Not sure where to put this...

[chris_9486]

Hello, I am new to eBay discussions, and probably wont use it again since I have an easy time using the site with little to no problems what so ever.

My question, or rather situation, is concerning a seller who is using photographs I have taken.

There's a seller on eBay, who hired me to take some photographs of their products so that they could then use them on eBay to sell their items.  I have had nothing but trouble from the seller and it has got to the point now where they've not paid me for the photographs and are ignoring my calls.  When I go round to the house, I get told "he's not in".  I have warned him multiple times that I would sell the stock he has left with me, and I have started to do that.  But it doesn't cover the remaining balance.  So my actual question/wondering is...

Can I report someone for copyright infringement for using my photographs to display their products?  Or to put it more bluntly, can I stop them using them if I report it to eBay?

No written agreement is in place other than that they would pay me such an amount on a weekly basis.  I have this in texts and emails.

I am not much of an explainer, so I hope you can understand my jibber-jabber!

Cheers.

[clifford2031]

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/copyrights.html

[ronnybabes]

I'm no expert, but without written agreement, can you conclusively prove that he did not take said photos himself.

If not then in my opinion you are stumped.

[bankhaunter]

The first thing is to get proper advice on exactly what the copyright issue is, what was the seller paying you for etc.

If copyright did not pass to the seller and the arrangement was for single use, then you can inform the seller that you will make a charge (it has to be reasonable) for each further use and such use will indicate the seller's acceptance of the contract.

Should they carry on using the pictures, you send them the bill, if they don't pay you take them to court, as you can for the money they already owe.

I'm no expert, but without written agreement, can you conclusively prove that he did not take said photos himself.

If not then in my opinion you are stumped.

A court decision would rest on the balance of probability, absolute proof is not necessarily required.

[Anonymous]

this thread is a bit light today.......................?

[chris_9486]

I can conclusively prove that I took the photos and not him, since I have all the RAW files from the camera and all he has are compressed jpegs.  He would have to show he has the original RAW files to if he was to dispute who owned the images.  He also knows, with email as proof that I own all copyright to the images even after he has paid for them, as the service he was paying for did not include the copyright ownership, which is an added cost.

Arrangement was for use on ebay, but since he has not paid me for the photos then surely this voids all usage rights, as an arrangement was made for payment and an amount was specified. I am filling in the vero form tonight and faxing it off tomorrow.  I informed him I would do it and he is still not paying me.  Even with a payment plan, he is not interested.  He keeps saying "I've got to let sales build up" but I have monitored his feedback, he's received over 620 ratings since he received the photos and I worked out an average price of an item in his shop at £22 which is £13.5k, what he owes me isn't even 2% of that!  It is getting ridiculous.  

I am looking at the small claims court too.  

Thanks for the help with the vero stuff.