Copyright violation? What would you do about this?

[TJPhotoGuy]

I did a TFCD with somone a while back; they signed an release. They've REMOVED my copyright from the photo for purposes of putting it up on their web site. I'm pretty angry.... I'm attached a copy of my release agreement. Grrr! Unbelievable.

MODEL AGREEMENT
For good and valuable consideration herein acknowledged as received, the Model and the Photographer (each as identified in the signature section below) hereby agree as follows:
1. Photograghs.
This agreement (this "Agreement") applies to any and all photographs of the Model and/or the Model’s property (the "Property") taken on the session date(s) noted below (collectively, the "Photographs").
2. Grant of Rights.
The Model hereby grants to the Photographer, and the Photographer’s agents and representatives, licensees and sublicensees, assigns, heirs and successors, the perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide right to use the Photographs for any purpose whatsoever in any and all media now or hereafter known, including, without limitation, the right to reproduce, distribute, perform or display, create derivative works based upon and copyright and obtain copyright registrations of, the Photographs, whether in whole, in part or as part of a composite work. The foregoing right also includes the right of sale, broadcast, exhibition in promotion, advertising and trade. The Model acknowledges and agrees that all uses shall be without further compensation to the Model. The Model consents to use of the Model’s name or any fictitious name, or any caption or printed material, in connection with the Photographs.
3. Ownership.
The Model acknowledges and agrees that the Photographs, and all right, title and interest in and to the Photographs, including all copyright and other intellectual property rights, and all rights in and to the physical Photographs themselves and all reproductions, are the sole property of the Photographer. The Model agrees that the Photographer may in his or her sole discretion protect the copyright and other intellectual property rights relating to the Photographs, and dispose or authorize the use of any or all such rights in any manner whatsoever.
4. Release and Indemnity.
The Model hereby releases and indemnifies the Photographer, and the Photographer’s agents and representatives, licensees and sublicensees, assigns, heirs and successors, from and against all claims, expenses (including attorney fees) or other liability arising from and against any and all uses of the Photographs, including, without limitation, any claims or actions based on libel or slander or other defamation, right of privacy or "false light", right of publicity, or blurring or distortion or alteration whether or not intentional.
The Model and Photographer each hereby warrant that he or she has read this Agreement prior to execution, and is fully familiar with the contents of this Agreement. If the subject of any of the Photographs is Property, the Model hereby warrants that he or she is the owner, or otherwise has the right to permit the photographing, of the Property. This Agreement shall be binding on the agents and representatives, licensees and sublicensees, assigns, heirs and successors of each of the Model and the Photographer.
If the Model is an entity and not a natural person, personal pronouns in this Agreement shall also include the neutral gender where the context so requires.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Photographer and the Model (or the Model’s parent or guardian, as applicable) have executed this Agreement as of the date indicated below.

[ShutteredEye]

That sucks.

I bet a "cease & desist" letter would go a looooong way.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Yeah I would send them a letter that mentions what the mininum fine of copyright is per violation (around $250 per picture-google it) and be very blunt in your language!

[TJPhotoGuy]

Well, I'm trying the "nice" way first. They claimed they didn't edit it out, but I just downloaded their version, and blew it up in photoshop; it's smudged out :(

THe thing is, I don't ask for much with my signature, it's tiiiiiny and a very light watermark. Some people use huge ones all across the image. Sigh.

[srwatters]

Actually it's not all that uncommon. It's not right, but it happens all the time with Internet models and Internet photographers.

I suggest that you add a few things to your release, which BTW, says nothing about not removing your logo or copyright statement.

- Spell out exactly what the 'good and valuable consideration' is, i.e.
Model's compensation in connection with this instrument is:
(a) The Photographer agrees to pay the model the sum of $________ per hour for
his/her time which is due and payable at the completion of the session.
(b) The Photographer will provide copies of (quantity) _____ images within a reasonable
time following the shoot to the Model in the form of a CD, or via download on a FTP site
on the Internet. The Photographer shall charge no fee at any time to the Model for this
photographic work.

- Explicitly state that you must be given credit when the image is used:
The Photographer does hereby grant the Model reproduction rights on all copyrighted
images. The Model may use these for their own self-promotion, including publishing and
distributing (hard-copy and/or via Internet) said images as long as the Photographer’s
copyright © notice remains intact, or is otherwise attached or stated with the image.
Model may not, nor allow or contract with another party to, alter or manipulate any
image without the Photographer’s express written permission.

- If you wish to retain full right of sale then you really have to have a third party sign as a witness.

All of these suggestions come from a stock photography company that I am involved with. I am not a lawyer and this is not considered legal advice. YMMV.

