Contact for The Mirror unpaid sale?

[Linda]

I've discovered an unpaid image of mine in the Mirror from Dec 2011. It may or may not be Alamy that sold it as it is also with another agency.I am not in the newspaper scheme and the image does not have a credit.

Does anyone have an email of who to contact at the Mirror.co.uk?

 

Thanks!

L

[DavidC]

Daily Mirror direct line to Picture Desk is   0207 293 3851  (+44(0)207 293 3851 Int) - not sure who deals with missed payments now, but ring them  (best before 10am GMT - and not near deadlines !)  ask who deals with missed payments and for their e-mail address. Send them the details.

[Linda]

Daily Mirror direct line to Picture Desk is   0207 293 3851  (+44(0)207 293 3851 Int) - not sure who deals with missed payments now, but ring them  (best before 10am GMT - and not near deadlines !)  ask who deals with missed payments and for their e-mail address. Send them the details.

 

David,

You wouldn't happen to have an email for them would you? They probably want links and proof so I usually find an initial email the best way;unless they don't respond.

Happy New Year and Thanksabunch

[Bizair]

Alamy.

 

You really have to tackle this issue. It is arising far too often for it to be an aberration. I know news media often have immutable deadlines in relation to getting their press out there. But they also have a responsibility to manage their news and image sources, and this includes reasonably prompt payment for what they use to generate sales of their product.

 

Time for Alamy to escalate the problem in my opinion. I've dealt with many bureaucracies over my working life. At a working level often the immediate crises takes precedence often leaving the follow up somewhere down the track or not done at all. The chiefs of the organization often do not know that there is a problem until it is raised at the very highest level.

 

So, what about contacting the CEO and letting her or him know that you have a problem?

[dov makabaw]

Why not contact MS first and ask them to check for you. If they say it wasn't from them contact them and give them a deadline by which to pay. cc the CEO, can't do any harm. Once the deadline has been reached file with the small claims court. That usually precipitates a solution!

 

good luck

 

dov

[Linda]

Hi Bizair,

Thanks for chiming in. I've just found the email for the photo desk and politely queried where they have obtained the photo from.

I do have another agency I work with who I have found TONS of unpaid photos going back years.

I'm afraid that once great agency is no longer one I have faith in their reporting or paying until I send off links and proof.

 

No one and I mean no one should have to go thru this with any agency,client or publication.

I can't go  to a Doctor without paying a co-pay and providing my insurance info and signing a legal doc that I am responsible for all bills and those are due within 30 days.

 

We can't go into a grocery store and pick what we want and not pay for 6 months to 2 years.

 

Why are we the only industry that seems to think use now pay later is acceptable.

 

I have put together a file of how many unpaid sales from all agencies I've had to track down in the past 5 years and if the companies had to pay my rate plus penalty and it's close to $800,000USD. It's THAT extreme.

 

Perhaps some sort of advance payment or 'debit card' type system would work. And why shouldn't it? Microstock agencies get paid before any downloads happen why can't traditional agencies?

 

Not specifically picking on Alamy with this issue as much as the whole industry seems to think this way of 'find your photo and maybe we'll pay you in a few years' is acceptable.

 

L

[Linda]

Why not contact MS first and ask them to check for you. If they say it wasn't from them contact them and give them a deadline by which to pay. cc the CEO, can't do any harm. Once the deadline has been reached file with the small claims court. That usually precipitates a solution!

 

good luck

 

dov

I'm in the USA. I contacted the publication directly as it may or may not be Alamy that licensed the image. I am sure they will tell me.

There is no credit and oddly no IPTC info in the image.

 

L

[DavidC]

The reason that I suggested that you ring them and ask for the name of the responsible person is that an e-mail to a general e-mail address manned by a number of people runs the risk of being ignored by them all !

 

best of luck

[Martin P Wilson]

Don't mess around - go straight to CEO and/or Editor. I no longer use the complaint department in any organisation but go straight to the top person. He or she may refer back to the complaints team but you have access to the senior contact if the complaints team continue to mess you around. In most cases he will keep an eye on it anyway. Not usually too difficult to find an email address.

 

I have found it very effective once initial attempts through "proper" channels have failed. My experience includes Virgin, Hotpoint, Renault, ...

[Linda]

Thanks guys but if you know me,you'll know that I've been in this biz 30 years and do not suffer fools lightly.I've been chasing down unpaid sales and filing lawsuits against infringers and non payers since the early 1980s.

Most cases I do have luck with an initial email;phone calls are second. And if anyone has used my photo and not paid in years then it's no longer the luxury of a license fee they are going to pay as non payment,and especially non payment with no photo credit and the IPTC info wiped out is infringement and the minimum invoice will be $1200 up to 1 year.

