My cars - Performance BMW Featured... ALL of them

[RickSloan]

ok in my defense, i think its great that his cars are in the mag, and if this happened to me i would def not be going after the mag for anything cause honestly i would be honored.

BUT, i am an illustrator and copyright is a large part of my life. And if anyone looked up the Orphan act that i mentioned stuff like this is going to become a huge problem in the future. Companies are going to be able to claim any un registered art or photography as their own after a "diligent" search for the creator. This means its now theirs if they register it. Its a problem for people like myself that depend on the commissions of magazines and advertisers for a pay check.

again i think its awesome that his cars are in there, and to those saying he should sue the mag or anything like that, thats just stupid. They honestly aren't making much at all off this single spread anyway. and Asbradley, if he were to do that they would think nothing of it and they would think nothing of never featuring him for anything again...

so yes you guys need to lighten up about this circumstance, yes they should have asked, but thats a SHOULD HAVE, not HAVE TO...

[napabavarian]

I wish I hadn't said anything. I can't believe how many little bitches there are on this site.

from the master :-?

[speedminded]

I don't care that they took the photos. They are public photos, and I posted them willingly on the internet. I'm not trying to get something for nothing, here.
(the only issue I had was that my house number is still in the photo, not too crazy about that)
I was super surprised to start with, and then looked at the rest of the photos. Most of the other ones look like "stock" photos from magazines or websites. I was honored to have my pics picked out of ALL the photos on the website.
Anyways, I'll be trying to get a "real" feature soon with my E28, if it EVER gets finished. I hope it will rate. Maybe they can do a feature on me (a normal guy who works on his own trash), and my obsessive collection of cars. We'll see.

The point is, THEY ARE getting something for nothing. With the way the current economy is their budgets have been cut, look how many popular magazines are now extinct the last few months. Stealing someones work and using it without the creators permission should not be acceptable in any circumstance, no matter what it is or who is doing it.

They're the one's getting greedy. You're going to sit there and side on a magazine making profit off advertising or photographers putting food on their table and a roof over their head? Every time they think they can get away with it the value of photographs in general are lowered, the more they steal and get away with it the less they'll want to pay in the long run. The same goes for photographers willing to give up photos for free, even if they're just snapshots take pride in what you have done and charge for it.

[speedminded]

I have heard that although your photographs are automatically copyrighted when you create them, if they are not registered with the copyright office before an infringement occurs, there isn't as much you can do legally if someone uses them.

Some info about it here:
http://www.editorialphoto.com/copyright/primer.asp

Legally you will still get the value of the photo whether it's registered or not, you simply can't get punitive damages or anything above and beyond the photos value. As I originally said, PBMW needs to be sent an invoice stating the OP was honored that his photos were used in their magazine, here's the bill, and to contact him with any questions.

I think the last paragraph in your link sums it up well:

"As I have stated in the previous parts of this series copyright registration is fundamental in the protection of our own work and the education of society as a whole. We as a profession need to show that we value the work we create so that others in society will learn to value just as much. We create our own destiny and it must be worked on at every level, including protecting our livelihoods. If we fail, we will have no one to blame but ourselves."

[ldsbeaker]

well, I'm off to download some music and movies...


...wait a minute...

[Jand3rson]

from the master :-?

You wanna run that by me again?

[speedminded]

well, I'm off to download some music and movies...


...wait a minute...

...and then you are going to burn them on a DVD and put them for sale on shelves in stores internationally?

In essence that is what PBMW has done.

[Jand3rson]

You've got to be kidding me. You are blowing this WAY more out of proportion than what I had originally asked. All I wanted to know is if it was legal for them to do so. I never meant that he should pursue it. I think it's awesome that his cars are featured, and I would be stoked as fuck if they did the same with mine, and I wouldn't care, either. I just didn't know if they could do it or not. Apparently, they can, or they wouldn't have been able to publish the mag.

[speedminded]

You've got to be kidding me. You are blowing this WAY more out of proportion than what I had originally asked. All I wanted to know is if it was legal for them to do so. I never meant that he should pursue it. I think it's awesome that his cars are featured, and I would be stoked as fuck if they did the same with mine, and I wouldn't care, either. I just didn't know if they could do it or not. Apparently, they can, or they wouldn't have been able to publish the mag.

They sell 10,000+ copies a month at $5-10 each (depending on subscription or not). Plus all the advertising they do in the magazine. I realize they have an insane amount of overhead and publishing costs but they are making more than enough money not to resort to stealing photographs. Deadlines come and they need a few more pages to fill so they steal some and take the chance that nobody will care or do anything about it, especially a UK magazine with photos from the US.

[TDE30]

If they stole his photographs, then cool, whatever. But he's cool with it, so I don't see why there is an issue.

No big deal, have some eggnog.

[Jonny Cash]

eggnog in hand, sir.

How funny! My girl gave me this mag today for xmas. Sat on the head for about 15 min reading it. The red 4 door e30 in there is sick.

From what Im gathering from what the speedminded guy is saying.. You could surf the web all day looking for "stolen" photos, and chisel %'s from clients lawsuits. We'll be rich! :evil:

[speedminded]

eggnog in hand, sir.

How funny! My girl gave me this mag today for xmas. Sat on the head for about 15 min reading it. The red 4 door e30 in there is sick.

From what Im gathering from what the speedminded guy is saying.. You could surf the web all day looking for "stolen" photos, and chisel %'s from clients lawsuits. We'll be rich! :evil:

Not too much money made off of it unless they cropped out a photographers watermark or used a copyright registered photograph, modified the photo's EXIF data, etc. then used it in a commercial advertising...which would be up to $150,000 per photo.

This is a rare instance but to show how serious it can get.

Photographer Awarded $1.32 Million in Copyright Infrigement Lawsuit...

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/334713_photolawsuit09.html

[napabavarian]

You wanna run that by me again?

It says you own the place

[r3vde30]

everyones trying to make a buck --- every "profession" out there is looking for a bailout as well

[RickSloan]

i think what speedminded is getting at is that if one thing slips thru the cracks then they are going to continue to do it. I think it comes down to two different perspectives. Those of us that derive an income from selling products such as photos and art work to companies and those of us who don't...

for those of us who do this would be profit lost and allowing this company to think they can continue to get away with such things...