Model Using Photos to Sell Merch

Hey everyone... Today I found out that a model that I've done a lot of free work with is using my photos to sell t-shirts, and cell phone cases.

Her and I have always had a great relationship, and her career is blowing up, but I'm a little annoyed that she is using my images to profit without so much as even letting me know.

I have absolutely no idea what the rules/laws/rights are around property like this...

Can anyone provide me with some insight into situations like this?

Did you have a contract? If not and you did free work, not much you can do if you gave her the pics she is using. I would try to work it out with her to get a cut, otherwise the best you can do is get her to stop using them.

Yes of course you have a copyright, trying to collect on that without a contract will only cost you money and stop use at best.

Unless you had a contract that gave you certain rights, you're SOL... sounds like you need to think twice before you give away your work... I doubt if you'll find much sympathy from any pros...

FredKingston said:

Unless you had a contract that gave you certain rights, you're SOL... sounds like you need to think twice before you give away your work... I doubt if you'll find much sympathy from any pros...

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I'm not sure what the reason is behind you assuming that I am looking for sympathy from anyone, but your rude attitude isn't really needed here.
I was simply curious about situations like this before I mentioned anything to my model.

Thank you for your reply Rick!
It's not the end of the world, I'm happy for her success. More just annoyed that she didn't even ask me if it was ok to use my photos.

Rick M said:

Did you have a contract? If not and you did free work, not much you can do if you gave her the pics she is using. I would try to work it out with her to get a cut, otherwise the best you can do is get her to stop using them.

Yes of course you have a copyright, trying to collect on that without a contract will only cost you money and stop use at best.

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Not that it matters much but she saved them from the internet. I didn't' give them to her.

I would at least talk to her about the matter. Let her know that you do have rights to images even if they are shared on the internet. Hopefully she did not know that and will understand your concerns. Maybe offer to shot with her some more and help her if she gives you a % of the profits.

Use a contract even for free work to build your portfolio. It lets everyone know you are serious about your work and could save you from liability down the road. Without a contract, the model could come back on you if you publish something she he/she thought was a free shoot for them. Loose ends in the beginning can come back to bite you down the road, especially if you become successful.

If she took them off your web site without your permission then you have definite legal rights.

FredKingston said:

If she took them off your web site without your permission then you have definite legal rights.

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Yup can you give more details, where were the photos uploaded to, where did she download them from, what were the agreements over you taking the photos of her ... what were the stipulations of the use of them

As has been said, not having contracts can get quite messy, I have learned that in the past !!

So, it's really kind of a tough situation. This model and i have worked together for the past 2 years to build up our ports, and we have also released 4 magazine publications together (the magazines were all unpaid... that happens a lot these days, them taking advantage of people who just want to be able to say they are published). Over the course of 2 years we've become decent friends. She is in the process of moving to los angeles, and really taking her career to the next level.

I've never had her sign a contract because it's always been casual with us, we've worked together probably 10+ times, and she's been amazing at choosing me for her magazine covers while trying to help me make a name in the industry as well. (although it's less important to me than her, as I have another career that I love also).

She absolutely saved my image off of the internet. Not sure where, could've been Facebook, could've been Instagram who knows. But she is launching an online merchant store with cell phone cases (the image still has my logo on it, that's how I know it came from the web) and tank tops with my image on it.

It's really not about the money, but more so that she felt it was ok to just jack my image and not even clear it with me, then turn around and use it to profit.

Live and learn I guess.

Yeah, business and friendship, tough stuff. Hope you two can communicate and come to an agreement financially or otherwise. Best of luck.

Friendship born of business even... worse!

Thanks for the help everyone, I think the lesson here is always get a contract no matter what.

I get the whole reciprocal arrangement thing, particularly among friends/close acquaintances.

At a minimum, given than she took the images off the web, I would contact her and remind her that she has the images because of you, and given that she's using them commercially can she at least provide you with a "Photo by" credit that links to your website or email, and/or replace the images with a watermarked copy with your website URL along with the logo. This way, if someone is more impressed by the shots than the merch then they can get in touch with you.

I have a few curiosity questions..... Did you get her permission to post pictures of her on the internet? Did you credit her as the model? Was anything mentioned about giving her anything for you using pictures of her?

grandpaw said:

I have a few curiosity questions..... Did you get her permission to post pictures of her on the internet? Did you credit her as the model? Was anything mentioned about giving her anything for you using pictures of her?

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yes I had permission to post her images. Yes she was credited

It was all very mutual. Always has been. In turn, whenever she posted an image that we took, she gave me credit as well.

kristentyler said:

yes I had permission to post her images. Yes she was credited

It was all very mutual. Always has been. In turn, whenever she posted an image that we took, she gave me credit as well.

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I would be nice about it but I would have to talk with her and let her know how you feel about it and see what she has to say. Don't burn any bridges, it may work out OK in the end.

grandpaw said:

I would be nice about it but I would have to talk with her and let her know how you feel about it and see what she has to say. Don't burn any bridges, it may work out OK in the end.

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Thanks That's my plan for now!

Hmm I like the nicey nicey approach so that you can feel it out but in my opinion you also need to be firm, she is making a profit out of your photos

It all comes down to how the conversation went about the photos when they were taken, if you both agreed they can be used mutually for self promotion and nothing else she is in the wrong, if you agreed they can be used however you both would like then she hasn't technically done anything wrong

Did you ever "give" her the photos or was it always an uploaded to xyz situation ?

So we spoke... it didn't exactly go well at first, but we hashed it out.

Turns out, according to her, This is how things are done in the tattoo industry. People all profit off each other.

She said she has photographers using her images to profit, and vice versa.

My point was that I just wanted better communication, and perhaps the courtesy enough to let me know what she was doing with "our" photos.

I"m glad this is only an industry that I dabble in for fun/creative sake, and not an industry that I would ever try to make a living in. Those types of rules are absurd in my opinion.

Good attitude! Move forward and enjoy the lesson learned. Some lessons are very costly.

kristentyler said:

So we spoke... it didn't exactly go well at first, but we hashed it out.

Turns out, according to her, This is how things are done in the tattoo industry. People all profit off each other.

She said she has photographers using her images to profit, and vice versa.

I"m glad this is only an industry that I dabble in for fun/creative sake, and not an industry that I would ever try to make a living in. Those types of rules are absurd in my opinion.

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Hmm those aren't the "Standards" in the industry

If two people have an agreement that you can use the content for monetary gain then that's cool, but it seems this isn't what you had

If she is happy to have photographers make money off her images then that is her prerogative but just because she lets others doesn't mean that's a standard, glad you have worked it out, what was the end result ? is she still using your images ?