I 'sold' my story to Caters, but I've received nothing!

lauraerose

This is my first post and I'm hoping there's someone that can give me some advice!

I recently 'sold' my story to a press agency called Caters with the understanding that I would be paid. This was 6 weeks ago and I haven't received anything. They sent a photographer to my house and have copyrighted these photos which have been published worldwide. They sent me a contract AFTER these had all been published, saying that they'd pay for magazine articles. I didn't sign this.

They also sold it to one magazine for £100 which was said to be the 'absolute minimum' I would receive. They advertise all over their website that they pay a fee for all publications.

When I contacted them, they said that they didn't realise I wanted to be paid. I've spoken to a few others who have also had some dodgy dealings with them and not ben paid either.

So, my question is do I have a case here? If so, what am I entitled to?

Thank you!

paddyrg

Without seeing the contract terms, what can any of us say? Sounds like you were naive, for sure, but your life story may or may not have any value - and anyway you don't own exclusive rights to your own life story.

You DO own the rights to the EXPRESSION of the story, however, so if their article was a near-verbatim repetition of your telling, you may have an angle.

Calculate what you think you're owed, and threaten to sue them for it. Be reasonable, if they've made £100, then you're looking at not a lot. If they had made £100k, you'd want to find a great lawyer, but for now I guess small claims court. Make it clear that *OF COURSE* you wanted to be paid, and certainly did nothing to suggest otherwise, including agreeing to being paid!

lauraerose

hey thanks for replying. the contract only talked about not talking to other press agencies and said they'd pay a fee if it got into a magazine. no specifics

The articles all included direct quotes from interviews I'd given and I provided some of my own photos as well as the ones i had taken by a photographer.

I'm not sure what they made from it but it was in around 20 publications worldwide

paddyrg

lauraerose wrote: »

hey thanks for replying. the contract only talked about not talking to other press agencies and said they'd pay a fee if it got into a magazine. no specifics

The articles all included direct quotes from interviews I'd given and I provided some of my own photos as well as the ones I had taken by a photographer.

I'm not sure what they made from it but it was in around 20 publications worldwide

Couple of important points here (bearing in mind I'm not a lawyer, and this is a specialist area) -

The contract CANNOT be a unilateral constraint upon you, a contract is an EXCHANGE therefore without a CONSIDERATION (what they give you in return), it is not a contract.

Quotes from interviews are almost certainly fair dealing/fair use, so probably not the direction to go

They used photos YOU took - paydirt. This is your ace card, provided you can prove that you took them and have not licensed them to the agency. Find evidence of them being used in those 20-odd publications, and tell the agency who'll know the game is up, they will know full well they are in a ropey position. Be clear with what you want (maybe £50 for each instance where a publication used one of your photos? Seems reasonable-ish), list where and when they did (plus the fee applying to any further instances you didn't discover but which they sold), and give them a chance to settle before you start court action. Just one chance. After that you could look to small claims court (pretty cut and dried and they'll know it), or see if you can find an IP lawyer who fancies it (which will terrify them as the fees will be high).

My musings, anyway - see if anyone else weighs in

Chucky1234

Excellent advice above, I'd do exactly the same thing.

lauraerose

They asked me to send them these photos over email, does this mean i have licensed them to use them for free?

paddyrg

lauraerose wrote: »

They asked me to send them these photos over email, does this mean i have licensed them to use them for free?

No. Not unless you said you were doing so.

I clearly have not seen the email thread between both parties, but going on what you've said, no. Put the onus on them to prove the images were licenced.

Do you have any email discussion of payment, any at all? Great if you have - if they refer to emails trying to claim you waived rights/whatever you have them on the spot ;-)

Marktheshark

RichardAshmore@catersnews.com

Go straight to the top.

lauraerose

theyve got back to me on this issue finally. is it fair for them to take a 40% cut of the photo fee? And should this vary per publication?

paddyrg

lauraerose wrote: »

theyve got back to me on this issue finally. is it fair for them to take a 40% cut of the photo fee? And should this vary per publication?

Hooray - now you're just discussing percentages. 40% might be high, but fact is you would have £0 if they didn't a act to sell the pics/story.

If you think a lower commission is fairer, press for it, they're over a bit of a barrel BUT you do want them to keep selling the story/pics, so you want them to keep incentivised... It's your shout from here in terms of what you think is 'right'

[Deleted User]

There are some guides online re photo licensing. Perhaps if you google photo licensing fees you'll find something that will help.