Did CN take my...

[Chris Z]

Originally Posted by sd9

The recipient has received your message and contact information, and will be responding as soon as possible......
So we shall see, thanks for all the advice guys

BTW I see it says on the RP photo usage policy that "All photos on this website are licensed to RailPictures.Net." what does that mean? would RP have an issue also with the unauthorized use?

Bill

Bill, I wouldn't contact anyone or talk to anyone about this. The first thing to do would be to talk to a good corporate lawyer. Chicago has plenty of them that would be very eager to take your case. It would also not be good to make statements in public. From what I went through in the past and my experiences, you have the advantage right now and stand to be reimbursed a great deal. The juries will generally be on your side. They will see you as a poor individual being taken advantage of by a big bad rich corporation. It's just how it is. More than likely the lawyers will settle before going to trial where it will really cost them big.

Chris Z

[J. Balser]

Just sayin should "rail FAN's" be suing railroads :P


You should feel honored they used your pic IMO though i'll admit, I would probably sue to as I need money :P

[Chris Z]

Originally Posted by J. Balser

Just sayin should "rail FAN's" be suing railroads :P

The way most railroads have been treating railfans in general lately, should you even ask?

Chris Z

[troy12n]

Originally Posted by J. Balser

Just sayin should "rail FAN's" be suing railroads :P


You should feel honored they used your pic IMO though i'll admit, I would probably sue to as I need money :P

The correct question is "should railroads be stealing from railfans"

[magicman_841]

Originally Posted by J. Balser

Just sayin should "rail FAN's" be suing railroads :P


You should feel honored they used your pic IMO though i'll admit, I would probably sue to as I need money :P

Fail.

Is this really only what we're worth? Honors?

That's just the excuse people give you to get you to give them your stuff or work for them for free. We run into this stuff all the time in the translation industry... "Hey, we're not paying much, but it's a great opportunity!"... Whatever.

I would allow a non-profit organisation to use my pictures for free. Heck, I might even feel honored. But here we are talking about a company who clearly can afford to pay for the use of a picture.

[trainboysd40]

Originally Posted by J. Balser

Just sayin should "rail FAN's" be suing railroads :P


You should feel honored they used your pic IMO though i'll admit, I would probably sue to as I need money :P

You've been waiting on here 6 entire months just to make a jab at that?
That's REALLY sad.

[Watain]

Originally Posted by magicman_841

Fail.

Is this really only what we're worth? Honors?

That's just the excuse people give you to get you to give them your stuff or work for them for free. We run into this stuff all the time in the translation industry... "Hey, we're not paying much, but it's a great opportunity!"... Whatever.

I would allow a non-profit organisation to use my pictures for free. Heck, I might even feel honored. But here we are talking about a company who clearly can afford to pay for the use of a picture.

If CSX or used one of my images without me knowing it, (I don't see why they would want to...) I would sue their faces off. But then again I need the money, I don't have enough lenses..

Originally Posted by trainboysd40

You've been waiting on here 6 entire months just to make a jab at that?
That's REALLY sad.

Fail n00b is fail.

[JimThias]

Originally Posted by travsirocz

To me the dirt on the plow looks completely different. Could be photoshop.

You've never used the clone tool before, eh?

Originally Posted by J. Balser

Just sayin should "rail FAN's" be suing railroads :P


You should feel honored they used your pic IMO though i'll admit, I would probably sue to as I need money :P

Just in case you weren't being facetious with your post...the fact that it's a photo of a locomotive taken by a railfan is irrelevant. A photographer's image was used by a corporation WITHOUT his permission. That's what this comes down to. It doesn't matter what the subject is nor which company used the image.

[travsirocz]

Originally Posted by JimThias

You've never used the clone tool before, eh?

It was just weird they photoshopped that rather than fix other things in the image.

[milwman]

Originally Posted by coborn35

Scott people that have been electrocuted on top of Amtrak trains while tresspassing have sued in court and won. I think Bill is fine.

In no way am I saying DON"T go after them, Just that he needs to know that may come back at him, They are lawyers and look for ways to get out or strong arm you in to giving up. They will and may drag it out so picking the right lawyer to start with and do what they think.

