How would you catch this thief?

[dr dimento photography]

<p>MONEY: On the money Dave, with a lot of experience in this arena, most lawyers will give you an initial consultation for 25 to 50 where you sit down tell them your argument and then the two of you will decide what to do and therein they will give you an estimate.<br>

Now if you win the argument of infringment which won't take a lot of expense . . my guess is less than 1500 maybe even less than 600 depending on how much resistence there is on the part of the defendant, THEN you sue for the proceeds they have earned for using your copyright material and therein is where the attorney will work for percentage.</p>

[02Pete]

<p>Once you have purchased one of the T-shirts and have printed out copies of your online receipts as documentation, you should locate an attorney who has a professional background handling intellectual property issues. If you have any difficulty doing so, please note that most state bar associations in the U.S. have intellectual property law sections whose members are practitioners specializing in this area. </p>

<p>Once you have identified an I.P. attorney, contact him or her to request representation, and ask that he or she handle the matter on a contingency fee basis -- i.e., the lawyer will not charge you cash up front, but will keep an agreed-upon percentage of any money that he or she recovers as damages on your behalf. If the lawyer accepts your case, have him or her contact the operator of the commercial website on your behalf, asserting your ownership of the intellectual property in question (i.e. the original photograph), asserting that the operator's unauthorized use of the photograph constitutes infringement of your copyright or other intellectual property rights, demanding that the infringing use be discontinued immediately by removing the T-shirt from sale, and demanding compensation in the form of a licensing fee for all sales of that T-shirt made to date. </p>

<p>If the operator of the commercial website refuses to comply, consult your attorney about the options open to you at that point. Whatever you do, refrain from any harsh or intemperate communications with the operator of the web site that could be interpreted as threats -- if your lawyer ends up having to go to court on something like this, it will be important for him or her to be able to do so with "clean hands," i.e. without the operator of the commercial website being able to accuse you of imrpoper conduct.</p>

<p>I wish you the best of luck with this. Whatever you do, though, avoid investing too much of your time, energy and hopes in a successful outcome. If you and your attorney prevail, if you get the commercial operator to stop selling your images without your authorization, and if you get some money back, good. If not, however, don't get obsessed about it, as that will only make you unhappier without making the situation any better. Take what action you can to vindicate your rights in a reasonable and professional manner, keep things in perspective, and move on from there.</p>

[dan_stegal]

<p>The legal system takes a really long time and usually, the only people who really win are the lawyers.</p>

<p>Get ugly. You have proof that you are the owner of the copyright. You know who's selling it. Buy a domain name that resembles the thief's domain and add stolemywork .... so, let's say it's ZXY.com. YOu buy a domain called - XYZstolemywork.com. And on the webpage explain that the individual is using your work without you permission.</p>

<p>If you REALLY want to get ugly, imply that anyone who buys his T-Shirts may be subject to legal action - google 'SCO' and 'Linux'.</p>

<p>To get downright a-hole-ish imply that the owner of that site who's selling your work without permission is using the money to finance terrorism, human trafficing, and child pornography. Then publish is home address.</p>

<p> </p>

[boinkphoto]

<p>From what I understand if you want to have chance in court you have to have registered your images with the Copyright Office. I would start there.</p>

[dave_jacobs2]

<p>Dan, are you an attorney? Can you keep it going, Very interesting, I'd really like to hear more suggestions, <br>

how bout something with a sledgehammer? or a cannon? (not the camera, the other one).<br>

Thanks everyone!</p>

[michael s.]

