Newspaper has stolen my photo - what to do?

Guitarman0

Guitarman0

Guitarman0

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Joined
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Worcestershire
So I attended the local school football game on wednesday night and was one of two photographers. After the game the team came out (once everyone had gone) and I took a team photo with the cup. I was the only photographer there (which many can back me up on). I sent the photo to my school master allowing him only to post the photo on the school website on the terms that he provided me a credit and that I retained full copyright of the photo.

My photo has somehow made its way into an edition of local newspaper. I did not receive or make contact with worcester news at any point let alone give them permission to use my photo.

Where do I stand? What can I do about this? Would I be entitled to claim damages?

Thanks for the help. I am very new to this and have no experience in the world of copyright.
 
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Let the paper know. But I seems the problem lies with he scool headmaster. If the newspaper received permission to use the photo from them school master then the newspaper did not do anything wrong if try reasonably believed they had permission.

Do you want to sue your school master?
 
You do have a record of the contract with the headmaster, if it is him who passed the shot on? Also the paper may have lifted it straight from the website, how was it marked on there? As said just invoice the paper 2x your usual rate for using your shot without permission.
 
I just spoke to the police down the station and they recommended I send them an invoice too. I have a copy of an email addressed to my school master asking him to ask permission if he wishes to use my photos for anything other than the school website (and asking for a credit if he does post them to the school website).

With regards to invoices, I have never sold a photo before. What do you guys thing would be an achievable value considering the photo (quality wise the original is pretty good) and the fact that I am the only photographer with that photo (no one else was around to take anything remotely similar)? I would like to overcharge them considering the didn't ask me and as I am a student and would potentially like to fund new gear if they pay up.

Also, how should I invoice them? Via email and give them my bank transfer details or some other way?

Sorry for all the questions, I have never even tried to sell a photo before :p.
 
Guitarman0 said:
I just spoke to the police down the station and they recommended I send them an invoice too. I have a copy of an email addressed to my school master asking him to ask permission if he wishes to use my photos for anything other than the school website (and asking for a credit if he does post them to the school website).

With regards to invoices, I have never sold a photo before. What do you guys thing would be an achievable value considering the photo (quality wise the original is pretty good) and the fact that I am the only photographer with that photo (no one else was around to take anything remotely similar)? I would like to overcharge them considering the didn't ask me and as I am a student and would potentially like to fund new gear if they pay up.

Also, how should I invoice them? Via email and give them my bank transfer details or some other way?

Sorry for all the questions, I have never even tried to sell a photo before :p.
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Value - whatever you decide. Although be realistic. You are never going to get £10,000 from it but obviously asking for 50p is a waste of a stamp.

Method, do it by post, recorded. Put on date, your name, amount due. Covering letter, attach copy newspaper, address it to the editor.

At the bottom of the letter give them 28 to send you a cheque, failure to do so you will start Small Claims proceedings. Say this bit right (in case you come across you don't know what you are talking about), there are no small claims courts, there are small claims proceedings in County Court, amount that is up to £5,000. It is know as Small Track, £5k to £15k is Fast Track and £15k+ is Multi track.
 
Raymond Lin said:
It is a Civil matter.

Police only deal with Criminal matter.

That is why.
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Fair point, I did not know that. I was looking for advice from the police, not to file a case or anything and advice is what I was given. The policeman behind the desk was very helpful and I wasn't wasting police time as there was no-one else there and he was sitting around looking bored when I arrived :p.
 
Anyway back to the point, I literally don't have a clue where to start pricing wise for the photo. Would an invoice of £150 be taking the mickey or is that too low (or just about right)? I literally have no idea about the value of photos.
 
Guitarman0 said:
Why is it not? The fact that the paper is breaching copyright laws is a good enough reason for me.
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They may not knowing be breaching any copyright laws if the headmaster gave them the photo.

And I think you will find that is the likely scenario, rather than stealing me from your website. You can try to get them to pay, and likely they will if you ask for a reasonable amount, but if they were explicitly given permission by someone else and had no reason to beleieve otherwise then they have a good defense. They may decline to pay and point this fact out to you, if you take them to a small claims proceedings then they will indicate that they received permission from a third party, your headmaster, and that any proceedings and claims are against him.

So as I said, if your headmaster gave them the photo with permission then it is he who you should be taking to a small claims proceedings. He is the one that lost you money here.

The responsibility of the newspaper was to check permission before printing, they most probably did this?
 
Guitarman0 said:
Anyway back to the point, I literally don't have a clue where to start pricing wise for the photo. Would an invoice of £150 be taking the mickey or is that too low (or just about right)? I literally have no idea about the value of photos.
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Depends on how big the newspaper is but it is a reasonable amount that they are likely to pay up.
 
you do realise you;'ve just breached the papers copy write by scanning their paper and posting it on line. :)

Anyway,

I'd expect them to laugh at your £150 claim, maybe try and get £40.
 
D.P. said:
They may not knowing be breaching any copyright laws if the headmaster gave them the photo.

And I think you will find that is the likely scenario, rather than stealing me from your website. You can try to get them to pay, and likely they will if you ask for a reasonable amount, but if they were explicitly given permission by someone else and had no reason to beleieve otherwise then they have a good defense. They may decline to pay and point this fact out to you, if you take them to a small claims proceedings then they will indicate that they received permission from a third party, your headmaster, and that any proceedings and claims are against him.

So as I said, if your headmaster gave them the photo with permission then it is he who you should be taking to a small claims proceedings. He is the one that lost you money here.

The responsibility of the newspaper was to check permission before printing, they most probably did this?
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^This really.

Of course don't forget to keep all records for your tax returns as well...
 
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