Copyright Question

I found one of my photos on the web site of a local CBS affiliate news
radio station's web site. They gave me credit but did not ask
permission. It was from an event photo series that I was actually
attempting to market to news agencies though I rarely bother doing that
it ****es me off that they did this. I don't suppose there is much to be
done about it, I will contact them & complain, I suppose I could insist
that they remove it though honestly I don't mind, not enough to put much
energy into anyways. I could simply ask for money, though it's not the
sort of thing that would pay much anyways, just a little 200 pixel
version on a 50-word news item:
http://www.kcbs.com/pages/2969056.ph...tentId=2748300
They got the photo from he
http://sundaystreetssf.com/activities.html
-which is a non-profit site that I support, but I never offered it up
for free commercial use.
the original as I posted it:
http://edgehill.net/California/Bay-A...streets/pg1pc4

So anyways, how would y'all approach this?

If I wanted to spend a couple grand on lawyers I could probably make a
stink but I have no interest in that.

--
Paul Furman
www.edgehill.net
www.baynatives.com

all google groups messages filtered due to spam

They should have got a release from you for your picture.




"Paul Furman" wrote in message
...
I found one of my photos on the web site of a local CBS affiliate news
radio station's web site. They gave me credit but did not ask
permission. It was from an event photo series that I was actually
attempting to market to news agencies though I rarely bother doing that
it ****es me off that they did this. I don't suppose there is much to be
done about it, I will contact them & complain, I suppose I could insist
that they remove it though honestly I don't mind, not enough to put much
energy into anyways. I could simply ask for money, though it's not the
sort of thing that would pay much anyways, just a little 200 pixel
version on a 50-word news item:
http://www.kcbs.com/pages/2969056.ph...tentId=2748300
They got the photo from he
http://sundaystreetssf.com/activities.html
-which is a non-profit site that I support, but I never offered it up
for free commercial use.
the original as I posted it:
http://edgehill.net/California/Bay-A...streets/pg1pc4

So anyways, how would y'all approach this?

If I wanted to spend a couple grand on lawyers I could probably make a
stink but I have no interest in that.

--
Paul Furman
www.edgehill.net
www.baynatives.com

all google groups messages filtered due to spam

wrote:
On Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:28:36 -0800, in rec.photo.digital.slr-systems Paul
Furman wrote:

I found one of my photos on the web site of a local CBS affiliate news
radio station's web site. They gave me credit but did not ask
permission. It was from an event photo series that I was actually
attempting to market to news agencies though I rarely bother doing that
it ****es me off that they did this. I don't suppose there is much to be
done about it, I will contact them & complain, I suppose I could insist
that they remove it though honestly I don't mind, not enough to put much
energy into anyways. I could simply ask for money, though it's not the
sort of thing that would pay much anyways, just a little 200 pixel
version on a 50-word news item:
http://www.kcbs.com/pages/2969056.ph...tentId=2748300
They got the photo from he
http://sundaystreetssf.com/activities.html
-which is a non-profit site that I support, but I never offered it up
for free commercial use.
the original as I posted it:
http://edgehill.net/California/Bay-A...streets/pg1pc4

So anyways, how would y'all approach this?

If I wanted to spend a couple grand on lawyers I could probably make a
stink but I have no interest in that.

A quick look at the original site didn't turn up any mention of copyright,
so I don't know how you might have a an easy claim.

Scroll down near the bottom"
copyright 1985-2008 paul furman
http://edgehill.net/copyright
"All rights reserved, copyright 1988-2008 Paul Furman, edgehill.net
All pictures are free for looking at and enjoying but if you are using
them for making money I want some too! Just send me an email & I might
have something better."

This does point to a
trend at my local newspaper too. They want "free" content. The local paper
has a web space that folks can post photos to that might eventually make
their way to the paper. However, once you post to this space you have no
further control.

