wwp@yahoogroups.com:
Francis Fougere 2008-May-27 16:52:00
Hi One and All
I have been following all of this from the sidelines with interest and a
busy schedule. I now have a moment to add my comments. First let me add my
thanks to Willy for all his efforts. I got the letter from this Petra person
and only concluded that they got my e-mail address off the WWP page. If a
gallery or a museum wishes to show my work, they contact me individually and
we discuss how it will be shown and only then will I provide them a
document stating the usage rights. I thought the whole project was very
sophomoric and the kind of thing that I would expect from a student and a
na?ve one at that. Copyright infringement is illegal no matter how na?ve or
premeditated it is.
I have been a commercial photographer in Canada for 27 years and I have had
occasion to deal with copyright infringement. The first time I consulted
with a property rights lawyer he recommended something that has worked for
me in every case that has since come up. He recommended that I write up an
invoice for the usage taken that can be documented and proven. Add an amount
that is consistent to how annoyed you are and send the whole thing in for
payment. I my case this amount was less than $6000.00 which allowed me to
take this to a small claims court for non payment. Small claims cases in
Canada are inexpensive and do not require a lawyer. A win here, if not paid
goes a long way towards winning in a full blown copyright infringement case
with lawyers and associated costs. In my case they always saw the light and
paid the invoice including my annoyance fee. I would fully support any
committee that wishes to peruse this on our behalf, so you can add my name
to your list. I made my first submission to the WWP in the winter of 2004,
the Sanctuary event, and I have made submissions for every event since.
Francis Fougere
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