I guess it was a matter of time, but some guy is using my images on his website without my explicit permission. I told him if he wanted to use them to contact me and we'd make arrangements. Instead, he simply ripped the proofs off and cut my copyright off the bottom, put his own logo on it, and posted them to his website.
I've contacted him twice now and no response. I also contacted his hosting company and told them the same. No action. It's been about five days now since I contacted him or his hosting company.
What is my next step?
I've been dealing with copyright infringements on my images for many years unfortunately and I know how annoying this can be. First of all I would suggest that you gather as many material facts together as possible, so that you can document the infringement beyond any reasonable doubt. Save it as a web archive, make a screen recording and anything else that comes to mind. One lawyer once told me to make a video with a copy of that day's newspaper in front to establish the date.
The hard part is removing the emotional element and treating this on a purely pragmatic level because I can assure you it does your health and bank balance no good at all to spend weeks, months or even years chasing after certain infringers if the likely payoff is small. What kind of usage are they making of the images? Is this a two bit one man operation or a big company? Where are they based? These are the first points you need to look at before you decide on a strategy. I am based in the UK but now register all my images at the US copyright office as well, since any chance of a significant payout is greatly reduced in the US unless your images are registered.
The response you receive will depend on the personality of the infringer. Many will try to ignore you and eventually take down the images only when they see mounting pressure but try not to pay anything, especially since there is a false impression among many that images on the web are free or ten a penny, which is not helped by all those stock libraries who enthusiastically sell images for such derisory sums these days. There are others though who will simply pay up and apologise if you send them an invoice. You have to ask yourself also if you merely want the images removed or if you want some kind of payment for their usage. The latter is obviously more difficult to achieve but legally speaking that should be your objective in cases of unauthorised infringement.
I know another photographer here in the UK who ran some Google searches and uncovered various companies using his images without permission. He had a good lawyer specialised in copyright matters and managed to make more money on the infringements that year than he did on his regular assignments and stock sales. All photographers should be fighting tooth and nail to stop any attempts to introduce orphan works type legislation wherever it may be.
