Company using pictures of my car to sell their product

[skimphish]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

I feel a little bit silly asking this, but it has been brought to my attention that there is a company using a picture of my car to sell one of their products. Said picture has been posted on the internet (by myself) on multiple forums and Facebook before and is an amateur shot with no copyright or trademark. Is this legal for them to do? The kicker is that I have never heard of/used their products before, so them using my car to promote their product is misleading, at least in my eyes.

Thank you.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

I feel a little bit silly asking this, but it has been brought to my attention that there is a company using a picture of my car to sell one of their products. Said picture has been posted on the internet (by myself) on multiple forums and Facebook before and is an amateur shot with no copyright or trademark. Is this legal for them to do? The kicker is that I have never heard of/used their products before, so them using my car to promote their product is misleading, at least in my eyes.

Thank you.

First, photographs are (generally) rights-protected. As soon as a creative and original work is fixed in a tangible form, the work will have a copyright and the creator of the work will be the copyright holder (under most circumstances). Copyrights are automatic.

Are you sure the picture being used is the one you took? Is there anything unique about the photograph? Is there anything unique about your car?

If the photograph is a rather generic photo of a rather generic car, with no creative or original worth, there is probably little you can do to stop the use of the photo.

If the car is being used to advertise a product other than cars and the car is featured prominently in the advertisement or promotional material, the car maker (e.g., Ford or Chrysler or whatever) could have a trademark infringement claim to pursue (depending on all facts).

 

[justalayman]

is there something unique about your car? who took the actual picture?

 

[quincy]

It appears that skimphish has left the building.

 

[skimphish]

First, photographs are (generally) rights-protected. As soon as a creative and original work is fixed in a tangible form, the work will have a copyright and the creator of the work will be the copyright holder (under most circumstances). Copyrights are automatic.

Are you sure the picture being used is the one you took? Is there anything unique about the photograph? Is there anything unique about your car?

If the photograph is a rather generic photo of a rather generic car, with no creative or original worth, there is probably little you can do to stop the use of the photo.

If the car is being used to advertise a product other than cars and the car is featured prominently in the advertisement or promotional material, the car maker (e.g., Ford or Chrysler or whatever) could have a trademark infringement claim to pursue (depending on all facts).

The car has a unique paint job/lights/and grille. I'm yet to see another exactly like it.

is there something unique about your car? who took the actual picture?

As stated above, unique paint job, grille, and headlights. I took the picture.

It appears that skimphish has left the building.

Got busy at work, sorry about to delayed responses.

 

[quincy]

The car has a unique paint job/lights/and grille. I'm yet to see another exactly like it.

As stated above, unique paint job, grille, and headlights.

Got busy at work, sorry about to delayed responses.

First, don't worry about the delayed response. Our replies to a thread are typically not so fast.

Did YOU take the photo of your car, skimpish? Is there anything unique about the photo itself (e.g., creative or original features in the photo itself, or is it a pretty straightforward shot of your car)? Is the car maker's logo featured prominently?

Is your car parked in an area where the public can easily view it and, therefore, photograph it (e.g., without trespassing on private property)?

 

[justalayman]

The underlying question in quincy's query is (the same question I asked previously that you did not answer);

Who took the picture(s) they are using?
And "they're mine" doesn't answer the question.

Who pushed the button on the camera?

The reason it is asked is that whoever (in most casual situstions) took the picture owns the rights to the picture. There could be individual rights to the contents (elements) of the subject of the picture and that is another issue Quincy is asking questions to attempt to answer for you.

Along that line of questions;
Who "built" your car (the design elements you believe are unique to your car)?

 

[quincy]

... I took the picture. ...

I see that you edited your earlier post to add that you took the photograph. Thanks. If you are the photographer, then, and absent any agreements to the contrary, you would hold the copyrights in the photograph - if the photograph has any copyrightable elements.

To be copyrightable, the photograph must have at least some creativity (i.e., be more creative than a telephone book page). It is not too high a standard to meet, but generic photos will not be protectable under the law. For example, anyone can take a close-up shot of a football. One football photo will look like all others if nothing creative is done to the photo to make it distinguishable from all others.

In other words, although your car may be unique in appearance, a photograph of your car may not be unique. If anyone could take a camera and photograph your car to look the same or similar to the photograph you took (with no creative additions), there is a good chance "your" photograph used by others would not be infringing.

That gets down to the other questions asked by both justalayman and me, the answers of which could determine if there is any legal action that can be pursued against the person who took the photo from where you posted it online to use in the promotion of his business, product or service.

 

[LucasChalmers]

If you are sure that you are the one who took the photograph then there is an automatic copyrights given to you, And I think the there is some copyright laws violated by the company.

 

[quincy]

If you are sure that you are the one who took the photograph then there is an automatic copyrights given to you, And I think the there is some copyright laws violated by the company.

Lucas, there is really no way to know from what has been posted so far if any company violated any copyright laws. It actually sounds doubtful. There could potentially be some trademark violations with the ads.

But skimphish needs to return to answer the questions that have been asked of him before anything more can be determined.

By the way, not all photographers (or artists or authors or other creators of original works) will have "automatic copyrights" in the works they create, although that is generally the case. There are some notable exceptions that cannot be ignored.