[srwatters]

Originally Posted by TJPhotoGuy

Well, I'm trying the "nice" way first. They claimed they didn't edit it out, but I just downloaded their version, and blew it up in photoshop; it's smudged out :(

They may not have edited it out. If the model has a 'free' account on OMP or Model Mayhem, the software will compress your nice pretty 100K image into a 30K piece of junk with some really crappy software. I've seen it do awful things to nice images. I always ask my models to tell me where they want to upload and make them images where I control the compression. If your watermark started out small, the compression may have actually killed it.

[LoungeLizard]

I don't see anything in your agreement that says they can't do that - unless I missed it.

[TJPhotoGuy]

As for not saying anything in my agreement that they can't do that, the agreement does say that I control all rights to the photo... I always tell people NOT to edit it in anyway, that if they want it edited, I'll do it for them. But, I do that verbally. I will add that forsure... thanks for the verbeage Scott, I'll add that. But again, it says point blank, I'm the owner. So, I'm requesting that they remove the photo. we'll see how they take it.

Thanks for the comments; any other suggestions etc? I appreciate it..

P.S. It' snot like I can "do" anything about this anyway. Even if it were spelled out completely that they couldn't touch them, we're talking civil here :( Can't hardly sue anyone for less than a few grand, and of course it's not worth it. However... if they don't do the right thing i"ll not be working with them again...

Oh P.S.S. In my "EXIF" into of the actualy JPEG (which was REMOVED when they saved "their" version of the file" it does say, any alteration of copying is stricly forbidden... that's right there in the copyright info of the EXIF data.

[srwatters]

Originally Posted by TJPhotoGuy

Oh P.S.S. In my "EXIF" into of the actualy JPEG (which was REMOVED when they saved "their" version of the file" it does say, any alteration of copying is stricly forbidden... that's right there in the copyright info of the EXIF data.

Once again, I would suggest that you not jump to conclusions.

Which model site is it on? Their own? What software is the site built with? Not all web designers even know what EXIF data is and if they use some free tool to resize, I can all but guarantee that the EXIF will be stripped and most likely not on purpose. Communication is the key and if you approach it nicely rather than accusatory, I think you'll find out exactly what happened.

The only reason I'm playing devil's advocate here is that your reputation may be the only thing to suffer here. The local models do talk to each other. If you get talked about as difficult to work with, you will have a hard time changing it. Just my opinion, so take it or leave it.

[TJPhotoGuy]

So far, myspace.com

As for exif data, all I was saying, is that the instructions were in the original file they received from me. And yes I did approach them nicely; all I asked was that they restore that photo to the original... of course I'm going to be nice and not accustoary. I already know what happened, they modifed the image and put a yellow border around it and smudged my signature out - it's easy to tell that from the image.

I highly doubt anyone I've ever worked with would have anything at all bad to say about me :) I also think other models would agree, you shouldn't remove a photographer's signature.

But... having said that, I'm not going to get "mad" at them or anything. If they refuse to restore the photo to the one I gave them, I just won't work with them again. I have no grounds for anything else here.

I intentionally use a really tiny signature because I think the huge ones detract from the image. Yet, it makes it easy to remove :( Oh well

[TJPhotoGuy]

I just checked and so far they haven't put this particular photo up on their web site (amberandambra.com). I'm still waiting to hear back from them on whether they''ll put my byline back on the photo. I also noticed the really kewl "purple" out fit I did for them on their main page doesn't have my logo :(

Wow, if you look at their galleries, it seems that none of the photographers they've worked with so far use signatures.. how interesting!

Lol. I feel like a chump...

[Dokk]

I have a model release specifically for TFP/CD shoots. It spcifically says that the model can use the photos for personal promotion but cannot be sold by her for any reason. It also states that whatever he/she uses them for, I must be credited for the photo and it specifies text and placement of the credit.

I think that in this case, you really don't have a lot to stand on if it would ever go to court but I bet a nice letter reminding your model of the agreement she signed would go a long way. Failing that, a letter/email to the service provider of the website would produce results. They hate legal action for something that someone else did and the new "cyber" laws place quite a bit of responsibilty on them.

[TJPhotoGuy]

DOkk,

Thanks. It's not a "big enough" deal for me to go that far, it just kinda bums me out that someone would do this.

[NathanJK]

After looking at their website, I doubt your going to get too far...which is a damn shame. For some reason it just strikes me that they are VERY quick to throw their copyright on things and equally as quick to hide someone elses. I suspect several of the images in their galleries have had copyrights altered or blocked out by a border, but I dont really know.

[TJPhotoGuy]

Nathan,

Agreed. I mean, isn't TFCD supposed to be a way for two people to learn together, and build up a portfolio, as opposed to a resource to get free photography to build up a web site? * shakes head * Oh well. I mean, not only was my signature removed, but it was replaced by theirs :(