Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/04/28

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Subject: [Leica] RE: use of photo without permission
From: jcb at visualimpressions.com (JCB)
Date: Thu Apr 28 16:21:06 2005

At 02:50 PM 4/28/2005, Don Dory wrote:


>Brad,
>If you have registered the image with the copyright folks in Washington
>this is your lucky day, the bidding starts at a few hundred thousand
>dollars.  On the other hand, if have not registered, all you can do is
>write a nastygram and ask that they pay you some nominal sum that works
>out to a normal fee.  Again, this is assuming that it was published in a
>commercial venture and not in a not for profit publication or pamphlet.
>
>If it was the local newspaper or some other upstanding publication then
>you might get somewhere in small claims court.



In the US, copyright is implied, and owned by the photographer, the moment 
the photograph is taken, assuming no work-for-hire agreement has been 
signed. Without further registration, it's worth $2500 as a minimum, if 
taken to court. If registered, the sky is the limit, depending upon the 
infringer and circumstances.

But for a really small fry, a personal reprimand making them aware of what 
could happen, and some nominal negotiated fee will make them think twice 
about doing it again.

JB