Advice On Invoicing Someone For Unauthorised Use

[Adz The Rat]

I have noticed 2 of my photos being used as advertising on a company website.

They have never asked my permission to use them or made any attempt to contact me, they have obviously been taken from my Flickr or when I have posted them on a forum as they still have my watermark on them.

Understandbly Im not happy about this, where do I stand about invoicing them for said use?

Has anyone done this before and been successful?

Any sample invoices?

[Pixel Pusher]

Hi Adz, sorry to hear about this.

May I ask if you have contacted them? It does sound like a case of either rank stupidity on their part or a complete disregard / lack of understanding of copyright. You may find that depending on the size of the company and the relevance of the images to the site that this could be a labour of love to persue for renumeration. A small company might offer a pittance or even to remove the images with an apology and a large might pay more but make the process much harder. It depends on how much time you want to dedicate to this issue. Being in "the image business", I fully support your claim to be rewarded for your property but I think it will boil down to what you can get rather than what you want.

Ultimately, a small claims process could be a false economy.

If you get to the stage of invoicing, there are some templates within Word that would do and be sure to put as much relevant detail on there as possible. I am not 100% sure of company tax issues but for our freelancers, they stipulate on their invoices that they are responsible for their own tax and that stops the company taxing them at source at a higher rate.

HTH mate and best of luck, PP.

[mneame]

I've not had any experience regarding this but my 2p worth is, send them a letter giving them a time limit to remove the images. Make it reasonable, 7 days should be fine.

State in the letter that you have not given them permission to use the images and explain you have never had any contact requesting permission to use the images. Also state in the letter that if they wish to continue using the images there is a charge of X for a time period of Y. If they do not remove the images within 7 days there will be a retrospective cost for unauthorised use of Z which is payable within 30 days. include print outs of the website showing your images carrying your watermark.

Send the letter by record delivery / courier, something where you can get a proof of delivery. State in the letter that they have 14 days to comply and respond. If you have not received anything within that time you will take the matter further. I would have thought you could go through the small claims court.

All depends how far you want to take it and how much you are prepared to spend to fight them if it does turn nasty.

I'm guessing though that they'll just remove the images.

[Adz The Rat]

Thanks for the advice guys.

PP, no I havent contacted them yet, I wanted to make sure I was right before I started anything.

I will draft a simple letter this afternoon and get it sent off.

[crmcatee]

Don't forget to grab a copy of the afore mentioned infringement 'for record purposes'

Also you may be able to find out on the website how long they've actually been using them.

[Simpo Two]

mneame said:

I'm guessing though that they'll just remove the images.

Yep.

Can't be much of a company if they've used images with somebody else's watermark on them! Perhaps they will say it's a 'draft' version uploaded by mistake.

[Adz The Rat]

I have taken a screen grab of it just in case.

[GetCarter]

I get this a lot. I even saw last week a guy called Steve Carter (my name) was using my images and saying 'photos by Steve Carter'!

I usually e mail them suggesting that if they want to continue using my images they should ask how much I require, and inform them that they are in breach of copyright.

For every one that take the pi55, I find half a dozen do it right. I think I have images on at least 40 websites now. Most have paid or been given free access due to charitable status.

The worst offender stole images from my website, put them into keyring fobs and tried to sell them in my local shop (how stupid can you be - like I'm not going to notice!) I got him to remove all examples and have them destroyed and he paid £500 to a charity of my choice rather than go to court.

[Pixel Pusher]

Adz The Rat said:

Thanks for the advice guys.

PP, no I havent contacted them yet, I wanted to make sure I was right before I started anything.

I will draft a simple letter this afternoon and get it sent off.

Some other good advice was posted here (mneame) to keep a copy of the papertrail / recorded delivery etc etc. Always good if it goes tits up. By the way, do you feel comfortable sharing the web address with us and an indication of where your images are? No problem if not but I am curious to see how prominent they are.

Cheers, PP.

[Adz The Rat]

All good advice, thank you.

I dont want to post up where they are until I have contacted them.

[Pixel Pusher]

No worries mate, again good luck.

[Adz The Rat]

Thanks, I will let you know what happens.

[Simpo Two]

GetCarter said:

I got him to remove all examples and have them destroyed

Could you have confisacted them and sold them yourself to make amends?

[GetCarter]

Simpo Two said:

Could you have confisacted them and sold them yourself to make amends?

Possibly... but didn't want anything more to do with him. A proper tw*t.

[_dobbo_]

I've had this a fair bit. My advice is just to give up, the very best result I've seen is an apology, next up is the picture silently removed.

I even saw my photo stolen and reproduced on Wedding Favours at a wedding where I was best man. The photo was stolen without the bride knowing I'd taken it!

See here then here


Money? Good luck! Anyone with actual money to spend won't usually make this kind of mistake!