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Peter Ward's got me in a bit of trouble...



:J)

Active member
Jul 7, 2003
621
Brighton
To the good people of NSC - your help and advice please. I've just been served with a nasty letter from sporting-heroes.net demanding I pay £195 for a small picture of Peter Ward I used on the 'about me' page on my website. At the time, I probably just grabbed the image off Google and didn't worry too much about the consequences. I certainly can't remember seeing any warnings about using the image, or indeed any legal gumph about purchasing a licence. If I had done so, I wouldn't have touched it.

I've looked up the legal side of things on the net - and there are areas where I could argue 'fair use'. I'm not attempting to profit from using his image, by selling it on as my own. He also hasn't served me with a 'cease and desist'-type letter - It's just basically 'Pay up, or I'll take you to court'.

Anyway - I've removed the offending image, but what do I do next? I obviously don't want to pay up - £200 for a picture that doesn't have any bearing whatsoever on my own business. And I certainly don't want to have to contest it in court as it would take up too much time, and possibly cost me a lot more. Should I write to him and try and meet him half-way? Or should I just ignore the letter and wait for the summons? Over to you...
 

Wozza

Shite Supporter
Jul 6, 2003
23,532
Online
You're a website designer and you're only just learning copyright law?!
 

Uncle Spielberg

Well-known member
NSC Licker Extraordinaire
Jul 6, 2003
42,770
Lancing
Who is demanding the money, the website or Peter Ward as from your post as sounds like PW has demanded it directly from you ?.
 

Wardy

NSC's Benefits Guru
Oct 9, 2003
11,219
In front of the PC
If the rights of the picture are owned by Sporting Heros then writing to Peter Ward will acheive nothing since he will have no say in the amount being asked for and will not receive the money himself.

I would take another look at the website to see if there is anything about copyright on the website. If there is nothing there or it is well hidden I would write back explaining that you were not aware of the copyright issue, removed the picture once you did become aware and was not using the picture to make money.

However if it is there and you just missed it I would right back offering to pay half of it but be ready to pay it all if they will not budge.
 


Wozza

Shite Supporter
Jul 6, 2003
23,532
Online
Does the said website own the copyright on the picture?

My point is - £195 sounds steep, and I'd ask them how they arrived at the figure.

I think the site is run by a collective of photographers, including the guy who took the Peter Ward photo.
 

SurreySeagulls

Well-known member
Jul 9, 2003
2,458
Guildford
Terms and conditions of use of " www.sporting-heroes.net"
These terms and conditions govern your use of this SPORTING HEROES COLLECTION LTD web site.

Please read through the Terms. If you do not agree with the Terms, do not use this web site. If you do use the web site, your actions imply that you agree to be bound by the Terms and conditions.

Copyright notices

Unless otherwise specified the photographic copyright on all the pages in this web site are owned by George P. Herringshaw and/or licensed to SPORTING HEROES COLLECTION LTD.

The authors of the photographic pages in this web site have asserted their moral right pursuant to Section 77 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of those works likewise with other national copyright laws.

Further restrictions are identified under the section called copyright (found within Information).

Conditions of your use of this web site.

You may only print or download the contents of an individual page of this web site for the purpose of private and personal use

You may not distribute, display or copy any of the contents of the pages contained in this web site to third parties or sell any to third parties.

The contents of this web site may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, displayed, posted or transmitted in any form or by any means for commercial purposes without the written permission of SPORTING HEROES COLLECTION LTD.

NO PHOTOGRAPH MAY BE DISPLAYED ON ANY OTHER WEB SITE WITHOUT OUR WRITTEN PERMISSION.

THIS INCLUDES SOCIAL NETWORK SITES, BLOGS, CHAT ROOMS, NEWSLETTERS, FORUMS etc...

(See copyright section).
 

The Large One

Who's Next?
Jul 7, 2003
52,343
97.2FM
I've just gone on to their website to copy and paste the T&Cs, but Surrey Seagulls beat me to it.

However, they talk of a 'copyright section' which is not immediately available or obvious as to where it is or what it says. That could be important.
 


:J)

Active member
Jul 7, 2003
621
Brighton
If the rights of the picture are owned by Sporting Heros then writing to Peter Ward will acheive nothing since he will have no say in the amount being asked for and will not receive the money himself.

I would take another look at the website to see if there is anything about copyright on the website. If there is nothing there or it is well hidden I would write back explaining that you were not aware of the copyright issue, removed the picture once you did become aware and was not using the picture to make money.

However if it is there and you just missed it I would right back offering to pay half of it but be ready to pay it all if they will not budge.

Like the sound of that. Will probably go down that route, if all else fails. (By the way, Wardy - do you know who owns the copyright to your avatar?)
 


sam86

Moderator
Feb 18, 2009
9,947
I assume you didn't link directly to the file on their website? You actually saved the file, and uploaded it to your own? Write them a letter, just say your sorry, you found it via another website, or a friend sent it to you, and that you have removed it as soon as you became aware it was copyrighted.
 

:J)

Active member
Jul 7, 2003
621
Brighton
I've just gone on to their website to copy and paste the T&Cs, but Surrey Seagulls beat me to it.

However, they talk of a 'copyright section' which is not immediately available or obvious as to where it is or what it says. That could be important.

Yes - I thought this too. Could be a line of defence as effective as Virgs and Elphick...
 

glasfryn

cleaning up cat sick
Nov 29, 2005
20,261
somewhere in Eastbourne
someone emailed me some time ago and complained that I had used a picture of a cat that was only to used on their site and went on with some outlandish threats which continued for ages until I pointed out to them that the picture and the CAT were owned by me and I took the picture.
never heard from them again ..............you do have to be careful what pictures you take off the google site though.
hope its resolved in your favour
 


:J)

Active member
Jul 7, 2003
621
Brighton
someone emailed me some time ago and complained that I had used a picture of a cat that was only to used on their site and went on with some outlandish threats which continued for ages until I pointed out to them that the picture and the CAT were owned by me and I took the picture.
never heard from them again ..............you do have to be careful what pictures you take off the google site though.
hope its resolved in your favour

:laugh: Thanks
 

Jahooli

Well-known member
Feb 12, 2008
1,291
Just changed mine as the old one appeared on google images if Jahooli was typed in.

Maybe being a bit wussy but it was from some photographers' gallery site.
 

Mellotron

I've asked for soup
Jul 2, 2008
31,671
Brighton
So, people on here (me included) who constantly copy and paste random images from google into here could be in trouble?

COULD THIS BE THE END OF FRIDAY DOGS IN COSTUMES?!?!?!
 


beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
35,238
it looks like you've found the best approach already. i'll just point out that if you do go furhter, be very carfull where you get "fair use" information as its often based on US law which is different, UK doesnt really have the same exemption (or its far more restrictive). if it was on a commercial site, rather than a personal site, even if it wasnt used for commercial purposes, you are rather buggered. The Wardy avatar here would probably scrape past because this is a not commercial site in any way.
 

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