Dear Friends of the Q,
Almost all of the statements made here about copyyright are true.
How likely is it that someone is going to sue YOU over a copyright issue
involving a train photograph? Not very likely. How likely is it that
you are going to sue someone over use of one of your images? Less
likely. How many people do you know that have been involved in a copyright
suit that went to court? It generally is an item of minor value.
Now, if someone took one of your images and put it on a billboard in Times
Square, or took a photo of a horse that you created, and turned it into the
thoroughbred logo for the NS, as happened several years ago, you would have a
case worth a substantial amount of money and you and your attorney would see the
case to a conclusion.
If it is an issue, you are going to have an attorney send a cease and
desist letter with demand for damages equal to two or three times the value of
what was published. As an example, First Postcard Rights used to sell for
$50.00 per image. So if there was “damage” the request would be for
$100 to $150.00. The lawyer is going to charge you at least $50.00, if not
more, just to send the letter. Forget the emotions of “he used my
photo” and think logical, “how much is this going to cost me?”
Once upon a time, I photographed a statue of a famous ball player that
stood outside the old Busch stadium in downtown St. Louis. When the image
was published as a postcard, the lawyer for said ball player sent us a letter
demanding cease and desist because they felt he owned the copyright to the
statue. After all, it was a statue of HIM. We sent the letter to the
company attorney and that was the last we ever heard of it. And, yes, we
kept selling the postcard.
Chuck Hatler
KC MO