Suing for Copyright Infringement

Lowflynjack

Lowflynjack

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Jack Fleetwood
Anyone every sued someone for copyright infringement? I have once, but it's been a long time ago and the lawyer is long gone.

These scumbags used a photo I took in an online story, titled "Entire Family Killed in Mertzon Plane Crash". What makes it worse is, it's a friend of mine and his daughter in the photo... and they're very much alive and weren't in a crash. I'm guessing they'd be hard to track down since they're only online. They're not responding to me so far. At the bottom of their homepage, it says, "“We are a pure-play, indie web and mobile news platform with a local audience larger than all the San Angelo TV stations, radio stations, and newspaper combined.”

The US Copyright office says, "Anyone found to have infringed a copyrighted work may be liable for statutory damages up to $30,000 for each work infringed and, if willful infringement is proven by the copyright owner, that amount may be increased up to $150,000 for each work infringed."
 

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Man, journalisming has really gone to hell. No idea on copyright stuff, but isn't that bordering on libel as well?

But having just hired a lawyer for someone bouncing multiple 8k checks I'd recommend letting the experts deal with it. Answered all my questions as well as if his fee's (2k retainer and 300 hourly) would be recoverable. He says yes, but I'm skeptical since these scumbags rented a skid steer then sold it in a tractor supply parking lot two years ago...and were given probation. Lawyer looked at the case and answered all my questions prior to me shelling out more money.
 
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The more I think about it, I really don't want to sue, if they take it down, I just want it gone. I don't like my photos being used without permission, but the bigger issue here is what it does to this family.

Imagine a story saying, "Meth Lab Busted" with a photo of your house. They wouldn't dare, but in this case, they probably had no idea I have a friend in San Angelo that is a pilot.
 
Go the digital millennium copyright act (DMCA) route with their website hosting provider. I believe that covers images too, but i could be wrong. Doesn’t cost you anything, just contact the provider directly outlining the infringement. Thats worked for me in the past.
 
How did they even get the photo?
 
Lowflynjack said:
Anyone found to have infringed a copyrighted work may be liable for statutory damages
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Do you register your picture copyrights?

If not has it been more than 5 years since you published the photo?

Whether the copyright is registered makes a big difference on any legal actions.
 
dbahn said:
How did they even get the photo?
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Copied online.
Bell206 said:
Do you register your picture copyrights?

If not has it been more than 5 years since you published the photo?

Whether the copyright is registered makes a big difference on any legal actions.
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Yeah, I'm learning that now. No, not registered. There is some protection to photographers without having to register the photos, but it seems like that's not likely to help in court.

"Creators own the copyright to an image the moment they create it—and this applies to digital images just as it does printed ones. In other words, the image doesn't have to be printed or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office to obtain copyright protection."
 
Would seem like your friend would also be interested in pur$uing this...... His airplane has now been devalued.
 
nrpetersen said:
Would seem like your friend would also be interested in pur$uing this...... His airplane has now been devalued.
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Luckily when the copied my photo, they didn't do it well. The N-Number isn't really visible.
 
Lowflynjack said:
Anyone every sued someone for copyright infringement? I have once, but it's been a long time ago and the lawyer is long gone.

These scumbags used a photo I took in an online story, titled "Entire Family Killed in Mertzon Plane Crash". What makes it worse is, it's a friend of mine and his daughter in the photo... and they're very much alive and weren't in a crash. I'm guessing they'd be hard to track down since they're only online. They're not responding to me so far. At the bottom of their homepage, it says, "“We are a pure-play, indie web and mobile news platform with a local audience larger than all the San Angelo TV stations, radio stations, and newspaper combined.”

The US Copyright office says, "Anyone found to have infringed a copyrighted work may be liable for statutory damages up to $30,000 for each work infringed and, if willful infringement is proven by the copyright owner, that amount may be increased up to $150,000 for each work infringed."
Click to expand...
While the work doesn't have to be registered to be protected, it does before you can sue in Federal court (really your only option to sue). Unfortunately, you can't get the statutory damages unless the work was registered at the time of the infringement or three months from the first publication. You'll have to sue for actual damages. You can assign a value you think will fly and bill them.

Believe me, the freaking Seaplane Pilots Association stole one of my images as well but it's not worth the effort to go after them. I had a some of my photos show up in other publications without credit or permission. More distrubing is when entire articles show up on for profit sites. Those I usually get shutdown pretty quickly with DMCA.
 
