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[fanofgirafffes]

I am a parent in a youth select program in Seattle. Photos that I took during the season for the benefit of the players - and given freely to those families-- and used behind secure pages on our team website have now been copyrighted by the coach, without my permission, placed on a public site and are for sale to the general public, with proceeds going into an unknown, potentially non-team related fund.  These are photos of U14s and U18s, but potentially could include photos of much younger players.  Request to remove them has been ignored. Does WSYSA/SYSA have a policy about this?  Anyone else end up here?  What are my rights?   What are the player's rights, even if the parents may have signed a photo release with all of the other team forms...  appreciate any input

[Brat Jr]

I am a parent in a youth select program in Seattle. Photos that I took during the season for the benefit of the players - and given freely to those families-- and used behind secure pages on our team website have now been copyrighted by the coach, without my permission, placed on a public site and are for sale to the general public, with proceeds going into an unknown, potentially non-team related fund.  These are photos of U14s and U18s, but potentially could include photos of much younger players.  Request to remove them has been ignored. Does WSYSA/SYSA have a policy about this?  Anyone else end up here?  What are my rights?   What are the player's rights, even if the parents may have signed a photo release with all of the other team forms...  appreciate any input

Gee FanofG! I wouldn't know about this, but I can say its pretty low of the coach or whoever to take your pics and sell them. I do 2 team websites, that have almost only MY pictures on them. To copy them for HOME USE is great, but to sell them??? Tell whoever it is that you want 75% of the proceeds or you'll go find a copyright attorney! :mrgreen:

[sounderfan]

Don't let them get away with this.

If you've got the 'originals' posted then there must be some sort of 'time stamp' to show they are YOUR photos.

Ask for a cut, or for the photos to be 'returned.'

 

[Midfield General]

This subject gets discussed regularly on Sports Photography forums, (such as the sports forums of  fredmiranda.com and photography-on-the.net, and the mesage boards of www.sportshooter.com).

Firstly, the coach cannot copyright the images. As the photographer the copyright remains yours unless you sign an agreement that transfers copyright to another person/organisation. If the coach does not have your permission he cannot use these images. If you are serious about resolving this then contact an attorney who is a specialist in copyright law before you do anthing else.

However the question you need to answer is how far do you want to go to get this sorted. If you were a pro photographer making a living from these images then contacting an attorney would be the obvious choice, but if you are just doing this for fun then you probably do not want to spend time and money so some options may be;

1. If the coach has ignored your request for the removal of the images then contact the club president. He may be keen to resolve this in case you decide to sue and the club gets involved in any litigation.

2. Contact the web hosting company that the coach is using to post the images. Tell them he is using copyrighted images illegally and they may remove them in case they get sued for copyright infringement. Long shot but may work.

3. If you know an attorney who will draft a letter for you then send it to the coach stating that you hold the copyright to these images and if he does not remove them you will sue for damages and attorneys fees.

4. Send the coach an invoice for the use of the images. A search of the web should give you some idea of what a pro photographer would charge for unlimited use of sports images, and just multiply it by the number he has used.

There are a couple of things you can do in the future. Make sure that the team website includes a copyright notice stating that you are the copyright holder and any unauthorised use is prohibited, (and just let the parents know that they are authorised to copy or print them). Also consider including a watermark on each image, as there are programs that can quickly batch process this onto multiple images.

One last tip - if you decide to go further with this and contact an attorney then make sure you copy the original images onto a CD and send it to the US Copyright Office. There is a small fee but this will allow you to collect not only damages but also attorneys fees if it is within three months of the coach first using your images. See http://www.krages.com/copy1.htm for more details

[fanofgirafffes]

Merry Holidays to all who have responded.  You have all helped to take the heavy stress from this situation and brought it back into my control.   You have really been helpful.    Thank you, very, very much....  see you on the pitch.....

[wow90]

In addition to the other comments that have been made, you should be aware that if proper permissions and release were not granted, I'm not sure anyone can sell these images, especially where minors are involved.  I may be wrong but it would at least put the fear of god in this coach because they could end up entangled in some nasty legal battle.

Second, you should report the coach to WSYSA and have some kind of ethics issue filed.  I'm sure the state would be very interested in looking into this.

What a shame.