Are Photographers dealing with copyright infringment issues?

[bjorke]

PS: Sorry to hear about Monte, he alwasy seemed like an enthusiastic & decent guy

[copake_ham]

Originally Posted by eddym

I've tried this a few times, and have yet to get an order from the client. As my wife pointed out, so what if the prints are mediocre? That just makes them think I am a lousy photographer!

Hmmm, hadn't thought of that.

Okay, then include one "dupe" in either highest quality JPEG or as a TIFF to show as a "teaser" for what the rest could look like.

[Nicole]

* Never leave proofs with a client.
* Never sell the negs/digital files.
* Orders below $2000 - Always get full payment at the time of order
* Orders above $2000 - Always get at least a 50% deposit and outstanding balance on delivery.
* Only sell prints 11x14" and larger

Winger: Scanning prints, "just to send emails" is also copyright infringement

[jnanian]

Originally Posted by Nicole

* Never leave proofs with a client.
* Never sell the negs/digital files.
* Orders below $2000 - Always get full payment at the time of order
* Orders above $2000 - Always get at least a 50% deposit and outstanding balance on delivery.
* Only sell prints 11x14" and larger

that is a pretty good policy nicole.
someone i used to work for way back when used to have me
barely fix the proofs so if the "client" just took them instead of making
an order, they would not last very long. she also had a rubber stamp
that said "PROOF" she would stamp the image with. this was before
scanners, when the only way to copy something was using a xerox machine.

Originally Posted by Nicole

Winger: Scanning prints, "just to send emails" is also copyright infringement

a lot of the kiddie-photo mills actually have the "client" sign a copyright form
that says they understand all the photographs are copyrighted no
emailing/ scanning or copying, and all the prints are dye-sub printed
on paper that says "copyrighted photograph" and the name of the studio.

others know people just want to email "stuffs" to their
friends/family and for free, they offer a private-link to the company website to email all of the images ...

[Kino]

Wonder if you could overcoat the proofs with a UV excitable ink that would show up on attempting to scan? How about having about a dozen lines of "PROOF --DO NOT DUPLICATE" appear upon scanning?

Wonder if it could be built into the paper itself, specifically for proofing...

Ach, I gave a way a million dollar idea!

[braxus]

Kino,
Older pro prints used to be detected by the machine as professional. Its the newer stuff it didn't read. Of course that was the older model of the machine. The newer one does nothing to stop you. Most photographers today charge the big fee up front which includes the negatives. Only the really high end photographers keep the negs/ files these days for future printing.

[winger]

Winger: Scanning prints, "just to send emails" is also copyright infringement

There was no other way to show the proofs to my cousins in Alaska to find out which ones they wanted to buy. And they did buy prints. Which they wouldn't have otherwise.

[nc5p]

I spent several hours photographing some items that I sold on ebay. I used Alien Bees, umbrellas, light stands, etc. The photos were quite good and detailled. Well, a few months later I was surfing the web and came across the website of the company that manufactured the goods I had sold used on ebay. There on their homepage and catalog pages were all my photos. This place is in Asia somewhere.

I've heard of ebayers stealing photos from other auctions but a company to steal ebay photos for their main catalog, that's going a bit far.

[Kino]

Originally Posted by nc5p

I spent several hours photographing some items that I sold on ebay. I used Alien Bees, umbrellas, light stands, etc. The photos were quite good and detailled. Well, a few months later I was surfing the web and came across the website of the company that manufactured the goods I had sold used on ebay. There on their homepage and catalog pages were all my photos. This place is in Asia somewhere.

I've heard of ebayers stealing photos from other auctions but a company to steal ebay photos for their main catalog, that's going a bit far.

Hope you emailed them an invoice!

[JBrunner]

Originally Posted by patrickjames

This is a pretty grey area of the law. I think the best thing to do as a photographer is to charge up front and then let the people have a dvd with the images to do with whatever they want. There is no good way to police this otherwise. (I am talking about the average person, not agencies or corps. etc.) A lot of photographers have it in their business plan to charge less for their time and then try to make a killing on reprints, which people resent. I am also avoiding any express/implied warrantees this way as well. What if that digital file gets lost or corrupted? This way it is not my problem.

Charge up front and then let them be.

Patrick

Illegal duplication of copyright material is hardly a "grey area". A photographer owns the copyright to all his/her images unless it is released by him/her. If you choose to license your images away or ignore your copyright, you may certainly do so, but that practice does not invalidate the rights of those who choose not to, nor does it validate thievery.