A lawyer's view on the importance of watermarks... as she says at the end, you don't have to have registered your photo in advance to recover under the statute she discusses.
Having read the link, it seems that including copyright and other identifying information in EXIF data would be included if they altered/removed that EXIF info.
"Don't ask me what I think of you, I might not give the answer that you want me to. Oh well."
-Fleetwood Mac
I have been thru the legal process several times. The FIRST thing you will be asked by a lawyer that you would want to handle you or a judge: 'Did you copyright the photos.' ' We need the certificate.'
Most likely if your images are not copyrighted the lawyer will tell you..sorry...why ? Because of the costs...generally $150-500 an hour depending where you will have to use. Oh,and that is plus all little expenses to...Do you know how many xerox copies will fly back and forth ?
There are different methods of someone stealing photos. I would not take this advice of not copyrighting photos and though I know that Carolyn is active giving advice on the photo boards and many things I agree with,there are some I don't. Not because I as a layman know more of course...It's just I've been there in different states and every judge is different but they all have asked the same questions.
A good place to pose this for advice to would be: ASMP,or SAA(stockartistalliance)
because many there have sued for big bucks and won.
You can also maybe search the archives for past cases on PDN(Photo District News)
On a few images of mine that were stolen and sold enmasse--watermarks were not removed since they stole high res images..and since they were old images that had been previosuly published, the court threw those images out of the lawsuit since they were not copyrighted. That really sucked because they were so exclusive and had such an incredible sales record too...
Each theft suit is different and do realize if you sue--it is very costly and you have to sue the infringer in their state which will also most likely entail you going to court in their state and you may or may not collect!
So,all the prevention that you can do BEFORE is well worth it. It may not prevent all theft but usually thieves go where the path of least resistance is..and if they ahve to break down so many virtual doors,they find it's easier to move on.
Having read the link, it seems that including copyright and other identifying information in EXIF data would be included if they altered/removed that EXIF info.
Comments
Having read the link, it seems that including copyright and other identifying information in EXIF data would be included if they altered/removed that EXIF info.
-Fleetwood Mac
Most likely if your images are not copyrighted the lawyer will tell you..sorry...why ? Because of the costs...generally $150-500 an hour depending where you will have to use. Oh,and that is plus all little expenses to...Do you know how many xerox copies will fly back and forth ?
There are different methods of someone stealing photos. I would not take this advice of not copyrighting photos and though I know that Carolyn is active giving advice on the photo boards and many things I agree with,there are some I don't. Not because I as a layman know more of course...It's just I've been there in different states and every judge is different but they all have asked the same questions.
A good place to pose this for advice to would be: ASMP,or SAA(stockartistalliance)
because many there have sued for big bucks and won.
You can also maybe search the archives for past cases on PDN(Photo District News)
On a few images of mine that were stolen and sold enmasse--watermarks were not removed since they stole high res images..and since they were old images that had been previosuly published, the court threw those images out of the lawsuit since they were not copyrighted. That really sucked because they were so exclusive and had such an incredible sales record too...
Each theft suit is different and do realize if you sue--it is very costly and you have to sue the infringer in their state which will also most likely entail you going to court in their state and you may or may not collect!
So,all the prevention that you can do BEFORE is well worth it. It may not prevent all theft but usually thieves go where the path of least resistance is..and if they ahve to break down so many virtual doors,they find it's easier to move on.
ItsMe