Marc,
it's the principle,not the money.
Why should they be able to use our images for free and get away with it?
My agent in Italy,stopped dealing with them 2 years ago,because they never paid.
They get away with it because they are in Spain.
If they were based in the US,it wouldn't be happening.
Cheers,
Willem.
I had a situation in the Toronto area where a window and door manufacturer scanned one of my photos ( copyright notice very prominent ) directly from a calendar I had done, and used it in an Ad. I called the owner of the company and informed him that I make my living from photography, and I would be sending him an invoice. He said he used it because it was a "nice picture", but seemed to think the idea of payment was a joke.
I sent the invoice, which he ignored, then filed a claim in small claims court. He ignored this too and I won by default, but received no payment. I then wrote him and indicated I was filing for debtor's examination, where he would have to appear before the judge and disclose his business and financial information, including his client receivables list so they could be garnisheed if necessary for payment. I also reminded him that if he failed to appear at the hearing, he would be automatically found in contempt of court, and he and the officers of the company would probably be going to jail for 40 days. I then received payment in full in a few days.
One of the frustrating things about small claims court, at least in the province of Ontario, is that winning the case doesn't automatically guarantee a settlement. You then have to jump through hoops to initiate additional actions to try to collect.
