Can a newspaper publish my image without my permission?

[norry]

Last summer I entered a photo competition, my image won the monthly round. Several weeks later a woman contacted me...I cant remember who she represented or worked for...she explained that she was writing a small article about my win that would be printed in the newspapers....we chatted and she asked all the usual stuff. Anyway an article later appeared in the evening times with my pic. Today there is an article in the herald about the highland council and they have my image next to it...while I 'm pleased about this I'm also a bit peeved as no-one approached me and asked if they could print it. Guess there are a couple of points...the competition was run by panasonic...in the rules etc they said that copyright remained with the photographer but panasonic would be allowed to use the image in relation to the competition itself...so that covers the original article and they also asked permission first. This article in the paper today....it's a totally unrelated subject...nothing to do with the competition..there is a caption below the image saying that it was taken by myself. Is it out of order to expect some sort of payment for the use of my image, are they allowed to print the image without my permission (the evening times and the herald are both run by the same company). I have phoned the paper and asked for clarification....just wanting to tap into the huge font of knowledge that resides within this site and see what you all thought.:help:
Norry.

[Annie_W]

Have had this myself before, and I think I posted it.
i wrote to the offending papers (4 in my case) and said that I was flattered they chose to use my picture. However, as I owned the copyright I would expect them to have asked permission first. As they had now published, i was enclosing a bill for publishing fees and asked for £100. They all replied - and it's just wonderful what you can do for a grandson with special learning needs on £400.
Hope that helps.
Annie


===========================
There's a pleasure sure in being mad that none but madmen know. (Anon)

[lostmysnorkel]

Sounds liek you checked the small print whe nyou entered the original comp. My first thoughts were that by entering, you gave permission for the image to be used by the organisers, but it seems this particular comp respected the 'togs rights more than a lot of them.

In short, as long as you own the copyright, you should be paid for the usage.

I would follow Annie's advice above if I were you, send a polite but firm letter to the editor of the publication, and enclose a bill for the licence to use it.

To give you some idea of what to charge, this link is quite useful, based on the current 'going rates'.

http://photographersindex.com/stockprice.htm

Remember though, that these are in US$ so convert to GBP (www.xe.com), and these prices are assuming the image is used WITH permission. The general consensus is to double this for usage without permission, but expect to be knocked down a bit!

I'll bet you'll find that it was used by mistake, someone happened to come across it in the paper's library after running the original piece a d used it without thinking.

If you approach them properly and professionally, you may even get more sales to them!

Good luck, and let us know how it all pans out!

[norry]

Thanks a lot guys for the feedback....don't get me wrong...on the one hand it is flattering for them to use the image and I suppose it is publicity....sort of, so I should be grateful...anyway will write a letter and will see how it goes...cheers for the link to the site....Norry.

[Annie_W]

Let us know how you get on.Norry.

[Gadget]

hi norry, nice to meet you.

what was the small print on the competition?
who sponsored it?
who was it in support of?

There is a fair chance that somewhere in the terms and conditions it said that by submitting an image to the competiton you agree to allow the organisors to use the image anyway they see fit.
If you can be absoultly ceratin it does not say that anywhere then you have a gripe not only with the organisers but with the publications.
To be honest though I think its a case of learn form this one and in future RTFSP