Recent News Story - Copyright Infringement

[gregstidham]

I missed any mention of whether or not the copyright for this image was filed before infringement. This could explain the small award.

I also wonder if he had hired an attorney if this would have gone as far and become as strange as it did. He did a great job though and deserves all he gets. I agree with QT, this is a rather small award.

The website did mention a payment plan, so it appears payment is in progress.

[Ben Chase]

Dang Ben, I was hoping to see what kind of new camera you would have next time we shoot at steptoe.

Well these stories have prompted me to sign up for the electronic copyright registration. If anyone infringes my stuff - I want to make sure that it will be worth it for me to litigate. I doubt I'm really much of a target though - there are FAR more people with better portfolios than I.

[SAShruby]

I have to say that time and effort you spent to fight them off, $20,000 is below the expectation.

I'd file another lawsuit for stress involved with this case, endangering your life, family and your proffesional reputation alt least for $5.0 million.

[cyrus]

There are a few points that pop out at me
First, you must really register your copyright if you ever want to have a practical hope of protecting your images.

Second, the other sides' lawyers will play dirty (and even unethically. The counter-suit claiming defamation was baseless and should never have been filed) and the other side is probably stupid enough to spend more on lawyers rather than just pay the licensing fee.

Third - no one should assume that representing yourself is an easy matter. If you make even a technical mistake - and you're quite likely to do so - you could not only lose your claim, but the other side may succeed in winning one of their counterclaims against you. I believe that US law allows for the recovery of reasonable attorneys fees in copyright cases, so why not hire an attorney to represent you?