Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Anyone who has ever found their work passed off as someone else's, or has
seen a portion of their art looking back at them from an unknown source, knows the
feeling of personal violation. The reaction, after the shock passes, is to DO something
about it. But what?
Your legal rights
Copyright law states that you are “entitled to recover the actual damages.” This
means that you can get the money you should have been paid, including any net
profits that the infringer made through the use of your art. Though it may be tempt-
ing to overestimate the damage, assign a realistic dollar value to your artwork and the
effect of its loss. If you have been getting a few hundred dollars an image, suddenly
claiming $10,000 for one won't be believable.
If your work accounts for only a small portion of the piece (one design element
in one screen of a CD, for example), the profits will be prorated accordingly. Even so,
if the project was lucrative, you could be awarded statutory damages, in addition to
your legal fees. Statutory damages can punish a deliberate infringer more seriously
than actual damages.
On the other hand, few infringers nowadays are major corporations. Large
companies have departments responsible for tracking and getting releases for art, pre-
cisely to avoid this type of issue. Most likely, your infringer is not making any money
from your work. If there is little or no financial impact and no damage to your repu-
tation (particularly if the violator clearly thought they were operating under fair use),
your time might better be spent educating the infringer.
Acting effectively
Even if you have access to unlimited free legal help, try to deal with the situa-
tion yourself first. The law can be unsympathetic to an action that might have been
settled amicably out of court. Send a certified, business-like letter (not a hot-tem-
pered set of empty threats) to the infringer. Let them know that you've discovered
that they are using your copyrighted artwork without your permission. Describe the
work clearly and give the date the violation was discovered. If the violation took
place on a website, make it clear that the infringer must stop displaying your work
immediately. Then send them an invoice with a realistic usage fee, and a deadline
before you take action. You may receive a shocked and contrite phone call, a request
to work something out, or an apologetic note with a check attached.
If the violation was online, you can bolster your case with solid documentation
by visiting the Internet Archive Wayback Machine (
www.archive.org).
They have
archived websites from well into the Internet's prehistory (1996!). Search your site for
