The URL is registered to the following company:

Voyager Systems Ltd
473 Manchester Road
Stocksbridge
Sheffield, South Yorkshire S36 1DH

Take a screen capture of the home page and print a copy with the full URL shown on the same page. Write to their Company Secretary, (just putting "Company Secretary" as the first line of the letter). Send it signed for. Keep a copy of the signed letter. Start the letter "WITHOUT PREJUDICE" and state:

+++++++++++++

THEFT OF COPYRIGHT IMAGE

It has come to my attention that the second image on your website is my own image and is my copyright. The original image was taken on [insert date] and the original image file name is [insert file name].

As you, or someone acting for you, has clearly taken this image without my authority, and you are using it for commercial gain, please accept this letter as notice to:

1. remove the image forthwith;
2. pay me £1000 by return by cheque payable to [insert payee account name]

Should you fail to comply with the content of this letter, and/or fail to respond positively to this letter by return, I propose to commence proceedings against your company within fourteen days of the date of postmark.

Love and kisses (not)


++++++++++++

Barney Douglas
The Studio in the South Downs National Park
West Sussex BN13 3XJ
01273 251813
07986 183948 (till 9 pm)
Answerphone on both
Skype: ibudec

Thanks for the info and letter template :-)

I may just use it but perhaps not for £1000. I think that would be a bit optimistic.

Latest update if anyone's interested...

Went to Citizens Advice Bureau today.They were friendly and helpfull but not so hot on the advice unfortunately.They are more tailored to housing,debt,financial,court problems etc. He searched their online database and came to the conclusion that I should contact a solicitor.Gave me the details of a local one where you can have a free initial phone call with them.

So I may contact them to find out if it's really worth persuing.The only problem is they may just say 'yes sure it it' just to get my money ;-)

I picked up Olympic's 2 summer holiday brochures too.My photo isn't in there.They tend to concentrate their photos on the hotels and pools.

Based on the suggestions that I've made so far I think that you have a valid claim for £600.00.

Smallest image size for 3 months = £150.00 per image
Doubled to take account of multiple usage = £300.00 - I suggested that 4 sites would be doubled rather than a quadrupling of cost
Doubled to take account of copyright infringement =£600.00 - As per NUJ convention

Personally I would modify Barney's letter to show how the sum is calculated, making reference to the NUJ site where they can check the rates, and including copies of the screen dumps, showing that you have clear evidence of their wrongdoing. Giving this information shows that the figure has been calculated and could therefore be justified in court if required.

Of course one way they could save money is to give you a voucher worth £600.00 to be used against the price of a holiday.

Laurence J. Power

quoting post from Petesky:

---

I know there's been plenty of threads about copyright theft but i can't remember what the general conclusion was.probably just put it down to experience,feel flattered,move on etc.

---

Hire a lawyer, sue them, and seek 10,000 pounds coverage for violating your copyrights. A good lawyer will cost you something but will get these 10,000 pounds for you. Then 2,000 to 5,000 will be for the lawyer and you end up having at least 5,000 pounds.

quoting post from  LJP:

---

Based on the suggestions that I've made so far I think that you have a valid claim for £600.00.

Smallest image size for 3 months = £150.00 per image
Doubled to take account of multiple usage = £300.00 - I suggested that 4 sites would be doubled rather than a quadrupling of cost
Doubled to take account of copyright infringement =£600.00 - As per NUJ convention

Personally I would modify Barney's letter to show how the sum is calculated, making reference to the NUJ site where they can check the rates, and including copies of the screen dumps, showing that you have clear evidence of their wrongdoing. Giving this information shows that the figure has been calculated and could therefore be justified in court if required.

Of course one way they could save money is to give you a voucher worth £600.00 to be used against the price of a holiday.

Laurence J. Power

---

+1

I think Lawrence has this spot on.

Barney Douglas
Simplicity in Photography for over 25 Years

Yeah,it looks pretty reasonable to me.Whether they'll be willing to pay it without going to court could be another matter though.

I think I'll get all the evidence I need together then write to them asking for half that,threatening court action if they don't agree.I'd be happy with that sum :-)

Whenever you consider dragging someone into court, you should not discuss your strategy in the wide open. If they happen to read this thread they'll know what amount you'll be happy with and offer you half of that. Have you never watched The Guardian or LA Law? :-)

err... I mean I would not back down for less than £1000!!!

I'd had too much cough medicine earlier so that post should be dismissed! :-)

Print a copy of the web page before you approach them. That way you have proof that they used it even if they remove it.

