You probably have a few questions about our service…
We'll try and answer as many as we can here, but feel free to contact us if you can't find the answer you're looking for.
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If you are a UK Resident, any work you create is automatically copyrighted from the moment you make it, and unless you are an employee of a company where the work is created as part of your job description, the copyright belongs to you.
If you're employed by someone else, then usually the employer will own the copyright - although this can depend on your employment contract. Generally speaking - if you're self employed, YOU own the copyright to your work. Otherwise, your employee likely owns it.
It is worth checking the small print of your contract, as some employment contracts also grab the copyright of any work you create outside of your normal working hours or work premises!
You do NOT need to register the copyright to enforce it in the UK or Europe, so do not waste money on any services which promise to validate your copyright. For any case brought to the Intellectual Property & Enterprise Court, the claimant is deemed to be the copyright owner unless proven otherwise. It is up to the defendant to prove you are not the copyright owner, not for you to prove you are.
In the United States, it is wise to register your work with the USCO (United States Copyright Office), and it is a requirement before you can file a lawsuit for copyright infringement, unless it is for statutory violations of the DMCA, such as tampering with Rights Management Information or watermarks.
We retain ⅓ of any recovery for claims we deal with on your behalf.
We have NO hidden fees or surcharges, but some optional services may be chargeable, such as background searches and disclosure requests etc. Any such services are entirely optional and will not be carried out without your consent and approval.
How long the process takes really depends on each claim. We have made successful recoveries for clients in as little as 6 hours, though some may take considerably longer - many months, depending on the complexity of the claim.
We don't search for your image, that's true. Nor do we claim to act in all territories across the globe with a network of legal partners.
However - we don't charge a monthly subscription fee either. Therefore, we don't make any money from dragging your claim out for months or even years. We like to get a successful recovery as soon as possible - and we know that's what you want too!
We try not to reject claims that others might reject for being too small or not cost effective.
There are some instances where a claim may not be worth pursuing - but we will look in close detail and give you a good explanation as to our reasoning behind any rejected claim.
Some examples of claims we may reject include:
You're probably tempted to post on social media where you'll be met with a lot of advice about "Copyright theft" (It's actually Copyright Infringement - no one has stolen your copyright).
Most of our clients are professional photographers who already have an established rate card for their license fees, or use a particular pricing guide.
It isn't entirely relevant if a similar image is available for less than £10 from a stock library, The reasonable royalty is one associated with the use of the particular copyright work in question. What would this copyright owner have earned for the reproduction of this photographic work by someone wishing to reproduce it?
Image value can also depend on the exclusivity in the photograph, as can the risks, efforts or costs involved in producing it.
We highly recommend fotoQuote by Cradoc Software which gives plentiful advice on pricing.