D700 Doug Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 I am not sure this is the right forum area but .....I have had an interesting 24 hours after discovering a camera shop had stolen my image of a smashed D200 and lenses and used it as advertising for their repair department on line.Had they bought the image it probably would have cost them less than $50 I sent an invoice for $695 last night and followed up today to ask how they would like to pay( they had removed the image from their web page first thing this morning ) They did not reply so I gave the manager a call and was told rudely that they had removed the image and they had only used it for a few months anyway.I thanked him for confirming the theft and asked how he would like to pay.I then spoke to the accounts officer who told me my charge was unreasonable and I had to immediately send them a "Proper invoice at a reasonable price by registered post " before they would consider if they paid.I made up a new invoice charging them $1,073 for time travel and postage.They immediately agreed to pay me the $695 I sent them a new invoice for $1175 for my time in making a new invoice and replying to their offer, I also got onto their head office ( Franchise owners ) and a photographers group on Face Book who bombarded the company FB page with comments about a camera store stealing photos and not respecting photographers.The upshot was I got a very pleasant call from the General Manager of the franchise saying they will be happy to pay $1,200 and supply a written apology,we agreed on that.It was an interesting day.If you find stolen photos it can be worthwhile following up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Indeed ot can, I had a similar experience last month. A single infringment compensation exceeded all my gross Alamy income for the last 3 years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Interesting indeed. Found a photo of mine on a travel website last night. Was wondering what my rights were / are ? Photo not being used with my permission and stolen from an old website which would have been right click protected at the time. They must have screen grabbed it. Thinking .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Interesting indeed. Found a photo of mine on a travel website last night. Was wondering what my rights were / are ? Photo not being used with my permission and stolen from an old website which would have been right click protected at the time. They must have screen grabbed it. Thinking .... If it's a UK company you can go down the small claims route if they don't pay up, but do follow the EPUK route and don't just send a bill. Other countries do things differently and Doug's approach probably wouldn't stand up in court here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sultanpepa Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Well done Doug. I envy and admire people with the confidence to do that. I can see a certain store manager with a P45. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Spacecadet, brilliant advice with epuk site. Many thanks for this ! Will pursue. Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D700 Doug Posted November 27, 2014 Author Share Posted November 27, 2014 Small claims are great if you live nearby I would have had to travel 3,500km to attend court ( costs would have been fun as I would have become scared of flying and taken the Indian Pacific, I also cannot travel on public transport without my wife as I have medical conditions so she would have accompanied me ) If I need to I usually had the matter over to local debt collectors That usually works Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D700 Doug Posted November 27, 2014 Author Share Posted November 27, 2014 Indeed ot can, I had a similar experience last month. A single infringment compensation exceeded all my gross Alamy income for the last 3 years can we ask what steps you took ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Small claims are great if you live nearby I'm talking about England of course We now have a specialist small claims track for IP in London which takes cases by post so if a case can be decided on the papers, as yours probably could have, it's ideal. If not England is a little smaller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dyn Llun Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 I applaud his stand against blatant theft. Well done indeed and a just outcome. Lets hope the manager of that shop is given a severe rap on the knuckles, or somewhere else, or worse. More photographers should take a zero attitude to image theft. I have for many years and I think it has paid off in time. I noticed one my images used quite blatantly just a few hundred yards from my West Wales home, (as opposed to my Snowdonia home, which I could afford to buy because I have taken a zero attitude to image theft all my working life) on a County Council tourist information board. I found the freelance design company through the council and sent them a hefty bill. They tried to fob me off but like Doug, I went over his head and contacted the local authority for whom the work was being done. They instructed him to pay my bill and promptly cancelled any further work with him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 I am not sure this is the right forum area but ..... I have had an interesting 24 hours after discovering a camera shop had stolen my image of a smashed D200 and lenses and used it as advertising for their repair department on line. Had they bought the image it probably would have cost them less than $50 I sent an invoice for $695 last night and followed up today to ask how they would like to pay ( they had removed the image from their web page first thing this morning ) They did not reply so I gave the manager a call and was told rudely that they had removed the image and they had only used it for a few months anyway. I thanked him for confirming the theft and asked how he would like to pay. I then spoke to the accounts officer who told me my charge was unreasonable and I had to immediately send them a "Proper invoice at a reasonable price by registered post " before they would consider if they paid. I made up a new invoice charging them $1,073 for time travel and postage. They immediately agreed to pay me the $695 I sent them a new invoice for $1175 for my time in making a new invoice and replying to their offer, I also got onto their head office ( Franchise owners ) and a photographers group on Face Book who bombarded the company FB page with comments about a camera store stealing photos and not respecting photographers. The upshot was I got a very pleasant call from the General Manager of the franchise saying they will be happy to pay $1,200 and supply a written apology, we agreed on that. It was an interesting day. If you find stolen photos it can be worthwhile following up Yeah! Good for you and I'm proud of you for standing up for your rights! Which photographers group on Facebook? I'm familiar with Photo Stealers. Is that the one? I need to put the public screws to a few that are blowing me off right now. L Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 I'd call that a smashing day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Interesting indeed. Found a photo of mine on a travel website last night. Was wondering what my rights were / are ? Photo not being used with my permission and stolen from an old website which would have been right click protected at the time. They must have screen grabbed it. Thinking .... Just downloaded draft letter from EPUK and filled in the blanks and emailed to a website using my photograph without permission. Not sure which country the site is in though, very scarce info on the site apart from finding a business name and address at company house. Same name. Lets see what the reply is if any ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TokyoM1ke Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 Ace, have you tried a "whois" search on the domain name (site and/or email address)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 Ace, have you tried a "whois" search on the domain name (site and/or email address)? Sound advice mike thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arletta Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 Wow, Doug, this is great thread, thanks for sharing and congrats on "sale" ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D700 Doug Posted November 28, 2014 Author Share Posted November 28, 2014 Yeah! Good for you and I'm proud of you for standing up for your rights! Which photographers group on Facebook? I'm familiar with Photo Stealers. Is that the one? I need to put the public screws to a few that are blowing me off right now. L ========================== https://www.facebook.com/groups/fapsc/?fref=tsAn aussie group of camera nuts and other nutters :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 Interesting indeed. Found a photo of mine on a travel website last night. Was wondering what my rights were / are ? Photo not being used with my permission and stolen from an old website which would have been right click protected at the time. They must have screen grabbed it. Thinking .... Just downloaded draft letter from EPUK and filled in the blanks and emailed to a website using my photograph without permission. Not sure which country the site is in though, very scarce info on the site apart from finding a business name and address at company house. Same name. Lets see what the reply is if any ! Tripadvisor, by any chance? They do have a uk office but will hide behind the publication being in the US, although technically that doesn't protect them here. They responded to a takedown on an image of mine. That's as far as it went. Don't get your hopes up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 Thanks. No it's not trip advisor. Probably a smaller outfit. Let's see if I get a reply from them. But have to say the content from the draft letter may be very useful on the future. Makes sense. Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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