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flyingron said:
Believe me, the freaking Seaplane Pilots Association stole one of my images as well but it's not worth the effort to go after them.
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Their HQ is at my home drome, KGIF. Why not fly down, walk into their office, and ask about it? I’ll buy you a cup of coffee in the airport restaurant afterwards.
 
These publishers have the option of buying stock photos. Only problem is they cost money. It's no different than using a known band's music in your ad.

The chance that anyone cares is close to zero, so they keep getting away with it.
 
You better get yourself prepared for what's coming next year (2024). Absolutely no picture or article copyright will be safe. There will be a small statement crediting the author or photographer sometimes, if "IT" deems necessary. Every rule, regulation and law is scrutinized and the image or article will be modified just enough instantly to avoid payment.

Just watch this video in the link below to the end:

Channel 1 AI News

:confused2: :popcorn:
 
TrueCourse said:
Go the digital millennium copyright act (DMCA) route with their website hosting provider. I believe that covers images too, but i could be wrong. Doesn’t cost you anything, just contact the provider directly outlining the infringement. Thats worked for me in the past.
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In my understanding, this is basically why the DMCA exists, to terminate online copyright violations that cannot be effectively addressed by a lawsuit.
 
Half Fast said:
Their HQ is at my home drome, KGIF. Why not fly down, walk into their office, and ask about it? I’ll buy you a cup of coffee in the airport restaurant afterwards.
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It's been a few years. I understood why it happened so it wasn't that big of a thing, but I'd have liked the photo credit. I had shot a bunch of stuff at one of the local splashins and it got to them somehow, but they didn't verify where they came from. The other one was when Teacher magazine did a multipage article on my wife (including the cover). The photog handed me his camera so I could take a picture, so he probably forgot he didn't take it.
Usually I just DMCA stuff when I see it showing up on people's sites. Mostly it gets lifted from my pages or off of facebook (go figure).

But still I'd certianly take you up on the coffee offer. Thinking about taking my plane down to Lakeland for avionics work soon anyhow.
 
Gilbert Buettner said:
Ad agencies, radio and television broadcasters pay for the use of music in advertising. ASCAP and BMI license the music and compensate the performers and songwriters.
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The PROs (ASCAP, SESAC, BMI) exist to pay the publishers (by derivation the writers) not the artists performing (unless they happen to be the writer).
 
The two websites below should help.

Photographs: Registration | U.S. Copyright Office

This category includes photographs that are created with a camera and captured in a digital file other visual medium such as a film.
www.copyright.gov www.copyright.gov

www.copyrightlaws.com

How To Protect Photos You Post Online

How to protect photos you post online requires both legal means and technological methods. It's both easier and more difficult than you might realize.
www.copyrightlaws.com www.copyrightlaws.com
 
flyingron said:
That's the current idea. You like them?
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Never had them do work for me. The shop I used fo my avionics work closed earlier this year. I use a GCA headset, but have zero experience with their shop.
 
DMCA takedown requests work. There was once a video of mine that made the rounds and made me the most hated person at Citroen... spent a couple of days playing whack-a-mole with DMCA takedowns until it finally just all moved to Eastern Block websites that just don't care.
 
If there's a law school in the area, the students always need practice (under supervision of faculty, of course) and this might be something that interests them.
 
The Digital Rights law right to privacy due to the EU legal work establishes “notice and takedown” for websites that violate the law’s rules and privacy rights. A good internet law attorney can tell you if you have any rights here.
 
Lowflynjack said:
"“We are a pure-play, indie web and mobile news platform with a local audience larger than all the San Angelo TV stations, radio stations, and newspaper combined.”
Click to expand...

What does "pure-play" mean in that stew of a sentence?
 
My copyright issue was not as serious, just a simple pic I took during a flight.

I was reading an article about IFR flight and there was my picture I took on the way home from Ithaca NY, in the rain, solid IMC, in my Sundowner. I contacted the publisher and we agreed not to waste print space to call out the picture source, instead, I was happy with a couple years of the IFR rag. Done deal.
 
The internet does strange things. I once came across an unauthorized copy of an article of mine (about a multi day ferry flight in an old beat up Starduster biplane that had been previously published in Kitplanes magazine) on fly fishing website. There was nothing at all about fishing in the article, and no other aviation connection on the website.
 
