Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Illinois

I am a photographer. I had a client refuse to pay after they'd received their proof disk. Since then, I have had to have images legally removed from social networking sites and now have proof that they have published these watermarked images. If I did not register the copyright on these images what recourse do I have?


Asked on 5/16/12, 4:21 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Walter Palmer Law Office of Walter Palmer

They are copyrighted whether or not you registered them. The copyright simply makes it easier to prove. You could sue for infringement, etc, but my guess is the the best you can do would be compensation for what the pictures would have earned you.

If they had been the "photo of the year", something that a magazine had paid big buck for, a judge would be willing willing to impose serious damages. There might also be a fine. The fine would be based on how much money you lost and how much money they made. This is not a law that the US Attorney would take for you - you would have to pay your own filing fees, attorney, etc. I seriously doubt that a judge would make them pay your costs if you won.

My advice is to let it go, your watermark really ugly, and do not hand out proof disks in the future.

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Answered on 5/16/12, 7:05 pm


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