What To Do About Published Photo Without Release

[Bill_Forster]

I shoot action sports photography and sell photos on line. I sold about 10 photos to a parent of one football player. In my local paper there was a story about this player signing with a particular college and the story included one of my photos. The credit on the photo just read "Contributed Photo". Now I have to assume that the paper asked the parent if they had any photos of their kid and the parent gave them my photo. This photo was shot at night with a 400/2.8 lens and I guess I'd expect the editor to notice that it wasn't shot with a point/shoot and that it may be a pro photo. So my question is what to do about this. What I'd like is for the paper to credit me with the photo but now that the photo has been printed, they won't reprint it just to credit me. I also don't want to make a federal case of this. What would be reasonable to expect from this newspaper? Any thoughts. . .
Bill F.

[joed]

Did you have the image copyrighted yet? If not, I believe that you must do so within 30 days of publication to pursue legal action. Any newspaper should know better, however not knowing what was said between the parent and the publication kind of complicates the issue. If the image was copyrighted, I would contact the paper and discuss payment. If they balk, I would sue them. Even though it is your image, and is considered copyrighted when created, It's hard to win a suit without the image being formally copyrighted at the Library of Congress. Check out this brief intro to copyright here. It's a lot easier to negotiate knowing that you can win in small claims court if they don't want to pay you. Just my opinion.

[Marie_Hughes]

I would contact the paper, tell them it was my image, and ask for their normal stringer's fee plus have them print a photo credit in their errors and correction section. I wouldn't threaten to sue unless they got nasty and only if I was actually willing to do it (in case they call your bluff). I would be surprised if they got nasty though. I'm sure this has happened to them before and they probably have some standard offer they make when it does. Hopefully, the offer will be one that is to your liking.

[David_Buzzard]

I would contact the newspaper and see if they like the photo, and maybe ask them for some freelance work. It might be a good way to get your foot in the door.

Since you sold the photo to the parent, that probably screws you legally. The best you could realistically hope for would be the standard single picture rate, which probably isn't much.

David Buzzard

[Sean_Dwyer]

It's your picture sold privately. You never agreed that the parent could use the picture in the print media, but it's not really his problem. The sports editor should have asked the parent for you contact details if they weren't already on the photo. Your should uust go ahead and bill them accordingly for the image usage. If this really made the big time, and your picture could be hevily syndicated in the future so it would be good to get this straightened out now. Sadly newspapers are so unorganised the best you'll get out of them will probably payment. let us know how you get on, you might have youself a new client when you introduce yourself to the paper...

[Bill_Forster]

Well, I wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper and explained that the photo that was printed was mine and provided my web site where the photo could be viewed. I explained that I wanted to maintain my copyright to the photo and that they may not use the photo again without my permission. I didn't broach the subject of payment but I did mention that if they liked the photo maybe we could work together sometime. I have not heard a word back from them even acknowledging my letter or their mistake. I don't want to piss them off because I believe having them as a friend will do me more good. Do I just let it go at that?
Bill F.

[David_Buzzard]

Probably

David Buzzard