Small claims court against Polish seller/website

kat5

Hi there,

This is my first post so apologies if I miss any info! Plus I'm quite lost and I don't know if I'm in the right area!

I make tutorial videos on YouTube - make up tutorials, in Polish (my 2nd language). I'm British and based in the UK, and I've been making these videos for over 1.5yrs. I devise them, film myself, edit/produce them, all of the photography, videos and audio (me talking) is made by me, of me - I own everything.

Recently, one of my YouTube subscribers from Poland sent me a message on YouTube telling me that someone on a Polish auction site is selling DVD make up courses - using (at least) my image.

The site in question is called Allegro, its Poland's biggest auction site, similar to eBay. The person selling the DVD claims to be a business, in Poland, and some Google-stalking showed us (my parents are helping me) that this company also sells make up products.

The auction is here (here http:// allegro.pl/ item1057855752_kurs_makijaz_przedluzania_rzes_2certyfikaty.html - I've added spaces in case the link isn't allowed) the auction describes 2 courses, one for make up application and one for eye lash extensions. At the start of the auction the seller writes

"Jestem wyłącznym autorem filmu, materiały w nim zawarte nie lamia w żaden spos!b prawa polskiego. Wszystkie zdjęcia użyte w aukcji są wyłącznie mojego autorstwa!
Nie korzystam z cudzych prac!
Cały materiał aukcji oraz kursu jest chroniony prawem, wszelkie pr!by kopiowania, zapożyczania, cytowania, odsprzedaży zabronione!!!!!"

Simply translated as "I am the sole author/owner of the films, materials in the films and I don't break any Polish laws. All images used in the auctions are strictly mine. I don't use other peoples' work! All auction material and course material is protected by law, copyright and cannot be resold!!!!!" - which is obviously not true, since my face is slap bang in the middle.

I'm the 9th (I think) photograph down on the main listing (I'm the girl with a flower in my hair, with an eyeshadow brush in at my eye) my image is used (along with at least 1 other YouTuber's images, that I recognise). Now, I don't know if my videos/images are used on the DVD itself - I haven't bought one, I don't want this person to have my address - but I am being used in the auction, which I object to.

I've written twice to Allegro, and multiple times (in English and Polish) to the person selling the DVDs, plus I've contacted the other person I know who's image has been used (the photo of eyes just before my own image). Allegro told me uninterestedly that I could take the matter to court and that they don't take sides. The seller has ignored all mail, and the other YouTuber (the photo of the eyes) got angry but didn't know what to do and hasn't made any effort.

This person has sold 28 DVD's so far (that I can see - I don't know how far back the history goes) and has made over Polish 1000zl - over £200.

I really don't know what to do anymore - more emails to Allegro will follow, because they know that someone is selling my work illegally so therefore I see them as an accomplice - but what else can I do?

I know its tough because its in Poland, but surely EU must cover this? Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks for reading this far if you have!

Crazy_Jamie

The most obvious course of action is to make an application for an injunction against the person selling the DVD and/or Allegro itself. Clearly the injunction against the person would be to prevent them using your work and your image, whilst the injunction against Allegro would both to take current auctions down and to prevent auctions from that person being put up in future. Clearly the person themselves should be the primary target in such an action.

However, be warned that this is a complex and somewhat specialist area of law. I am far from fully up to speed in it, but what you would be looking at is called a cross border injunction. Essentially that means that a court in the UK would place an injunction on a person that would have an effect in another EU country. Unfortunately however, the cases of GAT v LuK and Roche v Primus pretty much eliminated cross border injunctions within the EU as far as I am aware, and if that is still the case (the Netherlands have shirked that law, but they were always very keen on cross border injunctions; the UK never really has been) then you will need to pursue the matter through the Polish courts, which clearly will be both time consuming and expensive.

If you do wish to go ahead with this, the only option is to seek advice from a solicitor who is a specialist in this field. Certainly my knowledge may be out of date, but in any event you're not going to be able to progress this matter through advice on an online forum.

unholyangel

You could always contact the website the pictures are hosted (right click, copy image location) and ask them to delete them. Just a thought

Crazy_Jamie

Just to put a bit of a side note to go with my first post, but clearly that advice was in relation to the legal route (as you did mention court in your title). Obviously it is better for both your time and your wallet to approach both the person and the website first to try to resolve this without the need for legal advice.

unholyangel wrote:

You could always contact the website the pictures are hosted (right click, copy image location) and ask them to delete them. Just a thought

A good thought, though if Allegro is like Ebay then there is a decent chance that it hosts the images itself within the auctions.

PolishBigSpender

kat5 - send me a private message on here - I can help you out. If you can write me the private message in Polish, I'll be more than happy to help you. I can't say publicly how I can help, but - let's just say I can

unholyangel

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

kat5 - send me a private message on here - I can help you out. If you can write me the private message in Polish, I'll be more than happy to help you. I can't say publicly how I can help, but - let's just say I can

private knee capping service? :shocked:

kat5

unholyangel wrote: »

You could always contact the website the pictures are hosted (right click, copy image location) and ask them to delete them. Just a thought

thats a good idea actually - i tried it and unfortunately the images are held on a blog page, but this has given me another nickname this person uses online, to try and find out more about this "company". thanks!

kat5

Crazy_Jamie wrote: »

The most obvious course of action is to make an application for an injunction against the person selling the DVD and/or Allegro itself. Clearly the injunction against the person would be to prevent them using your work and your image, whilst the injunction against Allegro would both to take current auctions down and to prevent auctions from that person being put up in future. Clearly the person themselves should be the primary target in such an action.

However, be warned that this is a complex and somewhat specialist area of law. I am far from fully up to speed in it, but what you would be looking at is called a cross border injunction. Essentially that means that a court in the UK would place an injunction on a person that would have an effect in another EU country. Unfortunately however, the cases of GAT v LuK and Roche v Primus pretty much eliminated cross border injunctions within the EU as far as I am aware, and if that is still the case (the Netherlands have shirked that law, but they were always very keen on cross border injunctions; the UK never really has been) then you will need to pursue the matter through the Polish courts, which clearly will be both time consuming and expensive.

If you do wish to go ahead with this, the only option is to seek advice from a solicitor who is a specialist in this field. Certainly my knowledge may be out of date, but in any event you're not going to be able to progress this matter through advice on an online forum.

Thank you - at least with the term "cross border injunction" I have a starting point. I think I'm going to have to find a solicitor - further digging around on Allegro shows me this "company" have at least one other account on Allegro, selling more DVDs, which cost up to 4 times as much as the original one.

Despite MSE/online forums not being judge, jury and executioner, its still nice to get advice from people, I'm really grateful for you advice

unholyangel

I think if we were judge jury and executioner, the world would be strangely void of of companies and people :rotfl:

kat5

Crazy_Jamie wrote: »

Just to put a bit of a side note to go with my first post, but clearly that advice was in relation to the legal route (as you did mention court in your title). Obviously it is better for both your time and your wallet to approach both the person and the website first to try to resolve this without the need for legal advice.

A good thought, though if Allegro is like Ebay then there is a decent chance that it hosts the images itself within the auctions.

Unfortunately the images are hosted on a blog as part of a Polish website (similar to MSN - a news/celebrity/social type site). Also, the website isn't willing to help and the person has ignored all contact.

kat5

unholyangel wrote: »

I think if we were judge jury and executioner, the world would be strangely void of of companies and people :rotfl:

What a nice place it would be though