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Unexpected copyright issue

Getting back to my suggestion to contact your local TV news.. Many TV news stations have an On Your Side reporter. If they do pick up the story, they will very likely interview an intellectual property attorney regarding the law as part of the story. Then you would have some free legal advice as to where you stand.
 
Okay, Meta4. I think I've pondered this enough to change my opinion on the matter. Let's take this in steps. Can you sell a t-shirt with the Royal Caribbean logo on it? No. Can you sell a t-shirt with a picture of their ship with the RC logo - essentially an RC t-shirt? Good chance you can't. And if you can't sell that t-shirt, you probably can't sell just the picture alone with the logo. Do you have a copyright on your own photo? Absolutely, (actually automatically), and that means no one else can use that photo without your permission. But I think they also would need RC's permission to use it. I think if the photo was of multiple ships with different logos, I think the logos would be considered "incidental". But I'm not sure "incidental' would apply to the logo on the single ship that the photo is focused upon. The logo is a crucial part of that ship in the photo. I do know from experience with my own logo that the USPTO expects you to protect your trademarks and patents -- and if you don't attempt to defend it, it will become weaker in the eyes of the court in future challenges with the argument "Hey, you KNEW I was selling this for years and that was apparently fine with you because you didn't try to stop me." Apparently, this cruise line's Legal Department makes it their mission to defend their trademarked logo, even down to the smallest guy when it comes to any use or inclusion.

Unless you sold some of these photos to anyone but the cruise line, they have incurred no damages as they willingly purchased the other photo from you. (Maybe just a sneaky way to be able to prove in court you were selling them.) After thinking about this and frying my brain (mainly because I previously owned a trademark and patent), I think my advice would be to play nice and see if you can work out as best a deal as you can for future sales to them. They might like some photos of their other ships too. Good luck.

btw... I reached out to a buddy of mine who is an attorney in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Ironically, he said he couldn't comment because he represents a cruise line.
 
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MapMaker53 said:
Unless you sold some of these photos to anyone but the cruise line, they have incurred no damages as they willingly purchased the other photo from you. (Maybe just a sneaky way to be able to prove in court you were selling them.) After thinking about this and frying my brain (mainly because I previously owned a trademark and patent), I think my advice would be to play nice and see if you can work out as best a deal as you can for future sales to them. They might like some photos of their other ships too.
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That's approximately the line they are taking but I have only ever sold one photo of one of their ships and that was to their advertising agency who found my photos and offered to buy one for a good price.
Now they are saying they could come after me for what I've earned selling that photo to them and demanded I take photos of their ships off my private website and are attempting to confiscate the other shots I have taken over a 3 year period for what they say is a fair price for a one day assignment.
Incidentally, they asked a couple of weeks ago if they could use my images and offered only to give me full credit but no $$.
I'm not inclined to give in to bullying, I don't want to give the images away for peanuts and am seeking legal advice.
 
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Know the value of your work. If they're only willing to give you 3% of what they paid for the previous one, then that's how much they (cynically) value your work. Without knowing how much they paid for the last one, It will cost them a hell of a lot more to commission a photographer to go out and take those photos...I'd be pretty certain of that!

They're a shipping company and will use and abuse you and spit you out the other end. There is no copyright law that would stop you selling a photo of the ship, nor that would stop you putting it in a photo library (RF or RM). Trademarks and patents are for different protections - i.e. against passing off, counterfeiting and direct copying of items. They have no rights over any 'royalties' as there are no royalties to be paid - the ship is a functional item, not an artwork. Functional items are not copyrightable items. Their name/logo is on it as a matter of function, not art. If it where otherwise, then Ford, GM, Boeing, United Airlines, BA, Virgin, Heinz etc would demand royalties for every single image of their products ever taken/printed/sold.

If you decide to play along with their game, get legal advice before signing or agreeing to anything to do with them or you will be worse off afterwards and will resent it because you'll know you've been stiffed.
 
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I agree you should ask for legal advice if available. Those photos belong to you and I have to believe you can display them as you wish as long as you are not profiting from the selling of them. I believe you should be able to display them, at the very least, simply as an example of your photographic skills. I don't believe they have any right to confiscate your property if they have had no damage. I'll be curious to hear the legal advice you get. You want to seek out an intellectual property lawyer.
 
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Not the picture, the Ship. I could use a cruise about now, it has been cold here in the Northeast.
 
Blur the logos. Blurring is something that is common these days on TV. Their logo won't be identifiable, they get no publicity, and you can use the image because you made a distinct effort to protect their logo. Then laugh at them, and hang up the phone.

However, I won a copyrighted image infringement out of court with the Detroit Fee Press. They lifted one of my images off my web site and used it for an article. I stumbled upon it via Google. They claimed a contract writer did it. I claimed I didn't care- they stole the image. I merely had to FedEx them a large color print, and the editor paid handsomely. VERY handsomely. Sometimes, copyrighting is fun!
 
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