Copyright Violation conversations:
#1
After exchange of pleasantries.
Copyright Violator (CV) : I am the head of marketing and I have decided to talk directly to you instead of going through my team. Mr. D (MD) , you are a brilliant photographer, just love your photographs, this photograph is just too good, feel like picking the food out of plate.
MD: Thank you
CV: Can we sort out this issue amicably, in a friendly manner?
MD: why not? And how do propose to resolve?
CV: Mr. D , we are a big company, we are into real estate , we are into hospitality, we have food business as well. There will be many business opportunities for you.
MD: I understand but can we resolve this issue first?
CV: Mr. D , we are a big company, we are into real estate , we are into hospitality, we have food business as well. We get a lot of photography done, you can be on our panel and do regular assignments for us.
MD: hmm. Sounds interesting. But can you afford me? I charge ₹xxx per day plus cost of food stylist plus digital processing charges.
CV: silence
MD: Let’s be friends and start doing business together.
CV: this is too much , right now we pay 1/5th of what you have quoted.
MD: I have seen your website & observed the quality of photographs.You also have an image of same food but you decided to choose my photograph for publication.
CV: I know but we can not pay what you are asking for.
MD: No problem, let’s try to resolve this issue for the time being, you pay ₹xxx as compensation for unauthorised usage. 50% to me & 50% to a charity referred by me.
CV: silence for a while…
This is too much. See Mr. D , we are a large company and we are in real estate and you know how real estate companies work , we have a strong legal team who will take up the matter.
MD : Are you threatening me? I am on the right side of law & you are on the wrong side here. I am sure your legal team understands Law. I do not have any problem if you want me to take legal recourse.
CV: a long silence.
I am just an employee here, let me speak to the owners of the company and get back to you.
MD: take your time. Bye.
#2
Email exchange.
Copyright Violator (CV): Dear Mr. Ravi Dhingra(MD),
With regard to your claims regarding the copyright of a photograph, I would like to mention that the photo has no copyright or watermark. We have not done anything which is against the law.
Please find below the link from which the photograph was taken:
http://www.nripulse.com/punjabi-delight-sarson-da-saag
It clearly shows that there is no watermark on the photograph or any other related copyright information. I am also attaching the screenshots for your easy reference.
Please also note that such type of defaming words for an organisation like us are not appreciated.
MD: Dear Mr CV
1. Thank you for you mail and thank you for accepting that you have used the photograph, makes my task easier.
2. I hope you consulted your legal team before offering an immature & loosely worded explanation for the usage of photograph. There are millions of images available on the web and none of these are “orphan”, these are owned by the creators or the licensed users. There is no way you can use any of these images without permission from either the creator or the licence holder(whether copyright sign is there or not).
3. Thank you for sharing the link from where you have downloaded the image. Unfortunately for you, this site has also used the photograph without my knowledge and permission and I will be initiating the process of taking action against them. You have used a “stolen” image which does not absolve you from the act of violation of copyright. Even on the screenshot you have shared ,it is explicitly mentioned that “the images may be subject to copyright”. Just in case you have the necessary permission from the website from where you have downloaded the image, kindly share the same.
4. Attaching the screenshot of the website where the original photograph is posted and you can see that the image was take on 15th December 2004 and it also mentions about copyright. As far as ownership of this photograph is concerned I have ample proofs, the camera metadata , Exif information, High resolution version, series of similar images taken at the same time etc. I don’t foresee any problem in proving that I am the rightful owner of this photograph.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ravifoodphotos/2367784113/in/photostream/
5. Sharing a link to my blog which I wrote sometime back about copyright violation. This will also be interesting reading for you as it broadly explains the legalities and proposed action which I will be taking your organisation.
https://ravidhingra.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/copyright-or-right-to-copy/
6. It is upto you to decide the future course of action, whether you want to resolve now by paying compensation for the unauthorised usage or you want to go the legal way.
Looking forward to an early and simple resolution of this matter.
All the best
#RaviDvsGoliath
PS: the photograph has been removed on the website referred by CV after I sent them intimation of copyright violation
#3
Dear Mr. D,
Can you please share the proof of ownership so that we can review?
Also, as discussed, if you could share a proposal for photoshoot for our business centres.
Thanks,
CV
Dear CV
Attaching the following screenshots for your reference:
1. Thumbnails of high resolution photographs. As you can see, there are 3 variants of the same food item. The file extension is .tif which means that these are high resolution photographs which no one else will have other than me.
2. My Flickr profile page & the page where photograph was uploaded by me. I joined flickr in 2008 and as per the camera information displayed, the photograph was taken on 15th December 2004. No one else will create an account in my name, even if someone else does it,I will not be able to sign in but here you can clearly see,I am signed in.
3. File information- details of camera, camera settings,creator & date of creation. I still have the camera which was used to capture this image.
These are good enough for proving my ownership of the photograph.
As far as proposal for Photo Shoot is concerned, we will discuss that after this issue is resolved. Let’s keep the two things separate.
Looking forward to an early resolution.
All the best
MD