 

:-)

 

L

[DC shooter]

Folks, why are we using terms like "infringers" and "non-payers?" THIS IS IMAGE THEFT! What about reporting them to law enforcement and suing them? As long as they don't have to pay any consequences, they won't change. Also, how about mentioning this type of image theft on twitter when it is found. Hashtag the name of the thief - #The Mirror - or whoever it is and let their viewers know that the publication engages in image theft!!! Until we take bigger steps, nothing new will happen.

[Sheila Smart]

Folks, why are we using terms like "infringers" and "non-payers?" THIS IS IMAGE THEFT! What about reporting them to law enforcement and suing them? As long as they don't have to pay any consequences, they won't change. Also, how about mentioning this type of image theft on twitter when it is found. Hashtag the name of the thief - #The Mirror - or whoever it is and let their viewers know that the publication engages in image theft!!! Until we take bigger steps, nothing new will happen.

 

We all feel strongly about this subject and both Linda and I pursue infringers on a daily basis, either ourselves or via our IP lawyers but...putting a name to an "image theft" on a public site like Twitter is asking for a law suit especially if one finds that they have actually paid for the image but the various agencies are tardy in reporting same.  Linda is using the softly, softly, catchee monkey approach by attempting to contact the source directly.  Last year I found one of my images on a book cover and long story short, I found that the publisher had licensed the image and had paid the stock library but the library had "neglected" to advise me some nine months later.  The library in question ended up paying me 100% rather than take their usual commission.  By the way, this was NOT Alamy.  If it were not for Google Search by Image, I would have been none the wiser and the agency would have been 350 euros better off. 

[skylineboy]

hi, new to the whole stock world,

 

and have read some posts about non payments etc.

 

you mention google search by image, are there other ways you more experienced users try and find out if your images have been used without permission?

 

thanks

[Sheila Smart]

hi, new to the whole stock world,

 

and have read some posts about non payments etc.

 

you mention google search by image, are there other ways you more experienced users try and find out if your images have been used without permission?

 

thanks

Google Search by Image is in a class of its own.  Tineye does search the web but on a much smaller scale and they rarely, if ever, update their index to remove images which are no longer appearing on the various sites. 

[DavidC]

hi, new to the whole stock world,

 

and have read some posts about non payments etc.

 

you mention google search by image, are there other ways you more experienced users try and find out if your images have been used without permission?

 

thanks

I seem to remember, without going back, that you have bought the rights to a whole load of motor related images from a retired professional photographer - you have a whole can or worms to contend with as you probably won't know  the history of those images in any great detail - i.e. whether they have been licensed in the past, who to, and for what period of time. 

 

Some looked as if they were taken as 'Press Release' images which historically were issued 'free' to magazines and newspapers by the manufacturers and their PR consultants - with the photographer working on commission having signed away publication fees for the commission fee -  check very carefully before you try a legal route it can be expensive - and in your case a minefield.....

[skylineboy]

 

hi, new to the whole stock world,

 

and have read some posts about non payments etc.

 

you mention google search by image, are there other ways you more experienced users try and find out if your images have been used without permission?

 

thanks

I seem to remember, without going back, that you have bought the rights to a whole load of motor related images from a retired professional photographer - you have a whole can or worms to contend with as you probably won't know  the history of those images in any great detail - i.e. whether they have been licensed in the past, who to, and for what period of time. 

 

Some looked as if they were taken as 'Press Release' images which historically were issued 'free' to magazines and newspapers by the manufacturers and their PR consultants - with the photographer working on commission having signed away publication fees for the commission fee -  check very carefully before you try a legal route it can be expensive - and in your case a minefield.....

 

hi, thats correct.

 

they were licenced for short periods of time, and were all released from licence when i bought them (with ones that were still under licence, coming to me when they end).

they were taken by a photographer who amassed a collection of others work too, such as the famous geoff goddard.

 

i agree they have the press release look to them, but were never given away "free", and to be honest, most of them have never been published. but were obviously taken with the intention of being sold, as is the idea of stock libraries, but many werent used. which is why i got a deal on them.

 

but thanks for your comment and green on the way!

[DavidC]

I think that you have also thought about wall-art - that would seem to be a good use which has probably not been explored by the images previous owner - good luck !

[skylineboy]

yes, ive got a few possibilities i am looking at with these images, which came to me after having an interest in the subjects (motoring), and being an amateur photographer myself and taking my own images on the topic.

 

currently have them with a specialist agency and alamy. (both having gaps that i can fill), but alamy (and the forums) have been very helpful indeed, to someone new to the biz.

 

im thinking that marketing to enthusiasts is a good idea, and also have some positives from dealing direct with motoring publishers, im "on their radar" so to speak.

now if only i could make a day last longer than 24 hours! too much to do (scan, process, keyword and catalog and marketing), and not enough time to do it!