Using photos without owners' permission

[MirandaGoshawk]

I'm posting in PC because I know all you editor types lurk here & you may have some knowledge wrt this.

What's happened is that a couple of years ago I took an unusual photo of a local church, & subsequently offered it to the church fund-raisng committee to use on their Christmas cards, sold locally. It had my name as the photographer.

Now someone has knocked on the door flogging a local history book, and lo and behold, my photo is on the cover and also inside!

I asked the man selling the book to investigate, & he said that the author got a load of photos, diaries, letters etc from a local family & one of the Christmas cards was included, so she used it. She passes on her apologies for using it without an acknowledgement & hopes I'll still buy the book!

Would it be out of order for me to ask for a free copy?

Update: I sent my email yesterday to the author's friend who is selling the book. Included a cut & paste from the Act saying that it's an offence to use w/o permission. Today I got a reply:

Dear [Miranda]

Your comments and notes have been duly noted, and I wish to thank you for your proposed resolution to this matter.

I shall be very happy to deliver a copy of the book to you in the near future.

With regards and best wishes,

[Thingy]

So, for me a successful resoution to all this and I don't have to panic if I find myself sitting next to him/helping his wife with the sandwiches at the Jubilee lunch!

Many thanks to you all for your expertise, support & encouragement.

I'd have asked for more than one copy, but well done for keeping your cool! :)

They should count themselves extremely lucky that they picked someone so nice to rip off!

quite, Veronica!

Miranda, did you ask them to credit your photos? You should at least get a credit so it is clear the pictures are yours. Just in case they get any bright ideas about using them again, in re-prints, or for other purposes. At least it alerts any publishers to your ownership.

You have let them off extremely lightly. Which you are entitled to do, if you wish. But Veronica's right, they are very, very lucky they picked on someone who is so extraordinarily nice.

Wow, thanks peeps. It's great to to know that to some people who don't know me I'm 'nice'!

Nickel -

what a knob "if he known there was going to be this fuss"

all he had to do was ask for bloody permission! it's not like it's a huge ordeal is it!

knob indeed!

I suggest you publish a book of your photos, and include some blocks of text copied verbatim from this author's book (unacknowledged, of course). Then wait and see if there's a 'fuss' about that.

Ha ha!

I'm sure Veronica meant the "include some blocks of text copied verbatim" with tongue firmly in cheek :)

Hopefully the idiot man in this case will try to describe breaking a law and being caught out "this fuss" if he is up before a magistrate, and see where that attitude gets him!

Do remember to contacting the publisher, to point out the error of the author's ways (albeit in polite manner), and worth stressing that in future, if any material is misused without acknowledgement and payment, you will be taking the matter to law.

I know I (for one) would be interested in the response they provide (and doubt it would be as dismissive as "fuss" [as if nothing wrong had been done]). I suspect it will be a fairly pleasing apology, as they can see how they would feel if something they had published later turned up without permission.