KVR Audio

classic · Post by **classic** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 7:20 pm

May be someone has an idea.

I loaded down a picture out of the web. Changed it in some ways and used it as cover for a sound set.
The owner or creator of the picture found it and now wrote me a mail.

I have to pay 500 Euro or he goes to the police or the court against me.

What would be the normal way?

I thought normally in a situation like this, the owner of the rights goes to a lawyer and he writes a warning
and then if you care about the warning you correct your mistake and pay the lawyer.

Now I deleted the picture of course.

What now?

Cheers
classic

elassi · Post by **elassi** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 7:41 pm

I'm not a lawyer but I think your assumption is right. But it becomes difficult if you already made some cash (turnover) with your product.

Did you try to "dampen" him about his request by assuring to delete the pic and/or publish a message tellin' about the copyright?

classic · Post by **classic** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 7:43 pm

I got the message today and wanted to find out here and else where what to do.
I will talk with him of course.

Thanks
classic

ZINO · Post by **ZINO** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 7:46 pm

You either come to a settlement before going to to court or he files a lawsuit and then its whatever the court decides (or he is just threatening you for easy money and he won't do anything eventually)....

elassi · Post by **elassi** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 7:48 pm

If you're residing in a foreign country (read: outside Germany) it'll cause him lots of efforts/costs to sue you for those 'peanuts'.

As you "tilted" the evidence it'll be even more difficult for him.

OTH, if he's a renowned artist it can break your bank account. But I don't think so because mentioning the police tells me that he has no clue what he's talking about...

fluffy_little_something · Mon Sep 22, 2014 7:50 pm

Seems you did not change it enough

Is it so easily recognizable? Have you admitted to having used his image?
If so, tell him how great it is and simply ask him if you may continue to use it, maybe give him a euro for every copy sold.

When he asks you to pay 500 euros or he will go to the police, that sounds like blackmail to me, also a crime if I am not mistaken.

Modern Germany is a terrible country in that respect, there are lawyers who have specialized on threatening people over supposed copyright infringement. They do nothing else because it is a lucrative business. Most people simply pay as soon as they get a letter from a lawyer.

Youtube Germany is also kind of useless as a whole lot of videos are blocked.

I guess sooner or later that will backfire on Germany's art scene, maybe it already has.

classic · Post by **classic** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 7:58 pm

I will talk to him and see what kind of man he is.

You are right.
You Tube has its benefits and all the shit after the benefits.

valerian_777 · Post by **valerian_777** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 8:06 pm

No, 500€ is a common sum in germany for such kind of infringement.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 8:14 pm

fluffy_little_something wrote: Youtube Germany is also kind of useless as a whole lot of videos are blocked.

I guess sooner or later that will backfire on Germany's art scene, maybe it already has.

Actually the GEMA is an organization brought to life to protect artists rights. Wonder how it should backfire on germans art scene then, when it actually benefits from it. Just because other countries decide to let anarchy reign in terms of copyright on Youtube doesn't mean that that is a desirable thing.

And yes, it also pisses me off that i can't watch those vids, but it's also off pissing that there's loads of people who don't give a piss on copyrights.

fluffy_little_something · Mon Sep 22, 2014 8:21 pm

The audio quality on YT is usually not good enough for people to spread songs that way. So what happens is that either Germans watch a video or they don't, both without any impact on sales.

valerian_777 · Post by **valerian_777** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 8:23 pm

chk071 wrote:
fluffy_little_something wrote: Youtube Germany is also kind of useless as a whole lot of videos are blocked.

I guess sooner or later that will backfire on Germany's art scene, maybe it already has.
Actually the GEMA is an organization brought to life to protect artists rights. Wonder how it should backfire on germans art scene then, when it actually benefits from it. Just because other countries decide to let anarchy reign in terms of copyright on Youtube doesn't mean that that is a desirable thing.

True, OTOT it is only a lame try from Youtube to put the GEMA into a bad light (Youtube block many videos by themself which nobody asked for). The only crime was that the GEMA wanted more money from them for the artists so do your homework before you start to talk about such things.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 8:33 pm

fluffy_little_something wrote:The audio quality on YT is usually not good enough for people to spread songs that way. So what happens is that either Germans watch a video or they don't, both without any impact on sales.

The thing is that the marketing of the track or the artist should be in the hands of the copyright holder, or the artist, not in any random persons hand.

fluffy_little_something · Mon Sep 22, 2014 8:41 pm

chk071 wrote:
fluffy_little_something wrote:The audio quality on YT is usually not good enough for people to spread songs that way. So what happens is that either Germans watch a video or they don't, both without any impact on sales.
The thing is that the marketing of the track or the artist should be in the hands of the copyright holder, or the artist, not in any random persons hand.

At the end of the day, what is the purpose of marketing? To increase sales. I have bought several songs on legal download sites only after I first heard them on YT. Without YT the record companies and artists would have sold less than with YT.

And real criminals don't need YT, anyway.

But we are a bit off-topic, although it is interesting

Are there any rules on whether or not one can reuse someone else's images after changing them? There are such rules for recycling songs or melodies if I am not mistaken.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 8:48 pm

I would also try and contact the guy, and see if that comes to a conclusion. Not cool to just try and demand 500 €.

elassi · Post by **elassi** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 8:49 pm

fluffy_little_something wrote:Are there any rules on whether or not one can reuse someone else's images after changing them? There are such rules for recycling songs or melodies if I am not mistaken.

I'd say that no respectful artist (be it a musician, photographer or whatever) should walk that route.

When it comes to album/soundset covers, there are trillions of possibilities to find art for free plus making a nice contact. If one searches deviantart (for example) for art from unknown artists I bet everyone will find suitable work for any need without paying a penny.

A legal question for german friends