Pacific Stock Photography - Copyright Basics

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Pacific Stock and Copyright Infringement
DISCLAIMER: Please note that any information provided here is to help you understand Pacific Stock and its approach to legal issues revolving around stock photography copyright claims. Pacific Stock always recommends that our contacts seek out professional legal counsel for assurances that our information, and your interpretation of it, is accurate and appropriate to your particular situation.

Pacific Stock is a reputable company that has won awards locally for its services, personnel and contributions. We are an active part of the stock photography industry and take pride in our images, our services, and our photographers. This is why we do what we do, which is primarily, to license beautiful images to advertising agencies, marketing firms, and any other organization which desires to use images for commercial, editorial or corporate use. Pacific Stock images are registered with the U.S. Copyright office; are individually labeled as rights-protected images; and are subject to federal and international copyright protection.

Pacific Stock is committed to protecting the rights of our photographers and to ensure the quality and integrity of their materials. Searching for and recovering copyright infringements is a time consuming process, of which, we would prefer to not have to do; however, as the agent for many photographers, it is part of our responsibility to them to protect their images and ensure the quality and value of their images are not damaged. While Pacific Stock does have worldwide representation, we are still a small agency based in Honolulu, Hawaii and as a small company, our resources are very limited. As a result, Pacific Stock hires out copyright violation searches to third-party services and has strict policies and approaches to recovering license fees.

Pacific Stock treats copyright infringement as a serious matter. We make every effort to ensure our photographer’s intellectual property is protected and pursue any possible cases of improper use.
Pacific Stock prefers to first try and resolve unauthorized usages in-house rather than placing cases directly into the hands of our copyright attorney. By resolving such matters with our internal legal department, you will minimize your fees. If license fees are not recovered, Pacific Stock may turn this infringement claim over to outside litigation counsel, and allow for all remedies available under the Copyright Act to be enforced.

Frequently Asked Questions
For complete information and questions, please visit: www.copyright.gov

How do I know this is a real copyright claim and not a scam?
You and your company have every right to proceed cautiously. This is, in part, why Pacific Stock highly recommends seeking legal counsel in these matters. An attorney who is serving your interests will be able to easily verify the legitimacy of Pacific Stock's copyright claims. In addition to this, Pacific Stock is willing to try and answer your questions and quell concerns as best as we are able. Please find the following articles as methods in which your company, or your attorney, may learn more about Pacific Stock and validate Pacific Stock as a copyright claimant:

• Pacific Stock, Inc. - Our company website which will show you our images, our services, our pricing, the photographers whom we represent and the countries in which we have agencies.
• Picture Archive Council of America (PACA) - An independant organization which is a credible reference that lists Pacific Stock under its members area.
• MANTA.com - Independant company intelligence website showing small business company profiles. This website also provides links to purchasing Dun & Bradstreet company reports.
• Better Business Bureau - Independant organization which provides company reports on marketplace activity. Pacific Stock is a BBB Accredited Business.
• State of Hawaii, Department of Taxation - EIN / Federal Tax ID #99-0324449
• State of Hawaii, DCCA Business Registration - The DCCA Business Registration Division is a Government agency of the State of Hawaii.
• U.S. Copyright Registration Certificates - Search by Registration Number. Registration Numbers are 12 characters long. (Example: VA-745-673 is typed "VA0000745673".) Registration numbers are specific to the images involved in each case and are provided on our initial Copyright Notice. To view all registrations, Search by Name ("Pacific Stock, Inc").
• Federal District Court Filings - Pacific Stock will not hesitated to pursue copyright infringement actions in court, if necessary.
• Rush Moore L.L.P. - Pacific Stock's Attorney, J. Stephen Street, Address: 737 Bishop Street, Pacific Guardian Center, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813, Phone: (808) 521-0412
This information is for reference purposes only. Please note that by contacting our attorney you may escalate your case, and any invoices or retroactive usage fee offers made by Pacific Stock will be instantly nullified and Pacific Stock will immediately increase the amount due to include attorney's fees.

What Is Copyright?
Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works.

When is an image copyrighted?
When its created, its copyrighted. It does not have to be registered to be copyright protected. However, Pacific Stock registers all images appearing on its website with the U.S. Copyright Office.

Who can claim copyright?
The copyright immediately becomes the property of the author who created the work. In other words, the photographer or his agent has the exclusive right to exploit the copyright in each image. That right is for the life of the photographer plus 70 years.

Where is the copyright (©) symbol?
The use of a copyright notice is no longer required under U.S. law, although it is often beneficial. An image does not have to have any form of copyright notice on the work, near the work or embedded in the work for it to be protected.

How do I know if I need permission to use an image?
Rule of thumb - If you did not take the photograph, you need permission from the photographer or his agent. Permission to use an image for any purpose whatsoever must be obtained in advance in writing to avoid possible violation of the federal law on copyright.

When does infringement occur?
Any unauthorized use constitutes an infringement. The only exception is through statutory exemption such as fair use or limited classroom use. Exceeding the terms of a license has been held to be an infringement. A new license is required prior to additional use.

What is an "unauthorized use"?
Printing, publishing, displaying, distributing, combining, altering or scanning photographs or any part thereof, including electronically, is an exclusive right held by the photographer and doing so without prior permission is an authorized use.

How serious is Copyright infringement?
It is illegal for anyone to violate any of the rights provided by the law to the copyright owner. Copyright law is federal, and so copyright infringement is a federal offense. There are no state or county regulations that supercede the federal regulations on copyright matters.

What are the penalties for infringement?
Penalties for infringement are monetary and can be severe. The Copyright Act provides that unauthorized use of registered copyrighted material may be subject to statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringement, in addition to costs and attorneys fees.

"I didn't know it was copyrighted" I'm innocent, right?
No. Copyright infringement is determined without regard to the intent or the state of mind of the infringer. In other words, regardless of whether or not you were aware of copyright protection and its consequences, the violation still exists. Note that higher penalties may be sought for infringements which are determined to be willful (the violation occured with prior knowledge of copyright protection).

"A web designer infringed the work, not me." I'm innocent, right?
No. While business owners may think that they need knowledge of an act to be liable, Copyright infringement does not require intent. The Copyright Act is one of strict liability for all who partake in the act of copying without license. While this may seem harsh to business owners, it makes perfect sense that even though the company is not doing the physical copying, it has an affirmative duty to guard against infringement through diligent inquiry into the usage or choice of usage by the web designers. In short, the burden falls on the company that hires the web designer to ensure that the usage of the images is either licensed or otherwise not infringing on one’s copyrights. Those who profit from the services of an independent contractor who infringes on someone else’s copyrights must be held equally liable and my not hide behind the actions of the web designer and claim innocence or ignorance.

What do I do now?
Once you understand that you have committed copyright infringement, your best option is to resolve with payment for retroactive license. This is the simplest, swiftest and least expensive method of resolving this legal matter. Pacific Stock takes infringement seriously and will pursue every case of infringement in court, if necessary.

I can't afford this. What do I do now?
Pacific Stock is willing to offer payment plans to cooperative parties in need of payment extensions. Please contact us for an alternative payment schedule via Promissory Note with Regular Payments, No Interest and customized to your situation.

I have more questions...
If you have any questions regarding Copyright Law, Pacific Stock strongly recommends seeking legal counsel. For your convenience, we've also included some useful links about copyright below.