Dear All,
I've received the message below from "Pubindoc" today and am considering how to respond. Before I do so, I wondered if anyone else has received a similar message, and what your views are about it? Any comments (on forum or off forum) much appreciated!
Kevin
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Dear micromoth
Hello,
We will create a website where customers can choose a picture from many photographic subjects and then the selected photo printed directly on any flat surface. (we have a printer for this purpose.)
We want to offer our customers a catalog of photos.
Your Gallery "rgbstock.com" should be the style we want to make.
1 - Would you agree that some of your work appear on our site?
2 - If your answer is yes to the first question, what would be the amount ($ or €) for the reproduction of one of your works? (Remember that the reproduction will always be unity)
You can respond to this email address: dklco@free.fr
Thank you in advance for your response and congratulations for your work
Pubindoc-Dklco
11, rue de la Samaritaine
59430 St-Pol-sur-Mer
France
Tel: 33 (0) 9 81 10 66 98
Mail: dklco@free.Fr
I didn't get one of those mails - and if I do, my answer will be what I always answer people who wants generel permissions: "I never grant generel permission, if a permission is needed I need to know for what image and for what use."
:-)
The account for Pubindoc was created one month ago. Looks like a start-up business.
John is right about these kind of offers.
Your Gallery "rgbstock.com" means it's a form letter and it offers no guarantees. They should have directed you to a link that offered more detailed information.
"We will create a website..." tells me they are not on line and not yet prepared to receive contractual confirmation. They should use images from their own gallery that you have sent them and not obtain the images from here.
If anyone considers this member to be a nuisance, please be sure to let me know.
Many thanks John and Cris - you have confirmed my suspicions!
I didn't receive one, either, but I never give general access to my images - unless it is a specific charity or church thing that is just using them as backdrops for songs, etc. I always ask them to specify which images they wish to use, I ask for a link to their site, and I ask for the name of the company. If there is no website, the answer is automatically negative.
The other thing is that once your images are displayed on their site, you can't monitor how many copies are being made. And it is very hard to rescind permission once you have given it.
Does anyone have any knowledge or experience of photographers successfully taking legal action against people / companies that have used images without approval?