<p>In some communities, Dave, there are nonprofit organizations that assist artists by arranging initial consultations with attorneys for nominal fees. By "nominal" I mean at rates appreciably lower than the usual hourly rates.</p>

<p>Might be worth checking into that in your city/community.</p>

<p>Having read the last paragraph of Dan's 5:34 post, I could forsee that one taking that advice literally (not at all sure it was meant to be taken literally) would very likely be in need of legal services ... but as a defendant, not a plaintiff. :-)</p>

[craig_gillette]

<p>Uh, somebody in dealing with Fairey says "fair use" allows derivative works. No. It doesn't. The AP has that Fairey issue in court and we probably won't see much on it for a while (which is my way of having something surprising pop out tomorrow). </p>

<p>The copyright owner has the right to control the making of derivative works. "Fair use" is a situation where something can legally be used without permission of the copyright owner.</p>

<p>Faiirey is savvy enough to claim inspiration, etc., and not derivation.</p>

[bill_dewberry]

<p>Ah yes, internet based legal advice and representation, the best money can not buy.</p>

[dr dimento photography]

<p>Awwww, now Dewberry had to go and muddly up the water. We were actually getting somewhere here and solving all the malfecence (sp) in the world. Thanks alot Bill :o)<br>

Dave, don't listen to all these "hold on man" people . . I'd go after the dude man. Hey, he might have sold 100,000 of these and thinking of retiring in FL with Jeb Bush and now you can ice those plans for him and get yourself a new motor home and travel around the country shooting new stuff and selling it for 10x cuz you'd actually get to go some interesting places instead of your local stuff. Know what I mean?</p>

[ross_warner2]

<p>Without reading all posts, I suggest you put all your documentation together and talk to an attorney.</p>

[nickjeftic]

<p>One of the PN members (Jelena Balic) had her photo "The Scream" used by a major corporation for a major add campaign after being sold to the company by someone else! Aparently her photo had been snatched from a web site, reprocessed (exif data, etc.) and submited to the company which finally used it. As I understand she now has a team of lawyers and is going through endless hassle trying to prove her rights.<br>

Good luck Dave....</p>

[ty_mickan]

<p>this happend just a couple of days ago to someone here in Australia on a local forum. He contacted them via letter or email with a 'please explain' and also a very large invoice. the pirate then settled for a lesser amount and is now in negotiations with the rightful owner to pay an ongoing licence. </p>

[steve m smith]

<blockquote>

<p>I could forsee that one taking that advice literally (not at all sure it was meant to be taken literally) would very likely be in need of legal services ... but as a defendant, not a plaintiff.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Not if everything posted was the truth.</p>

[mike_hitchen]

<p>It depends what your aim is.</p>

<ol>

<li>Do you want recognition for your work - reading between the lines it seems you are upset that he is making money out of your image but what has you really pissed is that he is claiming the credit. If he removes the claim that it is his work will that satisfy you? </li>

<li>Do you want to punish him? Punitive damages are the tricky ones, are the goldmine for the lawyers and can elad to real stress on your part.</li>

<li>Do you want some form of recompense such as a royalty payment? I think this would be the easiest way to get some form of financial recognition though how you prove how many have been sold is the tricky bit. But if it comes maybe you would both be both. You would have to agree the % (and if it is gross to nett?) and whether it applies to future or past sales and I think future sales would have far fewer complications.</li>

</ol>

<p>In my (non-legal) opinion I think 1 and 3 would be best.</p>

[john_lynch5]

<p>Read this posted by a PN member. <a href="http://www.cgstock.com/essays/copyright_lawsuit">http://www.cgstock.com/essays/copyright_lawsuit</a></p>

[gregory_c]

<p>mm, tough one to me, can you absoultley prove 100% that it is your photo ? not a person standing to your side who got the same shots ? I have seen newspaper/magazine images that were almost 100% the same, but taken by different photographers @ the same time standing next to each other.</p>

[dave_jacobs2]

<p>The images were from an impromtu, one-on-one photo-shoot I arranged on the spot.<br />Another photographer did walk over, i stopped & slammed him (verbally)...(he was a photo-terrorist!) before he took anything.<br />Usually I'm very mild-mannered, but then there are those moments when people will try to take advantage, <br />and i do what i have to to make it right,...like pursue this THIEF.<br />Someone else was wondering if my main concern was that he was taking credit for my work.<br />it's just one of many concerns...it's all bad!...now if the damn attorney would just call me back!</p>