Hi everyone,

I’m a photographer from Belgium. I discovered one of my photos has been printed illegally and is on one of the walls in a cruise ship. It’s a major US company. I discovered this because a passenger recognized my work and sent me a photo of it.

Does anyone now what’s the best thing to do here?

Thanks!

  • aardbeienjazz@alien.topOPBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Thanks everyone for your advice! Also for the funny comments.

    I realized I wasn’t really into contacting a lawyer and going through the whole jurisdiction… Earlier this year, one of my clients filed for bankrupcy and they owned me a big deal of money. It’s been taken care of now, but the liquidation process was painfully slow and the legal stuff took a lot from me mentally.

    I was able to get in touch with the cruise company and kindly told them about my print on one of their walls. They told me they bought it from a company who did all of the decoration on the ship. They even informed there’s not 1, but 3 prints of my work on their walls. They gave me the company’s contact and I sent the company an email. The company told me they bought the images from a Dutch freelance graphics designer. They saw my work in a magazine and contacted the magazine’s designer.

    Now is the malicious part. The designer they bought my images from is someone who I sold a license to publish my work in the magazine the designer worked for. I remembered him and it was a beautiful publication. There was no excuse sellling my high res files to another company so I knew right away that what he did is illegal. Eventually I called a lawyer to talk this through. It’s a much easier process sueing this designer, than a cruise company, so he advised me going ahead with sueing this person.