Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York
My work not sourced in a magazine
I am a graphic artist that did some gratis work for a bridal planner in California who informed me that the work was for a photo shoot in a major magazine and that my work would be sourced. Anticipating that this would generate some nice publicity I agreed to do the work. The magazine came out, a few photographs of my work appeared in the issue, but I was never sourced. I contacted the bridal planner, and she told me that she gave the info to the magazine. I then contacted the magazine's editor and made her aware of the problem. She asked that I send her some more of my work to see if I could be featured in a future article to compensate. Unfortunately, my mother became gravely ill and I needed to scale back on the business to care for her. Since then (which was in 2004), the magazine had again published the pictures in 2005. Since the editor was now aware of the slight, I assumed my business would be sourced in this issue, but it was not. I was still caring for my mother, so I did not persue the matter. However, now once again in a 2007 issue my work appears again, and again without a source. My mother has recently passed and I am now very anxious to get my business on the fast track. What are my legal rights?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: My work not sourced in a magazine
You can have an attorney contact the magazine and try to work out a reasonable resolution to this. Feel free to contact me; my firm focuses on Internet and entertainment law.
Re: My work not sourced in a magazine
You don't indicate whether you signed a work for hire agreement or a release. You also don't indicate whether you registered your work in the US Copyright Office. If you didn't register, you should shell out $45 and immediately register the work. Go to Copyright.gov and follow the instructions. Send your application by receipted mail. If you can draw pretty pictures you shouldn't need a lawyer. It will take several months to get a registration certificate but at least you will have filed. This is imprtant because infringement of a registered copyright can mean serious damages. If you didn't sign any agreements or consents for the use of your work, the next thing you do is send a certified letter (also receipted) informing major magazine that you own the copyright of your work and they had no right or permission to display your work and that doing so has violated your copyright. You should have a lawyer represent as you don't want the letter to inadvertently waive any of your rights. Now, here's the hard part. You should figure out what you want. Maybe it's money; maybe credit; maybe an apology; maybe all three. If the magazine is a responsible journal, which I doubt it is, they'll acknowledge their error by offering to negotitate a mutually agreeable resolution. If they're run by the usual spineless blunderers, they'll hide behind their inhouse lawyers. But you gotta make a big stink to make them notice and want to get you out of their face. You can call me for a complimentary phone consult. Sorry about your Mom.
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