Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Wisconsin

Photo copyright

I own a scuba diving store and we run diving trips to the carribbean. This spring we sponsored a trip to Habitat Resort in Curacao. I promote the trip on my website to summarize what is included in the price and what the resort has to offer. I contacted the resort to get permission to use some photos from their site. I was told ''Yes, the photos were all taken by an employee and we own them.'' I have now been contacted by a stock photo company billing me $1200 for the use of one of the photos. I told them I had permission from the resort and they said that they couldn't give me permission. I contacted the resort and they don't know who this company is. They also said the employee is no longer working there and may have sold the pictures to the stock photo company after she left. I thought I did all I needed to do to use the photo. How would I know the it was copyrighted by this stock photo company? They are still persuing me for payment and offered to settle for $600. That is still more than the profit I made by sponsering the trip. Do I have any case or defense against this?


Asked on 6/26/08, 9:03 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Nancy Delain Delain Law Office, PLLC

Re: Photo copyright

YOU NEED TO HIRE A LAWYER WHO DEALS WITH COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT DEFENSE. You need to do that NOW. Ignoring this can get very, very expensive very very quickly.

Contact your county or state bar association if you need a referral.

THE INFORMATION PRESENTED HERE IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND IS NOT INTENDED, NOR SHOULD IT BE CONSTRUED, AS LEGAL ADVICE. THIS POSTING DOES NOT CREATE ANY ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN US. FOR SPECIFIC ADVICE ABOUT YOUR PARTICULAR SITUATION, CONSULT YOUR ATTORNEY.

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Answered on 6/26/08, 7:21 pm


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