Copyright infringement?

[Donald Brewster]

At the very least get the picture credited to you on the website.

[Ralph Barker]

jb asked, "Is this line of logic sound?"

Although others have essentially answered that question, I'd say yes, that is consistent with my understanding of the law. Unless you signed away your rights in a written (not verbal) agreement, you still have them. However, I'm not a copyright attorney, nor do I play one on TV or the Internet. Heck, I didn't even sleep in one of those (whatever it is) hotels last night. ;-)

[Dave Schneider]

I am not a professional photographer or a lawyer but I do have a question. Did you have any legal right to take this picture in the first place? Even if your employment agreement did not specify anything I wonder. If I were on the street while they were filming a commercial for and paid for by BMW for example, could I sell photographs that I took from my apartment window or the street corner?

[Will Strain]

Question: "If I were on the street while they were filming a commercial for and paid for by BMW for example, could I sell photographs that I took from my apartment window or the street corner?"

Answer: "Well.... it depends."

[mark anderson]

this is how they will argue thier point. "you were hired for the day, you took the picture while you were employed by them"

[Kirk Keyes]

You should at least see if you can get credit for taking the photo on Kodaks web site.

[Will Strain]

Mark - as a freelancer, the standard response is: My contract did not specify work for hire. And as a contractor, I am not an employee which has a particular set of requirements it must meet.

[paulr]

The advice here that makes the most sense ot me is to
1) register the image
2) prepare whatever evidence you might need (screenshots, picture of the neg, copy of any contract, etc.)
2) research a fair price for this use of the picture and to
3) approach kodak in a polite, businesslike manner and ask for for compensation and a byline.

If you go to them screaming lawsuit, they'll likely just take the image down, and you'll have a very hard time accomplishing anything.

[jhogan]

Thanks to all of you for the opinions, both here and offline.

My initial instinct was to pursue what many of you recommended, which was well summarized by PaulR. I never considered a lawsuit- My experience has been that a photo used for this sort of purpose usually goes for somewhere in the neighborhood of $200-500, (good for about 20-60 minutes with my lawyer). Part of the reason for my posting was to hopefully add some more perspective concerning photo ownership issues.

For Alan: If you've ever worked on a film set, you know it's nothing but one long coffee break, with periodic interruptions characterized by crew members yelling, bumping into one other, and dropping things...

Thanks again -

[ctg]

Just a few points of clarification:

At the moment of creation, which in the case of photography means when the film is exposed (you push the button) the image is now in tangible form and is copyrighted. That is, you control how it is copied and/or used.

Only after registration of the image with the Library of Congress does any infringement and/or statutory damage issues become part of the legal situation.

Ownership of a print does not transfer copyright to the owner of the print so the director had no legal basis to give them permission to give it for this usage. The law specifically spells out this point.

In the absence of paperwork to the contrary, the shooter is the owner of the copyright. The exceptions to this are when, as an employee, it is in the regular scope of your duties to produce photographs or you have signed a "work for hire" agreement. In these cases, your employer owns the copyright to any photographs you create in the course of your employment duties or in the case of the WFH, you signed them away forever.

In your case, I would contact the "offending" party, explain you are the copyright owner of the image and explain that would like them to compensate you for the usage. Be prepared with an amount beforehand, be polite and business-like and you will get a lot more cooperation from them. This is probably a case of unintended infringment. Be professional in your dealings with them and I am sure they will be as well. It does them no good to make this more than what it is.

Best regards,
Randy Becker

Yes, I recently had someone having had access to my digital files make some rather criptic remarks about the ease of pirating other"s work & altering them slightly with photoshop and usingthem as her own. At the time I was pretty upset about other things but later the statement did start to bother me.
On one hand if they simply use your work upon which they significantly with P.S. or simply use your work, recroping (etc)? One thing that did come to me was "I am glad that I shoot film therefore I can reproduce the negative but as she shoots digital . . .