Please Dont Use My Art Without Permission or Credit!
Considering you lot asked, these are existent messages I accept sent to people found using my photographs inappropriately, ranging from "The standard DMCA takedown" to "The echo commercial offender payment demand letter."
ane. The standard DMCA takedown
I send about a dozen of these DMCA takedown notices per week, commonly to the web hosts of small pest control companies. Legally, these are supposed to be directed at the visitor running the web server, but I endeavour to cc the site owner if I can find their e-mail accost.
This alphabetic character is a Notice of Infringement as authorized in § 512(c) of the U.S. Copyright Law under the Digital Millennium Copyright Human action (DMCA). The infringing material appears on the Service for which you lot are the designated agent.
The disputed content is a photo of a bullet ant:
[link to infringing URL]My original, copyright-protected work is here:
http://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Taxonomic-List-of-Ant-Genera/Paraponera/i-bLMBrgDPlease remove these files from your servers at your earliest convenience. Alternately, that image may exist licensed for continued commercial utilize for Usa $95.
I take a good faith belief that the disputed apply is not authorized by myself, the copyright owner. I hereby state, under penalty of perjury, that the above data in this email is authentic and that I am the copyright owner.
Thanks for your time,
/southward/
Alexander Wild
www.alexanderwild.com
[address, email, & phone contact]
2. The credit-me-please letter
I sometimes send a gentler notice to people running personal blogs and webpages request for credit, rather than removal.
Hello. I am the photographer who took a number of the photographs you are using on your beekeeping blog, [blog title]. Although I appreciate that y'all like my photographs enough to share them, I require that non-commercial uses of my images be accompanied by an appropriate photo credit and a link back to the source image on my website. While I'm not generally concerned by non-commercial apply of my work, uncredited uses similar those on your blog are a source of downstream commercial infringements that can become a problem, and adding a simple credit helps forestall these.
The images in question are these:
[URL i, URL 2, etc.]My original work is here:
http://www.alexanderwild.com/Insects/Stories/Honey-Bees/i-wJq9Jgn/A
http://www.alexanderwild.com/Insects/Stories/Honey-Bees/i-pFBwTK4/AI would appreciate it if you lot could add a credit ("Paradigm © Alex Wild", or similar) to the photo caption, too as a link back to my source image. If the images are not accordingly credited, I may send a takedown observe to your spider web host and the images will exist removed automatically.
Thanks,
Alex Wild
world wide web.alexanderwild.com
3. The permit'due south-piece of work-something-out letter
A letter I sent just this morning.
How-do-you-do. I am the professional lensman who took the scorpion photograph that [company name] pest command is currently using in several places online:
[URL]The image also appears in the scrolling banner on the site's homepage:
[URL]
and equally the header to the company facebook folio, hither:
My original photograph is hither:
http://world wide web.alexanderwild.com/Insects/Insect-Orders/Amazing-Arachnids/i-RC3MBgt/AI don't have a record of licensing this paradigm to [visitor name] for commercial apply. My regular fee that covers this sort of online marketing is $95. I request that you either remove the prototype from your various sites, or pay the license fee to continue using the image, or frontwards me any relevant paperwork showing that your company has legitimately licensed that epitome and I'chiliad mistaken most this. If I don't hear back from you inside a calendar week, I will effect takedown notices to your web hosts, and the images will be removed automatically.
I don't hateful to be harsh, but photography is how I make my living.
Thanks for your time,
Alex Wild
world wide web.alexanderwild.com
4. The inexcusable commercial product infringement payment demand letter
Aye, this was an actual letter.
How-do-you-do. I am a professional insect photographer, and recently I was surprised and angered to discover that two of my copyright-protected images are being used to market place [company name] products. This use is, to the best of my knowledge, without my permission and without payment of the requisite license fees for commercial utilize.
In particular, you lot have used my photo of a rare, IUCN redlist-protected ant, Nothomyrmecia macrops, on the label of a pesticide product. On top of being a copyright violation, the apply of a potentially endangered insect to sell an insect-killing product is both inappropriate and offensive.
