My photo in USA Today without credit - who to contact?

(is this a photo of you? or photo by uou? or both?) anyway, call them and speak to robin smith or kate patterson.

Gina,

Prepare an invoice first. Be calm. I`ll PM you more.

It seems that more of this unauthorized use of our photos are happening every day!

Tomoko

Same story happened to me with Human Rights Watch so I don’t want to create a new post. Any one knows the email address of their photo editor?
thanks,
c

If resolving these problems is important, you should pick up the telephone (even if it’s an international call to a different time zone).

Read Dan Heller on this subject.

Bear in mind that he is talking about the US situation. Each country deals with infringements differently. Counsult your country`s copyright law to find out how your copyright is protected. If there is a good chance that your images will be used in the US, register them with the US Copyright office.

Thanks for your responses.
It is a photograph I took if that was not clear.
Luke, do you have direct numbers you can PM me for those people please? It does not work to dial 1-800 numbers from here, and that’s all I’m finding on internet.
Tomoko, I’ve pmed you back, thanks. and good link there !
Preston, of course the first thing I want to do is pick up the phone, so I am asking fellow lightstalkers with a useful phone number to pass it on to me please. Last time I had to deal with this with ABC 20/20, part of the Disney compan,y I spent months on the phone going from many receptionists in different offices in different states to a photo editor to an accountant, to another accountant, to another editor to some clueless secretary and back to someone else …. by the time I got paid, I wondered if it was worth all the hassle, wasted time and energy, and phone bill …. I’m just trying to cut the chase here – feel free to give me a direct number or the right person to contact – Thanks.

Get the number for their legal department and threaten legal action for breach of copyright.

if you have had no relationship with anyone in the company prior to this (via agents etc) and they have used your image without even so much as a by-your-leave then essentially they have STOLEN your image from whatever source.

STEALING is a criminal offense in most countries and actionable by the law.

Don’t even bother with the pic ed’s. If they haven’t checked the sources from where their imagery comes from then they are not doing their job so you are more than likely to get fobbed off again.

EVERYBODY needs to pursue these matters aggressively. I don’t steal stuff to pay my rent, why should the share holders of these companies pay their rent by stealing stuff?

You don’t need to be angry or get wild about it, just point out what they have done is illegal because you own the copyright and they either pay you for its use or you will start legal action.

I have pursued several of these things and won them because the photographer is right and they are wrong. It really is that simple.

From the USAToday.com Web site:

“To report corrections and clarifications, contact Reader Editor Brent Jones at 1-800-872-7073 or e-mail accuracy@usatoday.com. Please indicate whether you’re responding to content online or in the newspaper.”

I also would consider doing what Preston suggests, calling the legal department for Gannett (the publisher) and talking with a lawyer (remember, they will not be on your side).

Here’s the contact info for the USA Today Online operations (from its Web site):

USATODAY.com
7950 Jones Branch Drive
McLean, VA 22108
Phone: (703) 854-3600
Fax: (703) 854-2086
Senior Vice President & Publisher: Jeffrey Webber

When I contacted the head of a company who owned the company who breached my copyright by e-mail and a PayPal invoice, I got a reply from their lawyer. I spent more than a few months exchanging e-mails with him. I never called. I was paid, though, and the amount was three times more than what they originally offered.

You need to prove that you own the photo,so you should prepare your own version side by side with the one they were using on their website.

Carlos,

Human Rights Watch Photo Editor = Veronica Matushaj – matushv@hrw.org

Phone: (212) 290-4700 Fax: (212) 736-1300
Here’s a current list of all staff including the Legal Department http://www.hrw.org/about/info/staff.html

Suggest sending an Invoice for usage, with a grab shot and a note about legal action if no response and payment – in my experience that usually gets attention.

From my experience when you just contact the “accuracy” people, they remove your photo from the site. Then nothing. So I think I’ll go straight to the legal department with an invoice. Thanks for all your input.

Just do what Lisa said.

Call a lawyer. Thats the only way they’ll listen.

Also, get a screen shot in case they remove it from the site once you contact them.

GET SNEAKY!!!