HI all
I haven't posted in a really long time...having twins is a bit time consuming. Anyway I sold an image to a book (Rough Guides, international) about a year and a half ago. I have yet to be payed for the image. I have tried emailing and calling and have not gotten response from them at all. Any suggestions on how to get their attention and get paid?
First up, do you have any correspondence from them related to the sale - like a contract? Did you send the company a bill with the image at the beginning with a due date and a percentage to be added for late payment? Did your bill state their usage rights? Send them a certified/notorized letter (from a lawyer all the better) that they are infringing on your copyright for their use of your image without payment and that the next letter will be in the form of a law suit targeting every book printed. You should probably find out who their company lawyer is and copy him on the initial letter. I would research the company and send a copy of this letter to every big wig in the company. It amazes me how fast you get action once they know you are serious and did legwork to find out who all the big wigs are. They usually stomp on the guy lower on the chain to get this little (to them) bill paid and out of the way. You should never take this long to start actions for non-payment issues. If you (and you should) have copies of all other correspondences, written and electronic, add these to the letter you are now preparing to send. That way the big wigs know exactly what has happened and when and who in their company is responsible. They also will know you keep records of all your correspondence which you should be doing. Also, if you have the book, then photocopy the page with your image in it and add it to the envelope with your image circled. And btw, did thy give you credit in the book for the image? Were they suppose to according to your contract with them?
If you have to sue, get a lawyer who knows photographic copyright law. If you happened to have filed the image at the US Copyright Office, then not only would you get your payment, you would probably also get damages and other moneys. You can still file the image with the Copyright office, but I am not sure if it will do you any good now due to the lapsed time....someone else here probably knows the answer to that.
I am not a lawyer, but this is the route I would take. Once again, do not let these things go so long. Your bill should state a due date and a percentage or monthly fee to be added for late payments and that they accept these terms by accepting and using your image. You are a business in this sense and they are use to this kind of stuff.
Thanks for the replies so far. Troup I have to admit that I completely forgot about this book deal. I will default to my most recent excuse...TWINS:) I was at bookstore and saw the book on a shelf and was reminded and checked to make sure it was in there. Sure enough it was.
I don't think the proper credit was given. I would have to check to make sure, but what can be done about that. I didn't have anything written in the invoice but was covered in a latter email. For future reference I would like to know, because I have had photos mis-labeled with other names in the past. The book has already been printed what can I do?
Here is what was on the original invoice:
"One-Time Non-Exclusive usage by Rough guides to use the photographs described on this document, with a print run not to exceed 20,000 copies, in one version only, for usages listed below. World Rights Granted. NO ELECTRONIC RIGHTS are granted in any form without an express license in writing. These photographs may not be used on the Internet for any purpose including revisions or electronic editions of printed work without said written license. NO PRINTED OR ELECTRONIC REVISIONS are granted with this license. Any additional usage, including said revisions must be negotiated with the copyright owner. This License may not be transferred to a third party without the written consent of the copyright holder."
#3685 Kern River rafting photo 1/4 Page - 10k-20k"
I will start doing some research on the company and send some letters to get things rolling.
First, Congrats on the TWINS!!! Second, Congrats on getting your image in a 20,000 book run! That's cool! Rats on not getting paid and maybe no credit. In the future, you should look at a copy of previous books of the same type and see how the photographers are credited. Many books will credit you, some will not. Appears that with the written contract, they were not obliged to give you credit. If giving credit is usual for a given book, then you should have it written in the contract with the specific way you want your name to appear. If most of the images in the current book have the credit and yours does not, you might have a leg to stand on for further compensation. But maybe they will just write you off. Also, in the contract as stated before, you should have a due date and a late fee for each month of late payment. I assume in that contract above, that your image fee was included. Looks like you have covered any other printings and electronic format. You should periodically check google books to see if google has picked up on this book and has a copy online with your image in it. If so, it appears that your contract forbids that and you have recourse there. Also, keep an eye on the internet for updated versions of the book that still might have your image in it. If it appears, you have them by the shorts there. Don't think they won't do this. Happens all the time and many publishers don't check the right for every image when they go to upgrade the book or make another run of copies (above the 20,000 you have listed in your contract).
