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 Originally Posted by John R.
With all due respect, sorry to disagree here and on a few of your other points. Have you ever in your life seen a infringement case of a photograph handled as a criminal case? No I think not, because it is a civil matter not criminal, which means tort law is the avenue of pursuit. If it's criminal as you say point me to the example you seem to perhaps be relying on to base your comments? Every infringement case I have ever seen or heard of is always a civil case, or show me the statute, any statute that makes such a case criminal. If there is one I will shut up. You or anyone would have to show me how you would be heard on any attempted suit over infringement on a photograph in the US without the image in question having been registered prior to any court action you would attempt to initiate. A consultation with a copyright attorney anyone? The registration is your evidence, it is a recorded PUBLIC RECORD. Without it you have no case in a tort (civil) proceeding except some cease desist leverage and a hope and a prayer the offender complies.
O gee, I don't know...how bout this one?
Copyright Law of the United States of America
and Related Laws Contained in Title 17 of the United States Code
..
§ 506. Criminal offenses6
(a) Criminal Infringement. —
(1) In general. — Any person who willfully infringes a copyright shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18, if the infringement was committed —
(A) for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain;
It goes on for a page from there, with certain requirements and stipulations, like the person must have profited, each 180 days of infringement is a separate offence, things like that.
I myself have been involved in a copyright case that was prosecuted civilly and criminally, so yes, I have. The case involved an image of mine that was published in a book, without my permission. The image wasn't registered with the copyright office, however I had published the image prior. That was enough for the judge. I was awarded triple the compensation from the previous publication of the image, plus my expenses (I never saw a dime, collect-ability is a separate issue). There was a separate criminal case in which I was to be a witness, because the person had willfully stolen every image in the book. In my case the person plea bargained, and so never went to trial. I'm not sure (can't remember) how and by whom the person was charged. It was some time ago. I do have about five pounds of documents concerning the whole thing. It went on for over a year.
There have been more than a few prosecutions. I'm not going to look them up for you. As a matter of fact I'm done with this whole baby photo-lawyer thread, and it's armchair experts.
Last edited by JBrunner; 03-23-2010 at 10:48 AM.
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Originally Posted by JBrunner
O gee, I don't know...how bout this one?
Copyright Law of the United States of America
and Related Laws Contained in Title 17 of the United States Code
..
§ 506. Criminal offenses6
(a) Criminal Infringement. —
(1) In general. — Any person who willfully infringes a copyright shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18, if the infringement was committed —
(A) for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain;
It goes on for a page from there, with certain requirements and stipulations, like the person must have profited, each 180 days of infringement is a separate offence, things like that.
I myself have been involved in a copyright case that was prosecuted civilly and criminally, so yes, I have. The case involved an image of mine that was published in a book, without my permission. The image wasn't registered with the copyright office, however I had published the image prior. That was enough for the judge. I was awarded triple the compensation from the previous publication of the image, plus my expenses (I never saw a dime, collect-ability is a separate issue). There was a separate criminal case in which I was to be a witness, because the person had willfully stolen every image in the book. In my case the person plea bargained, and so never went to trial. I'm not sure (can't remember) how and by whom the person was charged. It was some time ago. I do have about five pounds of documents concerning the whole thing. It went on for over a year.
There have been more than a few prosecutions. I'm not going to look them up for you. As a matter of fact I'm done with this whole baby photo-lawyer thread, and it's armchair experts.
Sir, there is a lot more to section 506 than you mention before something would necessarily constitute a criminal offense occurred. I am anything but a lawyer but the way the entire unedited Title 17 reads to me is that there is a lot of ambiguity in the way those outlines would be interpreted. I do intend to call a copyright attorney and pose direct questions to them regarding criminality and registration issues to get a clear unambiguous answer. So, just out of curiosity what state was your case filed in? Do you have a case number we could reference? I would like to review that public record to have a better understanding of the case issues and legal process that involved both criminality and civil issues over your image.
Yes, I would agree on one point, there is baby-photolawyering taking place and plenty of unprofessional armchair opinions such as myself and you. I would still like you to steer me directly to one particular criminal case so I can review the facts surrounding the case. I would think yours would be an easy one to direct us to. Thanks.
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Originally Posted by John R.
I would still like you to steer me directly to one particular criminal case so I can review the facts surrounding the case. I would think yours would be an easy one to direct us to. Thanks.
http://pacer.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinion.pdf/055157.P.pdf
Last edited by Allen Friday; 03-23-2010 at 12:48 PM.
Reason: attach link to case
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Originally Posted by Allen Friday
Thanks for that link Allen. It is an interesting read. It is not exactly what I was looking for that would have to do with an infringed photograph such as in the Photo.net matter. In the DVD felony appeal case the dollar value is a major issue. Also, the copyright violation was in a status of immediate and direct personal financial gain to the violator. As we know there are many factors that play into these copyright cases and we need to compare apples to apples I think to get a clear picture of how a infringed photo (whether registered or not) would be handled such as those referenced by the OP to this thread. I will update what I learn on this regarding a photograph after I speak directly with a couple copyright attorneys.
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