A write up about usage of intellectual property. People are always trying to avoid 'paying'. It is heartbreaking. Put yourself in our shoes, don't you feel anything? “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.
To produce, we need gadgets, knowledge, expertise among others, and NONE of them comes free! We had to pay in advance for them. Pay as for money, pay.
I am sharing the post in my blog, hoping more will change and begin to respond positively towards intellectual property, digital photography in specific. Fed-up with people who will 'acknowledge accordingly', most don't even bother! Or we'll give you some token, which never even cover our expenses in the first place.
To produce, we need gadgets, knowledge, expertise among others, and NONE of them comes free! We had to pay in advance for them. Pay as for money, pay.
I am sharing the post in my blog, hoping more will change and begin to respond positively towards intellectual property, digital photography in specific. Fed-up with people who will 'acknowledge accordingly', most don't even bother! Or we'll give you some token, which never even cover our expenses in the first place.
Demanding payment for the use of my intellectual property is not extortion. You do not get to take my work, use it to advertise your business, then decide you don’t have to pay for it after the fact any more than I get to walk into your shop, take a brand new board, skate it around the block a few times, and put it back on the rack when informed that I have to pay for it. You used my photo. Pay me.I don’t even care about the $25 anymore. Plenty of companies have responded to requests for payment with a sincere apology, removal of the photo, and some version of “we can’t afford to pay you.” While that certainly is a bummer, a lot of these small skateboard companies are run on a shoestring budget by very young people unfamiliar with the ins and outs of copyright law in the digital world. When someone makes an honest mistake and treats me with respect, I’ll let it go with a warning.
About the author: Max Dubler is a photographer, skateboarder, and writer based in Los Angeles. He is not usually this petty. 😊
About the author: Max Dubler is a photographer, skateboarder, and writer based in Los Angeles. He is not usually this petty. 😊
“We always give proper credit.” Photo credit and “exposure” is only valuable to the extent that it gets people like you to hire me for paid gigs. I don’t need any more exposure in skateboarding. I need you to pay me.
This company, on the other hand, refused to pay me, insulted me for even thinking that my work is worth money, tried to tell me they were doing me a favor, attempted to play dumb, and finally accused me of extortion when I didn’t back down.
“Seriously? we don’t pay for instagram shares.” If you can find photographers who will let you use their work for free, go right ahead. You didn’t do that. You posted my photo, and using my photos on social media costs money. You would have known that if you had asked for my permission before you posted it, but you didn’t and now you need to pay me.
Read the whole write up here... I applaud you Max!!
