Copyright infringement -- how much can you sue for?
 

Okay, so remember last week how I mentioned one of my models had a fuck of a boyfriend trying to ruin her life? well now he's taking copyrighted pics of her and sending them to friends, etc.

How much can I sue this son of a bitch for?
:thumbsup
:BangBang:

as much as your lawyer can get out of his ass.

they'll probably try to argue, that he only sent it to .. say .. 20 people and therefore 20 potential members were affected * $15 per membership = $300 is all I can get ...

you think I can get more?

i don't believe its an infringement if he isn't getting money off it,,,

models posing nude should be aware of this type of stuff anywas,, weather intentional or acceidental,,it was gonna happen eventually,,,

yes, we warned her. but he's a fucking jealous son of a bitch stalking motherfucker, so we'd like to fuck with his world a bit.

as for the $$ thing .. can anyone confirm one way or another this argument?

I hate to agree with playa here. If he only sent some pics to his friends, what can you do

except kick his ass serriously :ak47:

http://www.adultinternetlaw.com/

ask Richard Chapo, he'll know

tell him K-Man sent ya

sending pics to friends does not constitute copyright infringement.

If he made a webpage with her pics, then it would be copyright infringement, however, if he made a page with only a couple of pictures, & no ads or banners, & with a story like, "This is my ex girlfriend.. she's posing nude for a porn site now.. Look at her.. she;s a slut.. i fucked her"

Then he's probably protected under the fair use clause of copyright law.

As far as how much you can get, ACTUAL DAMAGES.

Actual damages = membership fee multiplied by how many people saw her, right?

I believe he is making a webpage... can't wait :-) muuuahahahahhahahaaa!!!

Your only case would fall under "distribution of copyrighted material", and this guys reasons for distributing them wouldn't qualify as "Fair Use" in that his actions would probably considered a form of retaliation, which is not part of fair use guidelines.

sounds like there are a lot of ways to interpret things, thanks for your help guys! =)

I'll make a note of each point and bring them up with our lawyers.

If you just want to fuck with him, put a classified ad in the local paper (pay cash so you won't have a paper trail) in the ad list his care for sale for a really cheap price then put "only call between the hours of 3am and 8 am due to shift work....fun little annoyance ;)) or for extra kicks...place it in one of those regional papers and list his phonme and the words "collect calls are fine" oh the fun you can have :)

Although you are not actually stealing anything tangible, or commercially distributing the picture, reproducing and displaying copyrighted work without permission is copyright infringement.

Copying the photos from the net is "reproduction"

Giving/showing the photos to his friends is "displaying them"

I don't think it is illegal if he saw the pic & just showed a few friends. Can you be sued if you buy a playboy and show a few friends the centerfold?

You might win but spend a few thousand on legal fees. Meanwhile he would likely represent himself for such a silly claim and end up paying you $50 or something. I'd bet he would win the case though.

No, but you paid for the magazine. Now if you copied any of the photographs from the magazine, then you are violating the law. True, they would probaby never find out, but if they did. you can bet your ass that they'd be after you.. p'boy goes after anyone and everyone that reproduces their stuff without permission.

no but you can be sued if you buy a playboy, photocopy it and start passing it out to your friends.

damn he got it first!

Spacedog is right... you are better off going after that fat guy that stiffed Brett for his 10 bucks...

http://www.xtragirls.com/brett.jpg

why is it so hard to agree with me? i do know alittle something,,,


but back to the subject here,,, i believe you are wasting your time,,, having a copyright is one thing but it cost $$$ to even take it to the court or consult with an attorny so it ain't even worth it,,

now if the nude pictures were only ment for personal use then he could get in trouble for defemation(spelling) of character,,,but since they was for modeling work and was made for commercial purposes then its a different story,,, aslong as he isn't trying to make profits out of the pictures, i don't think there is a problem,,

like i said she knew the drawbacks of posing nude,,, like they always say your past could haunt you in the future,,, she just focus her attention something else,,

for FYI,, here is web site of the copyright office
http://www.loc.gov/copyright/

If a case goes to court, statutory damages can be as high as $150,000 per copyrighted work if the infringement has been shown to be blatant and willful.

Check out Dan Bailey Photography
He has some interesting things to say about this.


He also says the best start would be to send the guy an invoice for the pics he is using with a price that is numerous times the actual cost. If he refuses to pay, then you can go from there..

THAT'S what I'm talkin about!!! unfortunately the little fuck is 18 years old .. so the best I could probably do is get him to sell his car and then file bankruptcy ... but that would be quite destructive to that fuckface getting his life started.. :-D
:BangBang:

Hmm.. you go from, "How much can I sue for?" to "damn.. I think I'll buy the guy a scholarship.." :)

Probably not a biggy anyway.. lots of other people are seeing the photos I would imagine... everyone but me anyway.. :(

note sure what you mean there? he'll have to sell everything he's got to settle with me .. and then i'll fuck his credit so he can't get shit..

Oh.. my bad...
I thought when you said, "...but that would be quite destructive to that fuckface getting his life started.."
that you meant you couldn't do that to him...

Unfortunately, I believe the truth of the matter is that your chance of winning anything is nil.

The sad part is, just as in a rape case, the judge and lawyer will be more concerned with the "past history" of the girl involved. She has actively sold pictures of herself in the past. Therefore, having the boyfriend show pictures of the gal to acquantices cannot be considered slanderous or doing any irrepairable damage her reputation.

Even if he was posting a whole web site of pics that he took while they were together, you had better hope that you have very sympathetic judge. At best, a cease and desist order might be obtained. Her history is going to be a very large part of any case and will probably doom you from the start.

Hope you have very large pockets!

If he's not selling them, your likely going to be out of luck!

I'm not an attorney, but...

I don't think you'd get very far with copyright infringement. Since the "use" is fairly private and the monetary damage to you nonexistent. However, it does sound like he may have created a dandy opportunity for a tort suit for harassment, invasion of privacy, causing mental distress, etc.

You might be able to fuck his parents over, though, and then they will fuck him over tenfold.