Not sure what you meant when you said you were covered by a "latter" email. Only what is in the original contract is covered by law - usually - unless it was a specific amendment to the contract (stating such, etc.).
AS far as at least getting paid, yes, do your research and clobber the bosses with your emails including a scanned copy of your image's page in the book. It's different, but I did this when I tired of crappy service from my Internet provider. I even sent an email to the President of their Entertainment Division that owns a pro Football team (and he even wrote back!). I actually received quite a few emails from the bosses of this billion dollar company and I had our area service manager begging to help me anytime there was a problem ever since!! If the bigwigs think you are going to continue sending emails to all their presidents and vice presidents, they seem to get the ball rolling because they want this to disappear and don't want to be the butt of jokes at the next company meeting!!! It sure worked for me.
If you think you will get more book deals (hope so!), then you really need to look into sending a copy to the US Copyright Office of at least the images you will be submitting to places. It is really not TOO much trouble to do this. This gives you much more protection when filing a copyright infringement later and the chance to receive damages and perhaps lawyer fees when you win. Non-payment for an image they have already USED will certainly get you a win if you sue. I am certain you can search the archives of NPN on copyright to get more info related to this. A lawyer may have some better opinions and a shot of more money above the image cost (after all, you have to pay the lawyer!). He may be able to prove that they acted in poor faith by not paying you and then disregarding all your attempts to get paid. AS stated, I am not a lawyer - I am a photographer, Jim (Jon)!
Good luck again and keep us posted on this "bad" company.
Update:
Finally received payment! Thanks again for all of the useful ideas. Especially Troup, your advice helped direct me the most. It was difficult finding email addresses and most of them were invalid, but eventually it got to the right person. It was immediately sent to their legal team and they met my request for late fees and proper payment. It was almost worth the wait getting some extra cash:)
Discussion
5 repliesI haven't posted in a really long time...having twins is a bit time consuming. Anyway I sold an image to a book (Rough Guides, international) about a year and a half ago. I have yet to be payed for the image. I have tried emailing and calling and have not gotten response from them at all. Any suggestions on how to get their attention and get paid?
Thanks in advance!
Jon
First up, do you have any correspondence from them related to the sale - like a contract? Did you send the company a bill with the image at the beginning with a due date and a percentage to be added for late payment? Did your bill state their usage rights? Send them a certified/notorized letter (from a lawyer all the better) that they are infringing on your copyright for their use of your image without payment and that the next letter will be in the form of a law suit targeting every book printed. You should probably find out who their company lawyer is and copy him on the initial letter. I would research the company and send a copy of this letter to every big wig in the company. It amazes me how fast you get action once they know you are serious and did legwork to find out who all the big wigs are. They usually stomp on the guy lower on the chain to get this little (to them) bill paid and out of the way. You should never take this long to start actions for non-payment issues. If you (and you should) have copies of all other correspondences, written and electronic, add these to the letter you are now preparing to send. That way the big wigs know exactly what has happened and when and who in their company is responsible. They also will know you keep records of all your correspondence which you should be doing. Also, if you have the book, then photocopy the page with your image in it and add it to the envelope with your image circled. And btw, did thy give you credit in the book for the image? Were they suppose to according to your contract with them?
If you have to sue, get a lawyer who knows photographic copyright law. If you happened to have filed the image at the US Copyright Office, then not only would you get your payment, you would probably also get damages and other moneys. You can still file the image with the Copyright office, but I am not sure if it will do you any good now due to the lapsed time....someone else here probably knows the answer to that.
I am not a lawyer, but this is the route I would take. Once again, do not let these things go so long. Your bill should state a due date and a percentage or monthly fee to be added for late payments and that they accept these terms by accepting and using your image. You are a business in this sense and they are use to this kind of stuff.