Yeah, periodically I google the introductory sentence in some of my articles and see if they've popped up again on some site. Usually, it's someone's amateur thing. Occassionally, it's someone trying to make money off my work.
 
Years ago (many years in fact) I was flattered to see my picture on an advertisement. Never thought of it has having any value to anyone else . . .







HusqvarnaAd.jpg
 
While I respect it all, just like everything, it's gotten a bit out of hand.
Our company was contacted by mail, about using pictures from the internet. It all seems like a scam until you get deeper into it. And I'm sure there are scams out there taking advantage any way they can.

In our case, the picture was used simply for a newsletter/web post sent out to members of a prayer group. It was a small picture of a few silhouettes with heads bowed/holding hands, and the newsletter just had a simple reminder that 'Our prayer day is (some date)'.
Apparently groups are being hired by companies to look for infringement. If they find anything, they offer resolution by minimal payment of like $400, or the alternative of a larger sum accompanied by lawsuit.
I haven't heard what happened in the end, but I know it caused a few meetings.
 
Again, people need to learn "found on the internet" does not equate to "public domain." There are tons of places to get clipart that are freely licensed or you can buy stuff.
 
dbahn said:
Years ago (many years in fact) I was flattered to see my picture on an advertisement. Never thought of it has having any value to anyone else . . .
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For many years, my SCUBA club made an annual trip to Canada to dive the shipwrecks of the Thousand Islands. We'd generally take a group photo on the stern of the dive boat as were were going under the International Bridge. We called the bridge the Dorian Gray Bridge, as over a decade of photos it never changed, but the people in the photo kept getting older...

Anyway, one year the photo turned up, within a month, on the website of a local SCUBA instructor, on the home page of the dive charter operator, and on the website of the riverside resort where we always stayed.

The photo was a better-composed version of this, taken on another member's camera. We decided to not complain to the sites that were using it, figuring it would lead us to lucrative modeling contracts in the future.

Any day now...

IMG_7563.jpeg
 
I'm having the opposite problem. I was at the airport when the car owners were doing a shoot for a magazine. Agreed to let them put my plane in the background in return for photos. Can't figure out how to get them to call me back so I can get the raw files so I can make a couple prints for my bar...

1702761320380.png
 
My understanding of copyright is that it protects the creator of the original work, not the subject of the work. So some of the posters here that happened to be in a picture would not be covered by copyright law (but maybe something else.)
 
GaryM said:
We decided to not complain to the sites that were using it, figuring it would lead us to lucrative modeling contracts in the future.

Any day now...
Click to expand...

After seeing that photo Gary, is there any "reverse" recourse that maybe you could pay some of us for eye damage? ;);)
 
rwellner98 said:
I'm having the opposite problem. I was at the airport when the car owners were doing a shoot for a magazine. Agreed to let them put my plane in the background in return for photos. Can't figure out how to get them to call me back so I can get the raw files so I can make a couple prints for my bar...

View attachment 123327
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Probably with one of these

1702769444083.jpeg
 
rwellner98 said:
I'm having the opposite problem. I was at the airport when the car owners were doing a shoot for a magazine. Agreed to let them put my plane in the background in return for photos. Can't figure out how to get them to call me back so I can get the raw files so I can make a couple prints for my bar...
Click to expand...
A few years out, there was a Spanish-language TV station doing a photo shoot with scantily-clad ladies down the hangar row from me. I taxied out with my silk scarf nattily tied, and slowed down a lot as I passed the models. I *know* they were shooting pictures as I came by. But for the life of me, I haven't found any of the shots online....

Ron Wanttaja
 
GaryM said:
For many years, my SCUBA club made an annual trip to Canada to dive the shipwrecks of the Thousand Islands. We'd generally take a group photo on the stern of the dive boat as were were going under the International Bridge. We called the bridge the Dorian Gray Bridge, as over a decade of photos it never changed, but the people in the photo kept getting older...

Anyway, one year the photo turned up, within a month, on the website of a local SCUBA instructor, on the home page of the dive charter operator, and on the website of the riverside resort where we always stayed.

The photo was a better-composed version of this, taken on another member's camera. We decided to not complain to the sites that were using it, figuring it would lead us to lucrative modeling contracts in the future.

Any day now...

View attachment 123325
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I actually like that a dive shop in Guam has a picture, that they stole off the internet. It is for their trips to Kosrae but the picture is of our old boat at St. Lucia. Not even the right ocean. https://www.mdaguam.com/kosrae/
 
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