can I sue?
 

I had a website with me and about 40 of my close friends getting fucked up. We had shit like, us getting really drunk and passing out. Doing dumb shit ect.. Apparently, the local police force (was told by an inside informant) that they printed off our pictures and are now using them for a slideshow to show local parents about what can happen to their children if they don't keep them from drinking.
The thing is, I took all of these pictures myself, Am I able to sue my local police force for illegal use of my pictures? Does copyright include things like this(although I havn't legaly copyrighted them)?

Will

who cares if you can or cant... JUST SUE THE COPS ANYHOW!!!
but sue them for their evidence closet, and maybe you can score some yola and mary jane instead of cold hard cash...

Of course you can. Sue sue sue.

I don't think its illegal to print off stuff from the web and then show it to someone else, especially since you haven't copyrighted the content.

Yup, unauthorized use of copyright images.

Don't expect a cash penalty though, the police is using it for non-profit. The most you can expect is getting the police to stop using it. Hardly worth it. A letter to the police department will accomplish the same really.

WG

fuck, looks like its driveby time on pig station.

i think you can only sue for defamation of chracter

but then again you have to prove how it effected your life
and how much monies you have lost because the incident,

which is prolly nothing

Dude, why complain?
I have friends that would PAY to have their drunken pictures used by the police...

(and, just send them a C&D. if they do not stop using the pictures after that, you can sue them)

well, actualy. It caused one of my friends who was on probation to goto jail.. They contacted his PO. Also they have visited serveral of my friends at their work places questioning them about the events.
We had pictures of us fighting, just play fighting though. They were asking if anyone wanted to press charges, of course they all said no. Its started alot of bullshit for all of us. I guess they have been after it for a few weeks.

If it were me, I don't think I'd sue.. but I might get a cease and desist order.

Actually, any material/content is copyright the moment it is created.

http://www.copyright.gov/faq.html#q2

Assuming they don't stop using the material after you've sent them a C&D notice, you could probably sue for something along the lines of unauthorized use of copyrighted material.

hehe, what's the url?

Read this you fuckers!


The fair use provision of the Copyright Act allows reproduction and other uses of copyrighted works under certain conditions for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching(including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship or research.

even if its pictures of people?

Sure. Copyrighted works = pictures, text, audio, video, etc...

ztik, what i want to know is how did the cops find your site in the first place and how did they know there were local boys in the pics?

You can always sue, but you will probably lose in this case. There was a similar case not too long ago where some school was using some guys images without permission. Shit, I'll try to find the article.

Read this:
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,54815,00.html

Not exactly the same, but close enough.

Other than the fact that your just looking for a free ride why would you sue them, obviously you wanted people to see the pictures because you posted them in the first place!

If you can prove that the PD is making money using your photos... you can sue for damages, however, if it is for teaching, as BrownBear mentioned, you will lose.

i'd just think it would be funny

post the pics

Everything is copyrighted as soon as you make it. There are extra steps you can take to make sure that you can prove this in court, though.

Just because no one else has explicitly corrected a bit of information from early on: an original creative work is copyrighted from the instant it is in tangible or viewable form. "To copyright" is not an action you have to perform, it is a state a creative work is born into. What you may be referring to is REGISTRATION, which you will need to do in order to pursue damages, though, as I understand it, the fact that you are registering late won't help you much in terms of pursuing damages.

You put the images on a website for anyone to see, so you don't have the avenues of invasion of privacy or defamation, It seems to me, and the police are not profiting off the images, so you have not profits to claim a share of. Furthermore, since one of the people was rearrested, the images are probably now regarded as "evidence" available to anyone through Freedom of Informaton.

I'm no attorney, but it seems to me you got no case.

lol, im not going to post the pics.
The reason the police are after them is there is pictures of people smoking bud in large quantities. Also pictures of nuggets and shit like that.
But, thanks for the info guys. If they do end showing it as a slideshow I'll contact a lawyer and see if there is anything that can be done. I just want to make a fool out of the police in court. I don't really care if I get any money out of it.

Holy shit. Get a lawyer. Make sure to work in all the mental damage you have suffered because of this.