Copyright

I pay a chap to take some photos for my organisation's brochure. The brochure gets printed, someone sees it and likes one of the photos and they want to buy it to print/ a print of it (not made clear). Who gets the money from that sale - the organisation or the photographer?

It depends entirely on what the contract you had with the photographer says about ownership of the image. In the absence of a contract assigning the right to you then I think it will lie with the creator of the original work - i.e. the photographer. Might be wrong tho!!

depends what you've agreed with the photographer. Do you have a contract?

^ damn, not quick enough

Depends on the deal you had with the photgrapher. If you had no deal, he owns the copyright.

Talking of copyright, I noticed that anything we post on this forum is automatically released under a Creative Commons licence. Does that also apply to photographs, esteemed leader of the site?

but maybe he'll be nice and split the profits. Or what you could do is nonchalantly ask him for the copyright, pay him less then you'll get for the print, et voila.

Lets hope you've got a contract though, as otherwise the photographer could sue you for using the image in your magazine in the first place!! Assuming he never wanted to work for you again that is!!

If you commissioned him to take the shots he can't sue you.

could be a verbal contract. Contrary to popular conceptions they are equivalent to the 'paper they're [not] written on.'

^ correct. I was being a scaremongererer... to a degree. But don't underestimate how the smell of filthy lucre can suddenly lure out the litigious beasts from the long grass! Oops... there I go again!

@ OP: I assume you've got first issue and web rights... This means you get dibs to print the image in your brochure and also use it on your website... Unless you've bought the copyright the image(s) remain the intellectual property of the photographer... You should refer whoever wants a copy of the image to the photographer... You could work out some kind of deal where an admin fee is charged for any re-use/prints requested through you in the future... Pretty standard stuff, I've been doing it for years...

Thanks, all. We commissioned the work but there was no contract. I will pass the photographer's details onto the person wishing to buy the image.

OK, so work would like me to design something in a style similar to that of the London tube map. Does anyone know what I can or can't do? I read about the geofftech ordeal and, although this map is going to be nothing like this Geoff dude's, I just want to make sure I'm not wasting my time like. Is it safe to assume that if I don't use any roundels, use different colours/typeface and shape of the intersection thingies I'll be alright? [/wishesbossesweremoreimaginative]

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/11/tpp-leak-confirms-worst-us-negotiators-still-trying-trade-away-internet-freedoms

Voluntary copyright alert programme could be operational before end of 2014, says UK government

ISPs that issue subscribers with three letters within the space of a year would add the anonymous details of those customers to a 'copyright infringement list'.

Rights holders would be able to request access to the list each month and could seek a court order obliging the ISPs to disclose the identity of the suspected infringers so that they can take legal action against them under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act.

Ofcom has said the code will help rights holders to "focus legal action on the most persistent alleged infringers."

I don't hold a license to use an image on a work related website (I'm a sole trader).

It was intended to be a holder image and get replaced before it went online but it never did.

G*tty have been in touch with me via email and potentially mail to a previous postal address (haven't updated who.is yet)

They've said to remove the image and contact them to agree a payment (they haven't mentioned a sum - though searching the image on their website runs a license fee in the thousands for the useage that's taken place. I'm happy to pay fair market value - in the tens of pounds based on the fact it's a very generic image but thousands...pft).

The who.is has a burner email address, my old home address, my current phone number.

The domain itself has no contact details but a contact form.

Course of action?

I was thinking that I could remove the offending image, then sell the domain to someone else (friend/family) and not respond to emails/any forwarded mail but wondered if the liability would travel with the website?

Change image, ignore.

Really? Obviouly they say that's not enough but by ignoring it am I not going to find court summons / bills for £££££££ in their legal fees etc in 6 months time?

Please be aware that removal of the imagery alone will not satisfy
this issue; we also want to ensure photographers are compensated for
the use of their work on your website.

Please contact us by phone at 0800 279 9258 or send us an email
to discuss a resolution to this matter.

We would like to resolve this time-sensitive issue as soon as possible
and request that you respond within 12 business days from the date of
this letter.

Yep, remove the image. Presuming the use of this image hasn't generated you millions then you'll be fine.

Edit: Also get a page view count from your site. Pleading ignorance may be a good tactic.

I'm far from an expert, so you should probably just ignore me, but I can't imagine them spending money chasing an individual without being sure they would either win a settlement in court with many 0's.

So you think I should contact them and plead ignorance or ignore and then plead ignorance when Getty send pisti and his crew around for their taste?

I've been watching the sopranos recently.

I'm inclined to agree but I can easily see them claiming they're spending a fortune on solicitors fees just by sending a few reminder emails to me over the course of a few months.

Edit: which I guess is against their interests as there's even less chance of me paying that let alone a ££££ license in the first place.

Explain it was a placeholder and was left up by mistake, I assume you've already taken it down...

Was it watermarked or did you download a final?

Not watermarked. It's down now but still deliberating on contacting them and acknowledging. Kind of want to turn the entire internet off and hide in a bush but the domain alone costs about $1k a year so that doesn't seem the best course of action.