Re: [Leica] My copyright!

[D Khong <dkhong@pacific.net.sg>]

Rick Dykstra wrote:
[ snip ]
> Who should I sue?  The paper, the parents or the six year old?

Rick,

From what I gather, you are a serious amateur photographer like most of us.
You sold a picture to the family and they proudly flashed it around.
Someone from the newspaper thought it was a good shot and asked to print
it. The family proudly agrees. The shot appears in the newspaper. You would
not even have known about it until that little boy told you about it.

So now you are upset because some newspaper had used that picture without
your permission. So lets say you sued the paper or asked for compensation.
The next thing the newspaper will do is to go and hound that family, maybe
for compensation or, worse, for some form of misrepresentation.

My question to you is, "Is that really what you want to see happen?" Do you
think that family was aware of all that copyright baloney when they paid
you that few shillings for that picture? Did they really want to take away
your copyright since they were just being proud to have their little boy
appear in the papers for an achievement on the field?

Suing the paper or, even more unthinkable, the family is going to be a 
lose-lose situation. Under the latter circumstances, I am sure you can
understand if you were to put yourself in the family's position.

How to make such a situation into a win-win situation? Presuming that we
are amateurs and we primarily take pictures for fun and, hopefully, get
paid to buy more film or at least get some credit for our work. I would
visit the family and congratulate them on the publication of their son's
picture in the local newspaper. Inquire how that picture managed to get
published in the local newspaper. Politely educate the family that even
photos have copyrights and the newspaper should not have published that
picture "for commercial gain" without approval from you. I am sure that by
now the family is most remorseful and would want you to tell them what they
could "do about it".  I am sure I will not need to elaborate further. The
ball is now at your feet. Check-mate and good luck.

Dan K.
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                  Discontentment makes rich men poor.
                   Contentment makes poor men rich.
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