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!
That PR company’s graphic artists and editors know full well they are breaking copy laws. Go after them.
It’s a major US company
OK - the cruise ship (and by extension the line) is probably not at fault. Whomever they bought it from is the actual infringer.
First things first - before contacting a lawyer you have to register the copyright on your image, presuming you haven’t already.
You can not litigate copyright infringement or even threaten to without registering the copyright first - and it has to be registered, not simply filed for. File for the copyright and then contact an attorney - they can send a demand to the cruise line to reveal the source they bought the print from. The cruise line does not have to answer that demand because there’s no litigation yet - but they will. Once you know who to go after, your lawyer will take it from there.
Note that this is worth litigating - willful infringement of a copyrighted work is worth treble damages and it’s per infringement… and if it’s in one cruise ship it’s probably in more than one, and elsewhere as well. All kinds of infringements might come to light once subpoenas start getting tossed around.
tl;dr – file for your copyright today, then call an attorney.
Find the address of their corporate registrar and send an invoice via certified mail. Give 'em 30 days to pay.
You need to reach out to a U.S. based lawyer that deals with intellectual property suits. I highly recommend David Deal, he is well known and recommended in the real estate and architectural photography communities for handling such issues with very good payouts:
That comment sounds like a late 80s american tv ad
What US company? I don’t know of any US cruise companies. All the major ones are actually foreign entities (this especially came to light during the pandemic).
Copyright infringement on the high seas - I guess this makes it a pirate ship.
I wish I had gold to give lmfao
Literally a pirated image.
That’s piratsea!
Cruise ships are an intentional mix of national origins and providers. They are amazing at diffusing responsibility as anything needing liability isn’t just a different company, it is a different company in a different nation subject to different laws. Taxes, employment rights, and anything they don’t want to deal with is a legal maze.
Most likely they don’t even know. One of the many groups involved probably licensed it in bulk, and they do have an agreement paying for use. Very often it is licensed and sublicenced and several levels down somebody submitted the art claiming to have rights they didn’t have. Sometimes people do it to make quick money knowing odds of discovery are low and odds of consequences are even lower. Other times it is merely ignorance, submitting art they like without knowing or caring about money or rights.
You need to figure out exactly what you want. Do you want a license payment? Do you want it removed? Do you want something else?
After you know what you want, if it makes sense to get it, go hire a lawyer. They can help you navigate the tangle of corporate entities and international agreements you will be facing.
It is absolutely your right to demand payment.
Enforcing that right is often expensive, far more costly than money you would receive, and the risks for people on the infringement side very often have near-zero risk, and low cost in the rare case they are caught. Casual infringers don’t think about it, and willful criminals weigh the balance, taking the low risk money.
I would ask for a free cruise for 2 people every 2 years.
it would be pretty easy of them to just remove it and disregard any further complaints
It is not as simple as a single image in a single room.
It would not be in a single room, but bulk. They would need to replace it in hundreds or maybe thousands of rooms, putting up other art. Then they would need to destroy the hundreds of prints they have, and remove it from the pool of artwork.
It will likely cost several thousand dollars, and they won’t do it without reason. Certainly not just because someone asked.
Enforcing that right is often expensive, far more costly than money you would receive, and the risks for people on the infringement side very often have near-zero risk, and low cost in the rare case they are caught.
I came here to bring this up specifically. Tony Northrup had a video about someone across the globe stealing his content and brought up how extremely costly it was. He was mad, could afford it, and was gonna fight cause they did it to him twice, from what I recall, but I do remember a point in the video where he was talking about how it became a matter of principle over money at a certain point because of the cost in money and time sink. I can’t remember if he said $50,000 or $500,000, I lean towards the 50, but either way, that’s a lot of money to fight for one picture.
I mean, if he wins, he should win back the court expenses, or does it not work like that?
I don’t know, and I’m also gonna assume it’s not exactly the easiest thing to collect a debt from half way around the world either. There’s also the real possibility you could lose.
I don’t know, and I’m also gonna assume it’s not exactly the easiest thing to collect a debt from half way around the world either. There’s also the real possibility you could lose.
It might be worth hiring a lawyer to send a letter demanding payment or takedown, buy yeah beyond that this seems like a case where even if you won the cost of doing so makes it a loss.
Yeah this is good. I think looking for liability is a waste. OP did some work and wants some money.
Printing cost
Licensing of image
Time spent pursuing
that’s about it.
This is the correct comment, and also why a legal solution is less ideal than outright shaming them on socials and mobilizing an army of people bad mouthing them on insta and twitter.
Its not ideal, but copyright is so complicated you may have no choice.
Is it really worth the headache of dealing with lawyers and courts
Depending the picture could be worth a hundred K or more for illegal use
And I might find a treasure chest filled with gold and emeralds on my way back from lunch.
No way the dude will make enough money from this to cover even the first legal consultation.
First, send them an invoice and see what happens
Cease and desist 🫵
One thought is to contact the cruise lines and prove that this is your pic that was used without consent. From there you have a few options
- They can continue to use but have to give credit by amending the painting to add your name
- Go the lawyer route as others mention here
- Do nothing
- Shame them on social media
The last option may not do much because it may not be reach enough people to have an effect that solicits the cruise line to do anything.
The first option is the best imo because it is free advertising for you
Send them an outrageously priced bill. Sometimes a book keeper at a giant company like that will just get those and pay them. The thing going for you, is you ACTUALLY Provided the service. They could look at it as cheaper than litigation and just pay you. Because if they’ve been running around with this giant picture on their boat it could be argued you’ve helped them bring in sales. Boom. Now you’re asking for 5% of their profits. That $40k bill looks pretty nice about now.
Met a guy who sold an image to the resident photographer on a cruise ship. Can’t recall what he made, but it was a few thousand. The photographer turned around and sold the rights to the cruise line who used it for years. That photographer made many, many more thousands than what he bought the image for. Not saying this is your case, but it’s probably worth looking into, at least. Can’t hurt 🤷🏻♀️
Well 1, yeah gotta get a lawyer and contact the company. But also, don’t take it all bad, be honored that a big company used your work! Lol! Maybe, instead of just getting it taken down, get a deal that they pay you for both illegally printing it, but Aldo so they can still use it…?
First get the evidence