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Photo used in newpaper ad without permission

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  • 20-07-2013 2:06pm
    #1
    joeKel73
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,689 ✭✭✭


    I was flicking through the Galway Advertiser yesterday and was surprised to see my photo used in a full-page advert for a local electrical company. The image was used as the on-screen image on one of the TVs on the ad.

    I emailed the company asking who I can address the invoice to. They say a local graphics design company does their advertising and forwarded their contact details. I've sent them an email now too.

    Who is responsible in this situation?

    And what would be a reasonable price to charge on the invoice for the image use?


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    #2
    Wabbit Ears
    Registered Users Posts: 3,042 ✭✭✭Wabbit Ears


    How did this photo get into the hands of the design company? There really is a lot of info missing to determine who is responsible..


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    #3
    Paulw
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 13,381 Mod ✭✭✭✭Paulw


    You invoice the paper. You invoice the electric company and you invoice the advertising company.

    Let them work out who pays. If you get lucky, they will all pay up.

    State that it is for image usage, plus breach of copyright.


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    #4
    joeKel73
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,689 ✭✭✭joeKel73


    Wabbit Ears wrote: »
    How did this photo get into the hands of the design company? There really is a lot of info missing to determine who is responsible..

    The image is on my Flickr account so presumably downloaded from there.


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    #5
    Corkbah
    Registered Users Posts: 1,668 ✭✭✭Corkbah


    Paulw wrote: »
    You invoice the paper. You invoice the electric company and you invoice the advertising company.

    Let them work out who pays. If you get lucky, they will all pay up.

    State that it is for image usage, plus breach of copyright.

    and while you are at it ... add a zero to whatever you were thinking of asking them for.

    if they dont pay within a couple of weeks - contact a solicitor with experience in copyright (more than likely one of the BIG firms - you may have to pay out some money to them - but in this case - you can add that to your claim)


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    #6
    Corkbah
    Registered Users Posts: 1,668 ✭✭✭Corkbah


    just to add ... from searching online the rate for a full-page advert with the Galway advertiser is €3500 (last updated in Feb 2011)

    be sure to check the other "advertiser" papers as the company may have sent the advert across all of the advertiser group....OP get copies of the paper and get in touch with a solicitor, chances are someone made an error which could cost a company several thousand euro, its possible that the company which created the advert may have done the same to others but not been caught.


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    #7
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,401 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    Corkbah wrote: »
    and while you are at it ... add a zero to whatever you were thinking of asking them for.

    if they dont pay within a couple of weeks - contact a solicitor with experience in copyright (more than likely one of the BIG firms - you may have to pay out some money to them - but in this case - you can add that to your claim)
    so ask for ten times as much as you think is the going rate, and then contact a big time solicitor who will tell you that your previous demand was waaaay out of line, and will charge you more than you would earn from the photo.

    and the rate paid for an ad is *not* the same as the rate paid to a photographer who supplied a pic, so €3500 is no guideline at all.

    you're probably due a few hundred euro at best.


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    #8
    Corkbah
    Registered Users Posts: 1,668 ✭✭✭Corkbah


    magicbastarder wrote: »
    so ask for ten times as much as you think is the going rate, and then contact a big time solicitor who will tell you that your previous demand was waaaay out of line, and will charge you more than you would earn from the photo.

    and the rate paid for an ad is *not* the same as the rate paid to a photographer who supplied a pic, so €3500 is no guideline at all.

    you're probably due a few hundred euro at best.

    the €3500 was an indication of how much they had no problem placing the advert in the first place so not to settle for a couple of hundred, and thats only in one publication - if they placed the advert in multiple publications I'm sure the cost is higher.

    normally then someone finds their image used illegally they are not a professional and do not know what a professional rate is and hence why people come online to here and other social groups asking for advice ... those that know and understand Corporate/Commercial photography give advice as regards the "norm" in their field, other people weigh in with what they consider being a "fair" price, and usually you also get people saying sue sue sue .

    The fact is ... company used an image in an advert in at least one publication, company paid for said advert.

    Photographer finds image used and is outraged at image being used without permission - YES - he/she is entitled to recourse...but who has to pay...and how much ??

    in reality the various companies would pass the buck blaming the other until you get a solicitor involved - all people involved would be notice parties and
    all would be sued and then you let the other side decide who is actually to blame and who must pay out.

    Dont forget there was actually a LAW broken ..yes, by using the image a law was broken - its rarely (if ever) prosecuted but - as the advert says - Copyright theft is still theft !! .

    Illegal usage of the image, copyright theft and the stress of having to sort the whole mess out - would easily have a payout of several thousand, it may take a year or so (maybe more) to get near the courts but *95% of the time that year or so is spent making offers to settle the action, the other *4% are ignoring the correspondence until given a court date and then offer a settlement before the case opens.

    *1% margin of error !!

    Any non-professional would ask for €250 and would be damn glad if they get a cheque, anyone who goes to a professional solicitor with experience - will have to wait a good amount of time, but in my opinion should receive at least €2500 (yes, 10 times what the original request should have been).

    the companies involved have broken the law - they could argue that they didn't know it was illegal to take an image from online - and this is where a good solicitors firm with experience in copyright law is essential..... because these guys/girls know which laws to produce to protect their client.

    EDIT: just to add ... the Galway advertiser has an approximate circulation of 65,000 ...so if the image was printed just in the Galway Advertiser then it was printed approx 65,000 times (which matters in commercial photography)


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