Rich

Thanks,I have. And on the other 4 sites that they have it on too. Also someone told me to right click then 'select element' which can save the source code(I think).

I couldn't initially do this but have since discovered that I can do it with Google Chrome :-) Now downloaded so,more evidence!

quoting post from RieniO:

---

Hire a lawyer, sue them, and seek 10,000 pounds coverage for violating your copyrights. A good lawyer will cost you something but will get these 10,000 pounds for you. Then 2,000 to 5,000 will be for the lawyer and you end up having at least 5,000 pounds.

---

La chance de tel remboursement en Angleterre est trop faible.

Nous n'avons pas les lois si fort en Royaume-Uni.

Barney Douglas
Simplicity in Photography for over 25 Years

Mange Tout, Creme de la menthe!!!!!

Have you tried to look at the exif information of the image on the site? If you can see it, it will be a double check that it is indeed your image and very often user don't bother to wipe it so it will be there with your camera details and copyright information if you added it. Some cameras, leave a serial number, so you have absolute proof.

It's a long shot, which you have probably thought of but if not, worth a crack.

That's the sort of thing I'm really after but using Internet Explorer or Google Chrome I couldn't find any Exif Data?

Now that I'm actually able to Inspect Elements all I see is the equivalent of chinese writing and haven't a clue what to look for or copy/save for evidence.

Can anyone shed any light on this?

Ps I apologise if this is annoying some people where the topic keeps jumping back to the main page :-)

quoting post from Petesky:

---

Ps I apologise if this is annoying some people where the topic keeps jumping back to the main page :-)

---

It's not annoying me at all. I think this is one of the most productive threads I have ever seen.

What's more, everyone contributing seems to be able to write coherent English (and French LOL) and spell. Wonderful - makes a change from txtspk.

Barney Douglas
Simplicity in Photography for over 25 Years

Since the beginning of the year I have averaged an infringement settlement per month. The latest settled for a total of £300 for a small, secondary page web image being online 6 weeks...the fees were £150 + 100% for missing the obligatory credit.

I would recommend anyone who finds their work reading this link:-

http://www.epuk.org/Opinion/994/stolen-photographs-what-to-do

The author is a lawyer-turned-photographer.

EPUK concentrates on editorial photography, but the principles remain the same - and there are two useful template letters to use.

Hope this helps.

I'm off out to catch some bass in my dinghy,and enjoy the 5 minutes of sun we seem to be having this morning.But will check out that link later,thanks :-)

Happy fishing...if you need a no-win-no-fee IP lawyer then I can recommend an outfit called IPP - Intellectual Property Protection. They recovered £2k from a serial infringer of my work in less than 30 days. They take 25%.

quoting post from decosnapper:

---

Since the beginning of the year I have averaged an infringement settlement per month. The latest settled for a total of £300 for a small, secondary page web image being online 6 weeks...the fees were £150 + 100% for missing the obligatory credit.

I would recommend anyone who finds their work reading this link:-

http://www.epuk.org/Opinion/994/stolen-photographs-what-to-do

The author is a lawyer-turned-photographer.

EPUK concentrates on editorial photography, but the principles remain the same - and there are two useful template letters to use.

Hope this helps.

---

+1

Excellent

Barney Douglas
Simplicity in Photography for over 25 Years

Thanks for the link Decosnapper,he certainly seems to know what he's on about.Very informative!

And it's given me confidence that I may be able to settle this out of court.

The letter templates are awesome!!! :-)

Great diving photos on your site by the way. I've seen them before but can't remember how I came across your site? I've recently done my PADI license so had probably been browsing diving sites lol

any of the microstock sites ,Alamy, shuterstock, will give you an idea of what it should cost the magazine

quoting post from Petesky:

---

I'm off out to catch some bass in my dinghy,and enjoy the 5 minutes of sun we seem to be having this morning.But will check out that link later,thanks :-)

---

If you were in Portsmouth Harbour, I probably sailed past you during the day, I've just got back

Laurence J. Power

I was in Langstone harbour.No bass but 3 sizeable bream! :-)

There was lots of sailing boats out though,some sort of sailing event on?

Just my two pence...one of my images of Whitby Abbey was 'borrowed' without consent. I wrote and got a nice payout

quoting post from Petesky:

---

I was in Langstone harbour.No bass but 3 sizeable bream! :-)

There was lots of sailing boats out though,some sort of sailing event on?

---

Can't think what. Is there some sort of event on later this week?

Barney Douglas
Simplicity in Photography for over 25 Years