How do I get compensated for a pic used by ESPN?

[sforest]

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[BigFuzzy]

I'm going to ask some questions because we need to know more to see if you're even able to ask for anything.

Who owns the website that you 'maintain'? The highschool?

Were you contacted to take photos for them? I forget the term, but there's an issue related to taking images for your employer which makes it their image.. I know you're not employed by the school, but since it's their site (I assume), there may be something to it.

If so, was the highschool contacted about using images from their website?

You only stipulated that if others wanted to use the photos for advertising or business they needed to contact the photography but no mention of simply linking to it?

Why do they say "courtesy of..." if they've not contacted you?

I'm not saying you don't have a claim (in fact it seems to me you do), however, there are details we need to know before we can fully answer.

Hopefully Jim will see this thread and chime in.

[jpnatale]

very interested to see how this turns out. you're probably right about the coach sending them the photo. they probably contacted the coach for the story, and asked if he had any photos of the player, and the coach just didn't realize there were some hoops to jump through.

i'm sure when you explain the situation to espn they will either take the photo down, or compensate you if they normally do that for stories. for something like this (an editorial/article on a high school player) i'd imagine they don't normally pay for the photo's, unless it was a contracted job for a specific player.

if you have a system in place (and prices) for purchasing your photos for such a use, i'm sure they would agree (or, in the end, you could sue them and win) to pay for that cost, but not higher (unless you submitted the photo to 'the copyright people'). i forget how the copyright stuff works, but it affects how you receive compensation, either what it WOULD have cost you, or it's actual worth, or something (anyone with copyright experience feel free to clarify).

either way, good luck!

[Jim Poor]

Contact Carolyn Wright at photoattorney.com

She takes some cases on contingency and with ESPN involved, I'm sure they have the budget to pay enough to make it worth her while.


Get screen shots of the photos on their site.

Have you registered the ©?

[Jim Poor]

You don't happen to also have then in a Flickr stream or some such by chance?

[Gulf Coast Girl]

It seems very odd to me that they credited you for the photo but never contacted you directly for permission. They either got your name from the coach (if he is the one who sent the photo) or directly from the High School's website (where I assume you credit your images with your name).

Even if they contacted the school directly and someone "gave them permission" to use the image, it seems to me a professional organization like ESPN would know better about photo rights. I would be surprised if they don't have something in writing from whoever told them they could use the image.

Hopefully you will be compensated but at the very least I think you would want to get to the bottom of things about who told them the image was ok to use. Clearly that person needs to be informed that they overstepped their bounds so this doesn't happen again.

BTW.... nice photo

[Jim Poor]

Can't really blame the coach, but ESPN knows better.

Compensation varies by use and from site to site, but a large org like ESPN will certainly be expected to pay more than your local newspaper site.

If you want to be REALLY nice guy, have ESPN make a large donation to the program as payment for the usage.

[Jim Bryant]

Originally Posted by Jim Poor

Contact Carolyn Wright at photoattorney.com

She takes some cases on contingency and with ESPN involved, I'm sure they have the budget to pay enough to make it worth her while.


Get screen shots of the photos on their site.

Have you registered the ©?

Yup, you need to get a hold of nancy Weisman, ESPN (The Magazine) Senior Deputy Photo editor. She can steer you in the right direction as who to contact on the web side.
1-888-267-3684.

[katia]

well i wouldn't feel stupid about it, i absolutely would have said something too. while it sucks they took it down, it may just be a good thing, before it happened again. now the coach will be made aware of the "Hoops" (mmm Fritos, sorry) that you must jump through regarding this sort of thing.

[Jim Poor]

Originally Posted by sforest

I just heard from ESPN.com::

"My sincere apologies for any mix up in using the Mario Edwards photo. ESPN.com reached out to (your coach) for some photos of Mario. This was one that he sent along.
If he is not authorized to send them to us, I apologize. We will inform the coach of what happened.
We have removed the image in question. Thanks for your understanding and for contacting us.. Please know we would never knowingly publish somebody’s work without permission. Please let me know if you have any other concerns.
Sincerely,
Barry Vigoda"

So, unfortunately, they took it down. I wrote back and told them that I give them permission to post it (because it definitely gives me credibility as a photographer), but I'm afraid they won't put it back up. Now I feel stupid for even saying anything. I'll keep an eye out to see if they put it back. Mine is definitely better than the one they replaced it with.

I would still like to know if there is a standard rate for this sort of thing, if anyone knows.

You could still bill them for the usage since it was on the site.