Copyright violation. Selling my pictures without my permission!

[Junkie]

Check this out:

Copyright violation-Selling my pictures without my permission! - Canon Digital Photography Forums

What do you think this guy should do?

[thumper]

I was watching "Sneakers" this am and as the movie wrapped up, the good guys were able to ask for anything for their black box.

one asked for "clear my checkered past"
one asked for a Winnabago
one asked for a trip to Europe
one asked for "peace on earth and good will towards men"
one said "oh Im fine"

and when Carl was looking to ask for the hot chick w/ the oozie's phone number, Robert Redford came over and said "you know this is the brass ring"
he nodded and asked for her phone number anyway.

If the photographer wants to cash in & get out, and taking this as his brass ring he has a choice.

If he plans on staying in business as a professional paintball sports photographer, playing it a bit more cool would have been wise - but from the forum, it looks like the cat's out of the bag.

-- Great post Junkie....er I need more coffee.

[USArmyManOfWar]

This really isn't grey, it's black and white. Stealing is stealing, no sense in sugar coating it. However, the question is what to do? You could contact the person that stole your pics and ask for compensation. If you don't get anywhere, you could file a lawsuit, but you will most likely spend more money with your lawyer than any money you would collect from the courts. Maybe the best thing is to put a watermark across the entire picture (something that blends in with the background, but shows who owns the picture). Thieves will steal the easiest pics, ones where the watermark can easily be removed. Something to think about Rich.....

[Shrub]

He needs to talk to them, #1 they know what they did was Copyright infringement, #2 they also are taking for granted that they can roll over the little guy without much being said. With that being said I would let them know in a nice but firm way that they can take the easy way which is to compensate me for the use of my photo's at the going rate. Then there is the hard way which is for me to sue them for Copyright infringement which in turn will embarass them publicly...

Just my 2 cents

[DeepFreeze]

It is funny to me how when a big business files a lawsuit against a small company everyone is upset, but if it is a small businessman the first thing people say is sue sue sue. Personally I feel he should try to resolve it outside of the courts. If it doesn't work he could contact other business owners that the promoter works with to let them know the promoter doesn't have a problem utilizing other people's copyrighted material without permission for his own personal gain without compensation.

[warpedx]

Defnitely try to approach then in friendly negotiations first. A little sugar goes a long ways.

[tumor]

People have a right to protect their images. He needs to go to them and say something like " I noticed that you are using one of my photographs and that I would have liked it better if you had asked to use my images first. If they are a$$es about it then I would proceed in a legal direction. Its a matter of protecting your property whether it be intellectual or material. Its really a matter or principle. Nobody has the right to use a " copyrighted image ". If he hasnt protected it then he gets what he gets but if he has it legally protected the he can go for it. If he is infact one of the biggest photographers and has the correct legal protection then he should receive very little feed back from the industry. I guess the appropriate way to look at it is " How would you feel if it was your stuff that was getting ripped off?"

[Ragtop1968]

Shame. No, actually that might your only recourse, Shame. People don't like to look bad. The internet can be a more powerful instrument for change then the court system.

They probably will not make amends this time, but hopefully they will not want to make the same mistake again.

[Tigwldr]

Wow...This is not the first time this has happened to him. PBwarehouse.net used one of his photos in the logo on there page. He found it about a month later. They came to some sort of agreement that PBwarehouse would pay him for his picture but then he would in turn use that X amount of dollars to buy his sons team some equipment from PBwarehouse. It all worked out and at the time they only used one photo of his. Now they are pretty good freinds and they trade banner space and all types of stuff.

XPSL is to big. It would be like Junkie trying to sue CFOA. It just wouldn't work out in his favor. The photographer is right, he shots to many paintball photos. XPSL is tied in with NPPL. He would probably never take another picture of either series again if he sued over it.

[tumor]

I see your point...I am really not sure what I would do. If my making a living was tied directly into shooting paint ball photos then I guess I would tread lightly but if it weren't I would let them have it. Sometimes you have to make a stand or everyone will walk all over ya. I am sure that if he approaches it in a civil way they would cooperate with him... Who knows