rights status of the images is probably a good idea until negotiations, if any, are completed.
Craig Gillette wrote:
Sending a letter confirming the ownership and rights status of the images is probably a good idea until negotiations, if any, are completed.
you're absolutely right Graig
I will work for the magazine this coming week and I will send a letter to all the employees
about ownership and rights.
andrew81 wrote:
Best to tread lightly, dont rip him a new one unless he/she knew it was the wrong thing to do. I agree, the CD sender should call the client and explain.
Ah the digital world
Everyone knows in his conscience that it's ethically wrong to just give out copies of photographs that aren't his. Whether or not he cares is another story.