I also posted these to flickr with the tag 'SFChronicle' which I know
other photog's use as a way of bringing shots to the local newspaper's
attention: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=SFChronicle

hmmmmm........
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...NS0T10VG69.DTL
"Want us to pick your flickr pictures? On the photo-sharing Web site
www.flickr.com, tag your images "SFChronicle 96Hrs." If we like it,
we'll run it here. We especially like Bay Area images and local
photographers. To view the 96 Hours gallery of flickr picks, go to
sfgate.com/96Hours."

--
Paul Furman
www.edgehill.net
www.baynatives.com

all google groups messages filtered due to spam

I'm not sure if you have any grounds on the copyright issue, but one thing I
did notice is that the picture used by KCBS is not one of the pictures you
posted at edgehill.net so it would not be covered by your copyright notice
at shown at edgehill. It is the same picture as shown at the
sundaystreetssf.com page you reference but I see no copyright notices there
at all.


"Paul Furman" wrote in message
...
I found one of my photos on the web site of a local CBS affiliate news
radio station's web site. They gave me credit but did not ask
permission. It was from an event photo series that I was actually
attempting to market to news agencies though I rarely bother doing that
it ****es me off that they did this. I don't suppose there is much to be
done about it, I will contact them & complain, I suppose I could insist
that they remove it though honestly I don't mind, not enough to put much
energy into anyways. I could simply ask for money, though it's not the
sort of thing that would pay much anyways, just a little 200 pixel
version on a 50-word news item:
http://www.kcbs.com/pages/2969056.ph...tentId=2748300
They got the photo from he
http://sundaystreetssf.com/activities.html
-which is a non-profit site that I support, but I never offered it up
for free commercial use.
the original as I posted it:
http://edgehill.net/California/Bay-A...streets/pg1pc4

So anyways, how would y'all approach this?

If I wanted to spend a couple grand on lawyers I could probably make a
stink but I have no interest in that.

--
Paul Furman
www.edgehill.net
www.baynatives.com

all google groups messages filtered due to spam

"John Smth" wrote:

I'm not sure if you have any grounds on the copyright issue, but one
thing I did notice is that the picture used by KCBS is not one of
the pictures you posted at edgehill.net so it would not be covered
by your copyright notice at shown at edgehill.

KCBS knows better. My guess is that an intern or low level
employee got lazy.

In the U.S., the omission of notice does not affect copyright
protection for works made after 1989:
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ03.html#omission

The lack of a copyright notice _can_ make it more difficult to prove
willful infringement, which increases the damages one may recover.

What _is_ germane is whether Mr. Furman has registered the work. If
not and the picture was published more than 3 months ago, recovery
is limited to actual economic damages. In this case, that's likely
to be a nominal amount.

My suggestion is that Mr. Furman write to KCBS and thank them for
the credit, point out that he did not place the image in the public
domain, and include an invoice for his standard license fee for
stock use.

--
Michael Benveniste -- (Clarification required)
Nid wif yn y swyddfa ar hyn o bryd. Anfonwch ar unrhyw waith ïw
gyfieithu.

On Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:28:36 -0800, Paul Furman
wrote:

I found one of my photos on the web site of a local CBS affiliate news
radio station's web site. They gave me credit but did not ask
permission. It was from an event photo series that I was actually
attempting to market to news agencies though I rarely bother doing that
it ****es me off that they did this. I don't suppose there is much to be
done about it, I will contact them & complain, I suppose I could insist
that they remove it though honestly I don't mind, not enough to put much
energy into anyways. I could simply ask for money, though it's not the
sort of thing that would pay much anyways, just a little 200 pixel
version on a 50-word news item:


Send them a reasonable invoice for one time use, and maybe they'll pay
it. (reasonable to me would be about $50 or so...)

On Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:40:58 -0500, wrote:

On Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:28:36 -0800, in rec.photo.digital.slr-systems Paul
Furman wrote:

I found one of my photos on the web site of a local CBS affiliate news
radio station's web site. They gave me credit but did not ask
permission. It was from an event photo series that I was actually
attempting to market to news agencies though I rarely bother doing that
it ****es me off that they did this. I don't suppose there is much to be
done about it, I will contact them & complain, I suppose I could insist
that they remove it though honestly I don't mind, not enough to put much
energy into anyways. I could simply ask for money, though it's not the
sort of thing that would pay much anyways, just a little 200 pixel
version on a 50-word news item:
http://www.kcbs.com/pages/2969056.ph...tentId=2748300
They got the photo from he
http://sundaystreetssf.com/activities.html
-which is a non-profit site that I support, but I never offered it up
for free commercial use.
the original as I posted it:
http://edgehill.net/California/Bay-A...streets/pg1pc4

So anyways, how would y'all approach this?

If I wanted to spend a couple grand on lawyers I could probably make a
stink but I have no interest in that.

A quick look at the original site didn't turn up any mention of copyright,
so I don't know how you might have a an easy claim.

By law everything is copyrighted. The claim is trivial. If the
copyright is not *registered* then the OP can't claim punitative
damaged, but still can persue reaonable fees.

This does point to a
trend at my local newspaper too. They want "free" content. The local paper
has a web space that folks can post photos to that might eventually make
their way to the paper. However, once you post to this space you have no
further control.

D.Mac wrote:
Publishers are allowed to display copyright
work from other publishers as long as they give due credit to the source and
the photographer.

Is this true? If the article was about a photo exhibit maybe but they
can't use my reporting. They couldn't take another reporter's writing &
just reprint it could they? (a lot of web sites do seem to do this).


It's not like you had a valuable photo, is it? Crappy
would be a kind description of it.

It's a good shot but I wasn't able to squeeze a dime out of it, and I
tried, so no loss. Maybe $50.

--
Paul Furman
www.edgehill.net
www.baynatives.com

all google groups messages filtered due to spam

Michael Benveniste wrote:

My suggestion is that Mr. Furman write to KCBS and thank them for
the credit, point out that he did not place the image in the public
domain, and include an invoice for his standard license fee for
stock use.

Thanks. That's probably a reasonable approach to take. I'm guessing they
never bother paying anyone and I think they should be at least called
out on that & made to go back & remove the image or pay me a few bucks &
change the credits to include a link to my web site.

--
Paul Furman
www.edgehill.net
www.baynatives.com

all google groups messages filtered due to spam

Paul Furman wrote:
D.Mac wrote:
Publishers are allowed to display copyright
work from other publishers as long as they give due credit to the
source and the photographer.

Is this true?

In general, no, it is not. The exceptions would fall under "fair
use".

If you disbelieve me, try publishing and offering for sale a book
whose sole content is copied from the pages of National Geographic,
giving credit for each use, and see how long it takes for you to get
thrown in jail and fined more than you are going to make in ten
lifetimes.

If the article was about a photo exhibit maybe but they
can't use my reporting. They couldn't take another reporter's
writing
& just reprint it could they? (a lot of web sites do seem to do
this).

The blogosphere gets away with a lot simply due to the difficulty of
policing it.

It's not like you had a valuable photo, is it? Crappy
would be a kind description of it.

It's a good shot but I wasn't able to squeeze a dime out of it, and
I
tried, so no loss. Maybe $50.

Valuable or otherwise, it's still copyrighted. If this was a CBS
affiliate then somebody likely screwed up, either by assuming that
someone else had obtained permission or by taking someone's word that
the provider of the photo held distribution rights--CBS is a very big
boy with deep enough pockets to be worth going after.

I suspect that contacting them and informing them that they have used
one of your photos without permission will get you some kind of
compensation unless they are _very_ sure of their ground. That
compensation will likely not be more than whatever Fotoquote comes up
with for that market and usage, plus a percentage bump because it was
their screwup (if you caught Barack Obama in flagrante with Willow
Palin or something it's another story), but they're unlikely to go out
of their way to **** you off.

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)