New Alamy Infringements Team

[Jools Elliott]

Actually dealing with infringers yourselves is not that difficult. Having had much success over the last 4 years now I can give first hand experience of this.

 

But I warn you that you are going to experience to a whole raft of people:

 

1) People that cry on the phone

2) People that say sorry and settle

3) People that say get lost - just take them to court

4) People that starting threatening you

 

I've had each, sadly.

 

Amount recouped over the last 4 years? Well into 5 figures in total. Well into.

[Joseph Clemson]

59 minutes ago, Jools Elliott said:

Actually dealing with infringers yourselves is not that difficult. Having had much success over the last 4 years now I can give first hand experience of this.

 

But I warn you that you are going to experience to a whole raft of people:

 

1) People that cry on the phone

2) People that say sorry and settle

3) People that say get lost - just take them to court

4) People that starting threatening you

 

I've had each, sadly.

 

Amount recouped over the last 4 years? Well into 5 figures in total. Well into.

 

Whether dealing with infringers yourself is difficult or not is very much debatable. Any one of the scenarios you describe is enough to send me into a cold sweat, and that's just thinking about it, let alone actually doing it! I do like the idea of getting a five figure return (though I doubt if enough of my images have been mis-used to even amount to a fraction of yours, Jools), but I think the anxiety engendered by the whole  thing would far outweigh any finanical return for me. Maybe I'm a wimp, but I am who I am and I know my limitations. If  Alamy's infringement team can find any unlicenced or mis-licenced uses on my behalf I will gratefully accept the fruits of their efforts. 

[John David]

I like this.
So, in order to get my cut of this payment, I have to do absolutely nothing other than be the photographer of the photograph?
So, I just sit there and the 10 percent of the money rolls in?
err, yep.

So, if I upload a photograph to Alamy and to nobody / no other stock site / else, Alamy will keep track of that photograph and protect my income?
That is what I call a "no shit sherlock" situation.

[RyanU]

Just received my email for preferences. Good to see some improvement on this side of things.

[meanderingemu]

On 05/05/2021 at 05:37, Jools Elliott said:

Actually dealing with infringers yourselves is not that difficult. Having had much success over the last 4 years now I can give first hand experience of this.

 

But I warn you that you are going to experience to a whole raft of people:

 

1) People that cry on the phone

2) People that say sorry and settle

3) People that say get lost - just take them to court

4) People that starting threatening you

 

I've had each, sadly.

 

Amount recouped over the last 4 years? Well into 5 figures in total. Well into.

 

 

Can i ask what proportion of this was in a Jurisdiction where it was easy for you to threaten legal action (ie. Home country, or countries where a union allows easy process)? 

[M.Chapman]

3 hours ago, John David said:

So, I just sit there and the 10 percent of the money rolls in?

10%??

 

Mark

[William Caram]

THANKS ALAMY ☀️......really pleased to see this new direction in chasing and billing infringers! 

This is a win+win for both contributor and seller, there are a lot of loyal contributors big and small who will hopefully benefit from the extra royalty income received..

 

I think it's a positive step for most contributors and great news in these troubled times of 2021 ☀️

 

 

  

*** Update 28/05/21 ***    Ahh i spoke too soon.....Surprise surprise with a New Contract looming.....Equals Photographers commissions going down...photographers rights going down...photographers anxiety going up.....How about giving your loyal suppliers a fair go?

Edited May 28, 2021 by William Caram
spoke too soon

[Betty LaRue]

Alamy, for your information.

I am opted in to emails and have been getting them regularly for years.

I did not receive this particular email. I’m only letting you know in case you desire to fix what’s broken.

In any case, I followed the link above and took care of opting in. So all is fine.

Betty

[Jools Elliott]

On 06/05/2021 at 18:30, meanderingemu said:

 

 

Can i ask what proportion of this was in a Jurisdiction where it was easy for you to threaten legal action (ie. Home country, or countries where a union allows easy process)? 

 

These are all UK; Canadian; USA; French cases thus far

[meanderingemu]

30 minutes ago, Jools Elliott said:

 

These are all UK; Canadian; USA; French cases thus far

Cool thanks.  Can i ask how the legal proceedings work in USA for a foreigner?  Do you find local representation through the internet?

[hotbrightsky]

On 29/04/2021 at 17:32, geogphotos said:

I have decided to either handle this myself or through Pixsy

 

Very sensible. I don't expect any positive results from Alamy on infringement any time soon. Too many broken promises.

[hotbrightsky]

On 05/05/2021 at 11:44, Joseph Clemson said:

I think the anxiety engendered by the whole  thing would far outweigh any finanical return for me

 

I have made many times more money by pursuing image infringements personally than I ever have through Alamy sales.

 

If it's not worth pursuing then it's probably not worth uploading to Alamy either.

[Stokie]

1 minute ago, hotbrightsky said:

 

Very sensible. I don't expect any positive results from Alamy on infringement any time soon. Too many broken promises.

Perhaps the extra income they will get from a commission raise will pay for extra staff on the infringement team............

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

..........or maybe not!

[Joseph Clemson]

2 minutes ago, hotbrightsky said:

 

I have made many times more money by pursuing image infringements personally than I ever have through Alamy sales.

 

If it's not worth pursuing then it's probably not worth uploading to Alamy either.

 

Each to their own way of working. I certainly don't think it's not worth uploading to Alamy if I don't want pursue infringements myself.  I'm happy with what I get compare to the effort of producing it. I do a fairly comprehensive online search for my images for DACS purposes each year and the number of misuss or unreported uses of my own images I have found over the years is miniscule. Perhaps neer-do-wells simply don't think my images are worth stealing 🙂.  

[meanderingemu]

34 minutes ago, Stokie said:

Perhaps the extra income they will get from a commission raise will pay for extra staff on the infringement team............

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

..........or maybe not!

 

 

well since they will only work on Exclusive images, and they have now told contributors there is no incentive to mark image as exclusive, they should have much more time on their hand.  

[Jools Elliott]

On 12/05/2021 at 15:07, meanderingemu said:

Cool thanks.  Can i ask how the legal proceedings work in USA for a foreigner?  Do you find local representation through the internet?

 

Yes, you need representation in the USA. It's also in your best interests to register your work with the US Copyright Office. A bundle of 750 unpublished images costs something like $50

[meanderingemu]

43 minutes ago, Jools Elliott said:

 

Yes, you need representation in the USA. It's also in your best interests to register your work with the US Copyright Office. A bundle of 750 unpublished images costs something like $50

 

thank you