California
Before my employment I did a photoshoot in Japan. Being based out of California, you can imagine the time and costs involved in this. At my current employer I created a website and decided to use some of my images for product advertising. Right now a competing company has taken 4 of these images without permission and is using them to market either counterfeit copies or gray market imports of the products pictured in them. (the point is, the images belong to me and they are using them for financial gain without my permission)
The first time an issue like this came up, a rival company who was actually selling counterfeit copies of our products, took images that I had created while on the job, from the company website without any permission and used them to advertise their counterfeit products. Even though the images were created while I was on the job, my boss agreed to split any judgement I could recover by suing them. I took the offending company to small claims and was able to recieve judgement for and collect the full $5000 maximum amount.
So back to the current situation....the images now in question were taken before I was employed by my current employer and I have never been compensated for them nor has any agreement been made regarding the images between me and the company. With that in mind, I used Legal Zoom to initiate a small claims case against the offending company. When I brought it to the attention of my boss, he became very angry and offended.....he claimed that a court case against this specific company could bring his company negative feedback. I tried explaining that the imaged were mine and that any action I take regarding them was independent of the company but he insisted that any slander/libel that might occur because of the action would put his company "at risk without any possible benefit."
Now my boss tends to be money hungry to the point of being unreasonable. In this case, I feel like he thinks he's entitiled to a cut of any judgement I recover against the offending company and he's using this whole "risk" tactic to manipulate/pressure me.
But now the real concern.....he called up legal zoom without my permission and canceled my small claims court order!!! I don't know what verification legal zoom requires for someone to cancel an order but he was able to do it. He then announced to me that I need to wait until we have another meeting before taking any legal action against the offending company.
1.) Is what my boss did illegal? actionable?
2.) If I pursue the small claims court case against the offending company and my boss terminates my employment as a result of going against his judgement in (what i view to be) a private matter that he has no claim, what would your advice be? It feels like extortion....
Before my employment I did a photoshoot in Japan. Being based out of California, you can imagine the time and costs involved in this. At my current employer I created a website and decided to use some of my images for product advertising. Right now a competing company has taken 4 of these images without permission and is using them to market either counterfeit copies or gray market imports of the products pictured in them. (the point is, the images belong to me and they are using them for financial gain without my permission)
The first time an issue like this came up, a rival company who was actually selling counterfeit copies of our products, took images that I had created while on the job, from the company website without any permission and used them to advertise their counterfeit products. Even though the images were created while I was on the job, my boss agreed to split any judgement I could recover by suing them. I took the offending company to small claims and was able to recieve judgement for and collect the full $5000 maximum amount.
So back to the current situation....the images now in question were taken before I was employed by my current employer and I have never been compensated for them nor has any agreement been made regarding the images between me and the company. With that in mind, I used Legal Zoom to initiate a small claims case against the offending company. When I brought it to the attention of my boss, he became very angry and offended.....he claimed that a court case against this specific company could bring his company negative feedback. I tried explaining that the imaged were mine and that any action I take regarding them was independent of the company but he insisted that any slander/libel that might occur because of the action would put his company "at risk without any possible benefit."
Now my boss tends to be money hungry to the point of being unreasonable. In this case, I feel like he thinks he's entitiled to a cut of any judgement I recover against the offending company and he's using this whole "risk" tactic to manipulate/pressure me.
But now the real concern.....he called up legal zoom without my permission and canceled my small claims court order!!! I don't know what verification legal zoom requires for someone to cancel an order but he was able to do it. He then announced to me that I need to wait until we have another meeting before taking any legal action against the offending company.
1.) Is what my boss did illegal? actionable?
2.) If I pursue the small claims court case against the offending company and my boss terminates my employment as a result of going against his judgement in (what i view to be) a private matter that he has no claim, what would your advice be? It feels like extortion....
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