The product in question is the [redacted]:
[URL]My copyright-protected image is the large yellow pismire on the characterization. My original is hither:
http://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Taxonomic-List-of-Ant-Genera/Nothomyrmecia/i-N9p6C4zThis paradigm likewise appears in thumbnail size in the rotating banner on the [company proper name] website:
[URL]A second infringement appears in [company name] catalog, on page 40.
[URL]The image is a leafcutter ant carrying a leaf; my original file is
here: http://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Taxonomic-Listing-of-Ant-Genera/Atta/i-xfM6LH4I take contacted an Intellectual Holding chaser about representing me in this affair, but I take not yet signed a contract. Working through the legal arrangement will make this whole issue much more than expensive, and time-consuming, for both me and for [company proper noun]. If possible I'd similar to resolve this matter directly.
I propose the following options.
Option 1. [company name] removes the image from the label of the [product], and from associated catalog and web use, and pays a charge per unit of 3x my usual commercial-use license fees. A product characterization is $[amount], then 3x = $[amount]. The minor leafcutter pismire tin can stay in the product itemize if the fee is paid. My usual pocket-sized-size charge per unit, interior print, is $[amount]. Then, 3x = $[amount]. Thus, if you remove the ant from the characterization, and pay a total license fee of $[amount], I volition consider the affair resolved.
Option 2. While I actually, really practise not wish to have my rare ant paradigm used on a pesticide label, I recognize that removing the product from auction to rework the characterization might represent a meaning cost for [company proper noun]. Thus, I'd be ok with having it remain for an boosted toll of U.s.a. $[somewhat bigger amount].
Option iii is that [company proper name] does nothing, and I contract an intellectual belongings attorney to retrieve my fees, plus damages and attorney fees, through the legal system.
As I make my living through photography, I take my copyright seriously. Thanks for your time,
Alex Wild
www.alexanderwild.com
5. The repeat commercial offender payment demand letter
In case they didn't learn the first fourth dimension. Distressingly, I have to send most iii or 4 of these every twelvemonth.
Hi. One yr ago I found 4 of my images existence used on your company website [URL] without my permission, without attribution, and without the requisite payment of my license fees for commercial use. The images were removed on my request, which I appreciate.
I was very surprised, then, to find iii new images of mine on your website. Over again, the images announced in a commercial context and without my permission, as though you lot hadn't learned anything from terminal year'due south exchange.
The images are these (see likewise fastened screen capture):
[URL1,2,3]My original, copyright-protected images are here:
http://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Natural-History/Queen-Ants/i-5HKMCm6/A
http://world wide web.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Natural-History/Queen-Ants/i-vcfhbb7/A
http://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Natural-History/Queen-Ants/i-WZkKVbC/AEvery bit I make my living from photography, I cannot afford to be lenient with echo infringements on the part of for-profit companies. Such infringements are illegal, they waste matter my time, and they devalue my piece of work. Per the copyright infringement policy stated publicly on my website ( http://world wide web.alexanderwild.com/Image-Use ), I take attached an invoice reflecting my commercial-utilise license fee of $95/paradigm, plus a $50/epitome infringement fee, for a total of $285. Y'all will pay this invoice in full within 14 days, and you volition remove the images immediately from your website.
If you fail to respond to this letter of the alphabet, I will contact your web host with a formal takedown notice, and I may begin the process of recovering my fees, plus associated damages and legal costs, through the courts. I recommend yous forward this notice to your attorney, who tin can suggest you every bit to your legal state of affairs, and to your web designer, who should exist made aware of the problem.
Alex Wild
world wide web.alexanderwild.com
As strict every bit I am nigh my photo copyrights, I don't experience item ownership over these letters. If you take encountered your ain infringers, experience free to employ these every bit templates. Consider them open up source.
Nearly the writer: Alex Wild is an entomologist based out of Illinois who specializes in the evolutionary history of ants. In 2003 he founded a photography business organization as an aesthetic complement to his scientific work, and his natural history photographs announced in numerous museums, books, and media outlets. You can find more of his work on his website or by following him on Twitter. This article originally appeared here.
Source: https://petapixel.com/2013/12/13/sample-letters-copyright-infringers-credit-requests-payment-demands/
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