You might have read my recent post about someone using my photo without permission. Lots of people commented on that post. Some even bordering on giving legal advice about not having to register your work to be able to sue.
I am NOT an attorney and I by no means am giving anyone any legal advice here. I'm sharing my experience and the information I have found after speaking with several attorneys on "Intellectual property rights". And I have hired an attorney to send a demand letter. What I can/will collect was seriously altered by my own actions.
First of all I should/and will in the future IMMEDIATELY register my photos I choose to use for multiple marketing pieces. I wrote a post about how to register your photos too if you are interested. Because if Intellectual property is registered prior to first publication or within 90 days of publication it puts you in a different ballpark of what you can collect.
That difference of "statutory damages" and "actual damages" is quite a chunk of change. I won't go into the details here of my case as the attorney I have ultimately hired has advised against it, but you can read the documents for yourself right here. And if you ever need the name of a great attorney to explain it to you, I'd be happy to share that information with you.
It's a sad state of affairs when the response you get to someone using your photo being "well I got it off Google" and having to take matters to the next level. But I can tell you that I will be in a better position in the event that anyone ever does this to me again. We live, we learn.
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