[coborn35]

Originally Posted by milwman

In no way am I saying DON"T go after them, Just that he needs to know that may come back at him, They are lawyers and look for ways to get out or strong arm you in to giving up. They will and may drag it out so picking the right lawyer to start with and do what they think.

No I understand that, I was just saying that the trespassing thing can be largely irrelevant in court.

[troy12n]

Originally Posted by coborn35

No I understand that, I was just saying that the trespassing thing can be largely irrelevant in court.

It's completely irrelevant. And would be a huge PR boondoggle if they tried to prosecute him after the fact in light of his civil suit against them.

[Holloran Grade]

Originally Posted by troy12n

It's completely irrelevant. And would be a huge PR boondoggle if they tried to prosecute him after the fact in light of his civil suit against them.

Normally the act of trespassing ceases once the person leaves the property of the victim - ergo since he is not continuing to stand there, there is no trespass.

In some instances you can have a continuing trespass such as an encroaching structure or the trespass can morph into and invasion of privacy etc.

There are instances where a photograph could subject the person to liability for trespass such as if you were to take photos in an abandon missile silo that is closed to the public and post them all over the Internet.

It is conceivable that the government could go after you for trespassing since by virtue of having the images you would have had to be in the prohibited area - but they would also need to prove that you took the pictures.

In this case, there are presumably many places where the subject photo could have been shot from a legal location.

Moreover, trespassing of the photographer is not a defense to Copyright infringement so that is going to be a non-issue.

You don't see a lot of railroads going through the pictures on RP Net or the Internet and figuring out who was trespassing and then initiating criminal actions against them.

That would be interesting and very Microsoft of them.

[crazytiger]

As was stated before in this thread, I would take a bunch of screenshots and try to get your hands on the booklet. Once CN is alerted, you might be surprised what disappears.

[sd9]

Originally Posted by sd9

BTW I see it says on the RP photo usage policy that "All photos on this website are licensed to RailPictures.Net." what does that mean? would RP have an issue also with the unauthorized use?

Bill

I was hoping that an admin might chime in on that question.

[Joe the Photog]

I'd just e-mail a Chris if I were you. But I'm not sure they could do much of anything if they'd even be willing. If was your photo that CN stole. Now there was once I had someone swipe one of my shots off of RP and repost on his own web site with the black bar intact. I let a Chris know and he sent that person an e-mail. But this is a different matter altogether.

[Mgoldman]

Originally Posted by Joe the Photog

But this is a different matter altogether.

Mitch, sd9, crazytiger, Jim Thias, travsirocz, Holloran Grade, troy12n, Watain, trainboysd40, magicman_841, mark woody, Christopher Muller comply and say:

"But this is a different matter."

[35mmguy]

Yep that's your train. Look at the metalwork on the lead nose and how the light hits the varying shades of orange. The indentations of the nose line up perfectly. Sue them for everything they are worth, it's not an issue of railfans this or trains that, it's an issue of photographer's copyrighted work being stolen.

I have stopped posting my work on Facebook for this exact reason, and all my latest work has watermarks if it is.

[coborn35]

Originally Posted by 35mmguy

Sue them for everything they are worth..

I dont think he will be getting billions of dollars.

[35mmguy]

Originally Posted by coborn35

I dont think he will be getting billions of dollars.

duuuhhh winning....but seriously, get some money, or some glass or something out of them. that is ridiculous.

[Holloran Grade]

Originally Posted by 35mmguy

duuuhhh winning....but seriously, get some money, or some glass or something out of them. that is ridiculous.

Get a letter of apology that you can post on Facebook - and some money.

[mark woody]

Originally Posted by Holloran Grade

Get a letter of apology that you can post on Facebook - and some money.

I saw that, later latter.

[Holloran Grade]

Originally Posted by mark woody

I saw that, later latter.

Ya, but I fixed it before Jim the Forum Grammar Police caught it.

[mark woody]

Originally Posted by Holloran Grade

Ya, but I fixed it before Jim the Forum Grammar Police caught it.

Gotcha

[Greg P]

This whole story really is amazing. On one hand, it fails the test of Occum's razor, but on the other hand, there is substantial evidence.