Copyrights abuse - help

[skoooczek]

I few months ago I met up with this band. They liked my pictures and offered me to design they're album cover using my pictures. I was supposed to get paid for this of course. Besides designing their album I also took pictures at their concerts, you know so they can post it on myspace or whatever - NON COMMERCIAL USAGE. There have been four situations when I have seen my pictures edited and posted up on sites. The first time it happened I told the band that they cannot edit or modify in any way any of my work. This repeated another 3 times...
A few days ago I saw my picture of the band on a website, edited (in a really bad way) and had a logo of Nokia on it.

It says on the web that this image will be offered to people as a wallpaper for their cell phones if they come to Nokias event.
Now heres where it get complicated. I have never agreed to anyone to use/ edit any of my pictures/graphics for any commercial usage. I wrote to the bands manager about this situation and he replied that there was a misunderstanding because they "thought' that I gave mutual permission to use all of my work for FREE. There is no paper work on this agreement and I never gave such permission , except for the album which I was suppose to do and get paid for.
I'm positive that I won't get off any money from the bands manager, by looking how the way he replied. I havent talked to nokia about this yet. What should I do, because I think this is breaking the law by abusing my copyrights in using my work for commercial advertisement and editing it without me even knowing about it.

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

Just go get a corporate lawyer... and send them a message, Show's Over...

 

[skoooczek]

where can I find in Singapore find any corporate lawyers ? get any free lawyer advice at first.

 

[Deadpoet]

If there is no written/signed agreement, and they cannot substantiate a verbal agreement, all copyrights are yours.

All you need to do is to proof that you took the pictures. Orignal exif data from the raw files are a good start.

Good luck. Btw, I widh you can squeeze teh band dry. I am sure if someone uses thier songs, that is if they write their own songs, they will be crying murder.

 

[Isaiahfortythirtyone]

go consult an IP lawyer. The firm: Alban, Tay, Mahtani & de Silva is a respected law firm in the field of intellectual property. http://www.atmdlaw.com.sg/home/home.asp

IIRC, colin ng & partners also has quite a strong IP division.http://www.cnplaw.com/en/index.asp

 

[CYRN]

I tink you should explain to the manager that it's similar to buying 1 CD from his band and then distributing their songs in the net for free.

 

[lurgee]

Hey man,

I've seen your photos of them on their sites. Good stuff.

Sad to hear that things have gotten this way. Hope everything will be sorted out soon. Do let us know of the situation and good luck!

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

I tink you should explain to the manager that it's similar to buying 1 CD from his band and then distributing their songs in the net for free.

think the example wrong... since they never pay...

its akin to downloading the pirated CD off the net and then distribute the songs and getting paid for it. :devil:

 

[CYRN]

think the example wrong... since they never pay...

its akin to downloading the pirated CD off the net and then distribute the songs and getting paid for it. :devil:

tot they commissioned him for album cover. I think it's his other pictures that he took in the concerts.... not very clear in his post.:think:

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

tot they commissioned him for album cover. I think it's his other pictures that he took in the concerts.... not very clear in his post.:think:

supposed to get paid, so mean not paid lor...

anyway, still stick to my suggestion... just go to a lawyer, normally ask questions are free, if u confirm engage them then start paying.

 

[skoooczek]

supposed to get paid, so mean not paid lor...

anyway, still stick to my suggestion... just go to a lawyer, normally ask questions are free, if u confirm engage them then start paying.

I'll hold with my final decision for some time, so if you guys come up with anything else let me know.
They didn't pay me anything because I refused to finish the album. Thanks for the help.

 

[nyxx88]

Good luck! Do keep us posted.

 

[ortega]

send a letter of demand to the organiser and nokia
then sit back and watch the show

 

[STSHM1]

Do you know IPOS? It stands for Intellectual Properties Offices of Singapore. Pay a visit to this link -> http://www.ipos.gov.sg/main/index.html .

IPOS has a department - The Hearings and Mediation department, that is tasked to hear and mediate intellectual property disputes such as trade mark opposition and patents and designs revocations. The department also hears all interlocutory matters arising from cases brought before it.

Give it a try. And good luck.

Fr: David.

 

[shojibake]

Tell them .... summer's over, now pay me.

But you know what the problem is? I don't think they'll even have the money to renumerate you any significant amount of cash. I suggest you tell them a number you're comfortable with first before telling them about going to nokia and ipos.

 

[Youhong]

Now... This brings up something I want to rise...

TFCDs and paid shoots... When we, photographers, give the pictures to the models/subjects their pictures, saying that the pictures should be for personal uses, it seems to go off to another places.

One thing I noticed is that some organisers are using the pictures of the models/model wannabes here in CS to organise their shoots without asking the permission of the photographers. Some claimed that the pictures are send by the models themselves, but the organisers failed to check with the photographer(s) for permission to re-produce/use the pictures. Well, those without watermark still can argue that don't know who to ask, but how about those with watermark? The photographer MAY be alright with people using his/her work, but I think that it will be good to ASK FIRST.

 

[skoooczek]

The photographer MAY be alright with people using his/her work, but I think that it will be good to ASK FIRST.

i totally agree, i would even allow them to use the picture for free if they would at least ask, its just one pic, nothing special. but since they have been using my photographs for many purposes on many different occasions and editing them without letting me know, this makes the whole situation more serious.
im going to a lawyer tomorrow with the evidence i have and we'll see whats next.

 

[ortega]

Tell them .... summer's over, now pay me.

But you know what the problem is? I don't think they'll even have the money to renumerate you any significant amount of cash. I suggest you tell them a number you're comfortable with first before telling them about going to nokia and ipos.

since they don't have the money and you would proberly get nothing in return
so just go to ipos and nokia and make them an example for others to see

just like the S$10,000 for using maps taken from websites

 

[cjl]

since they don't have the money and you would proberly get nothing in return
so just go to ipos and nokia and make them an example for others to see

just like the S$10,000 for using maps taken from websites

For the map case, now LTA/SLA is suing the coy back ithink

 

[ortega]

For the map case, now LTA/SLA is suing the coy back ithink

which is good as we all now know that we cannot anyhow use maps