Good luck and let us all know how it turned out!
Troup
I don't think the proper credit was given. I would have to check to make sure, but what can be done about that. I didn't have anything written in the invoice but was covered in a latter email. For future reference I would like to know, because I have had photos mis-labeled with other names in the past. The book has already been printed what can I do?
Here is what was on the original invoice:
"One-Time Non-Exclusive usage by Rough guides to use the photographs described on this document, with a print run not to exceed 20,000 copies, in one version only, for usages listed below. World Rights Granted. NO ELECTRONIC RIGHTS are granted in any form without an express license in writing. These photographs may not be used on the Internet for any purpose including revisions or electronic editions of printed work without said written license. NO PRINTED OR ELECTRONIC REVISIONS are granted with this license. Any additional usage, including said revisions must be negotiated with the copyright owner. This License may not be transferred to a third party without the written consent of the copyright holder."
#3685 Kern River rafting photo 1/4 Page - 10k-20k"
I will start doing some research on the company and send some letters to get things rolling.
First, Congrats on the TWINS!!! Second, Congrats on getting your image in a 20,000 book run! That's cool! Rats on not getting paid and maybe no credit. In the future, you should look at a copy of previous books of the same type and see how the photographers are credited. Many books will credit you, some will not. Appears that with the written contract, they were not obliged to give you credit. If giving credit is usual for a given book, then you should have it written in the contract with the specific way you want your name to appear. If most of the images in the current book have the credit and yours does not, you might have a leg to stand on for further compensation. But maybe they will just write you off. Also, in the contract as stated before, you should have a due date and a late fee for each month of late payment. I assume in that contract above, that your image fee was included. Looks like you have covered any other printings and electronic format. You should periodically check google books to see if google has picked up on this book and has a copy online with your image in it. If so, it appears that your contract forbids that and you have recourse there. Also, keep an eye on the internet for updated versions of the book that still might have your image in it. If it appears, you have them by the shorts there. Don't think they won't do this. Happens all the time and many publishers don't check the right for every image when they go to upgrade the book or make another run of copies (above the 20,000 you have listed in your contract).
Not sure what you meant when you said you were covered by a "latter" email. Only what is in the original contract is covered by law - usually - unless it was a specific amendment to the contract (stating such, etc.).
AS far as at least getting paid, yes, do your research and clobber the bosses with your emails including a scanned copy of your image's page in the book. It's different, but I did this when I tired of crappy service from my Internet provider. I even sent an email to the President of their Entertainment Division that owns a pro Football team (and he even wrote back!). I actually received quite a few emails from the bosses of this billion dollar company and I had our area service manager begging to help me anytime there was a problem ever since!! If the bigwigs think you are going to continue sending emails to all their presidents and vice presidents, they seem to get the ball rolling because they want this to disappear and don't want to be the butt of jokes at the next company meeting!!! It sure worked for me.
If you think you will get more book deals (hope so!), then you really need to look into sending a copy to the US Copyright Office of at least the images you will be submitting to places. It is really not TOO much trouble to do this. This gives you much more protection when filing a copyright infringement later and the chance to receive damages and perhaps lawyer fees when you win. Non-payment for an image they have already USED will certainly get you a win if you sue. I am certain you can search the archives of NPN on copyright to get more info related to this. A lawyer may have some better opinions and a shot of more money above the image cost (after all, you have to pay the lawyer!). He may be able to prove that they acted in poor faith by not paying you and then disregarding all your attempts to get paid. AS stated, I am not a lawyer - I am a photographer, Jim (Jon)!
Good luck again and keep us posted on this "bad" company.
Troup
Finally received payment! Thanks again for all of the useful ideas. Especially Troup, your advice helped direct me the most. It was difficult finding email addresses and most of them were invalid, but eventually it got to the right person. It was immediately sent to their legal team and they met my request for late fees and proper payment. It was almost worth the wait getting some extra cash:)