Quick question for the legal people.

An American company (a printer) has taken an image from our website (old blog post), removed our branding and watermark and are currently using it on their website to sell/advertise their product.

The image is a photo taken by myself, of an item designed by me that was printed locally in the Uk.

I know this is naughty but not sure if it is ‘set a solicitor on them’ naughty or ‘send generic email’* naughty.

Any advice much appreciated.

*if anyone has a generic ‘stop taking my shit’ email that’d be great.

Firstly, IANAL!

I’d tell them to stop using it or you will get a solicitor involved. Then if they don’t, i’d get a solicitor involved.

I know this is naughty but not sure if it is ‘set a solicitor on them’ naughty or ‘send generic email’* naughty.

Depends on the outcome you want.

If you just want them to stop using it then a stiffly worded email will probably do the trick, there’s even a chance that the owner/director etc. don’t even know that their designer/web admin used a hooky image.

If you want sweet sweet vengeance and eleventy million dollars in compensation then you’ll need something more than just a letter/email.

I’d send them an invoice.

Copyright on images can be a grey area. However, not in this case.

If they’re using your image to promote their product, and therefore profiting from it directly, then they either pay you for that use or take it down pretty damn quick. Simple as that.

No need to go in all guns blazing, just drop them a polite mail and say that they obviously like the image, your flattered blah blah blah, and you’ll send them the proper hi-res image for them to use for $X per month.

^ That. Plus screenshot the webpage, save a copy etc as evidence just in case.

Plus if they turn out to be dicks, then submit it to http://youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/blog3/ – they won’t enjoy the negative publicity.

We use a company called Picscout who specialise in this sort of thing. Basically they send out an “infringement notice” stating the image has been used without your permission.

You can then attempt to charge them for its use (which needs to be a realistic price, not some made up price).

Have a look at online sites for what a realistic price might be.

Thanks for all the fast replies, confirmed my initial thoughts.

I’m more annoyed that they’ve doctored the image than pinched it. I’ll get a strongly worded email written I think.

Having done a load of product photos recently, it’s something I’ve looked into. There’s some good information here. http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/protect-online-photos.htm