{"id":1284,"date":"2014-09-29T06:30:18","date_gmt":"2014-09-29T10:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/?p=1284"},"modified":"2015-06-18T16:22:27","modified_gmt":"2015-06-18T20:22:27","slug":"lies-damned-lies-and-statistics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/?p=1284","title":{"rendered":"Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a famous quote attributed to Mark Twain, who in turn erroneously attributed it himself to Benjamin Disraeli, which has been used by many,\u00a0 and is absolutely one of our favorites. It goes: \u201cThere are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This will be a blog article on statistics.<\/p>\n

Some in the creative industry have lately cited\u00a0to the American Intellectual Property Law Association\u2019s 2013 Annual Report of the Economic Survey.\u00a0 The survey\u00a0claims<\/em>\u00a0that the average “cost of a copyright claim\u00a0through trial\u00a0<\/strong>ranged from\u00a0$373,000 to $2.1 million<\/strong><\/a>“. The key words being \u201cthrough trial\u201d. This factoid has been cited for the proposition that photographers ought enlist the services of for-profit businesses that purport to police copyright infringements and recover money for photographers whose images have been infringed.<\/p>\n

The reference and the figures, to be diplomatic, are not applicable to at least 99.999% of all situations where an infringement of a registered photo is alleged.\u00a0 Throwing these absurd numbers at creatives serves to\u00a0dissuade\u00a0them from bringing such actions and\/or select a company to pursue their\u00a0rights. They throw these statistics out because it sticks and it works. \u00a0Let’s dissect and go beyond these statistics for a moment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1.) \u00a095%, or more, of all claims for photographic infringements are settled or withdrawn prior to the filing of any court action.<\/p>\n

2.)\u00a0 95%, or more, of all filed lawsuits of whatever kind are settled or discontinued before a trial is commenced.<\/p>\n

3.)\u00a0 The statistics – if accurate – include legal fees for mega copyright cases brought by large corporations frequently against other large corporations.<\/p>\n

4.)\u00a0 Ed’s office has been involved in one capacity or another with several thousand photo\/illustration copyright claims over the years in NY, CA, Fl., TX, NJ, MA and elsewhere.\u00a0 In no case did the author’s “costs” remotely approach $400,000 in a copyright case. \u00a0A Rolls Royce may have a sticker price of $350,000 while a Honda Civic goes for $25,500. Does that mean that new cars\u00a0generally<\/em>\u00a0go for about $350k?<\/p>\n

5.)\u00a0 Ed did a mini analysis and review of the over 100 cases he has handled personally in just the NY Federal Courts alone.\u00a0Other attorneys in his office have litigated still more.\u00a0 None could cite a single instance of a photographer or illustrator incurring such fees as the report claims. Good cases get settled; larger legal fees are incurred in questionable cases especially\u00a0if the claim is not a valid one. In such case the other side will likely not settle and the legal work increases thereby.<\/em><\/p>\n

6.)\u00a0 If the author’s work is timely registered and he\/she prevails in the action, reasonable attorneys fees and\/or actual attorneys fees are recoverable by the author and commonly awarded by the court.<\/p>\n

7.)\u00a0 Stories of copyright claims gone bad or unresolved written by photographers or illustrators\u00a0who did not retain legal counsel<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0should be taken with a salt mine.\u00a0 Our wives wish we had a dollar for every tale of woe authored by a photographer who was ripped off and received nothing but a threatening lawyer’s letter from the infringer.\u00a0 It is frankly, incredibly naive to think that \u00a0because an artist sends a letter (regardless of its contents) to an infringer’s attorney that an apology, credit and good money will come from that lawyer whose client has already\u00a0stolen the subject work? \u00a0<\/em>Artists think they will make an infringer feel guilty. Guess what? They will never feel guilty about stealing your work. To them it\u2019s business.<\/p>\n

8.)\u00a0 Lawyers send letters to creatives which are calculated to scare and intimidate the artist. Such letters are sent because they are effective. Newsflash! Creatives tend to avoid conflict and scare easily.\u00a0 An attorney representing an infringer knows that he\/she can send a photographer\/non-lawyer just about anything on legal stationery and the photographer will believe its contents, then bitch to his\/her brethren about “getting screwed” and then\u00a0go away.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Fear of fight causes flight.<\/p>\n

It is the lawyer’s job <\/em>to make you go away and protect his client’s money. \u00a0(See our Head Fakes<\/em> article here<\/a>).\u00a0<\/em> It is ironic that photographers who bemoan the loss of work owing to jobs shot by amateurs elect not to consult\u00a0a professional when their work is infringed.<\/p>\n

9.)\u00a0 It is our experience that companies who purport to chase infringers employ non-lawyers who have no experience or concept of what actually goes on in Federal Court.\u00a0 They settle cases at amounts that have no bearing to what such actions would likely settle for in front of a judge or magistrate.\u00a0 Having non-credentialed, unknown persons who collect a percentage of any recovery handle legal matters where potential recoveries to the artist can exceed six figures, is about as logical as having a layperson\u00a0do your next root canal.<\/p>\n

10.)\u00a0 Anecdotally and based on the reports of dozens of photographers who have used these services, we can tell you that the photographers would have been financially far better off had they simply hired a competent copyright attorney.When a lawyer represents an infringer and the author is represented by one of these companies, a competent lawyer will want to drag the matter out and force the company to do as much work as possible.\u00a0 Such companies do not like to pay attorneys or spend lots of time when they can settle out quickly.\u00a0 A simple fact of life.\u00a0 In the legal biz they are called “pioneers” – meaning early settlers.\u00a0 Ask for the names of any\/all cases such businesses have taken to trial.<\/p>\n

11.)\u00a0 Agents, stock agencies and others want your claims because pursuing them is profitable.\u00a0 Some photographers make more money pursuing copyright claims than they generate via licensing and assignment work combined.\u00a0 Stock agencies who pursue infringements of registered work make many times the “regular”\u00a0licensing\u00a0fee for the work by asserting claims in\u00a0infringement. Ed represents many a photographer who license his\/her stock directly. Recoveries\/settlements\u00a0always<\/em>\u00a0exceed the sum the image would have been licensed for if the infringer had obtained a legitimate license from the agency or photographer. Any competent copyright attorney should have a similar track record.<\/p>\n

As we have written many, many times – never, never assign the right to pursue your copyright action to a stock agency, agent or any company purportedly “set up” to do this work.\u00a0 If solicited by any of such company ask them to provide you with a list of employees and their qualifications to handle your case. Request\u00a0especially<\/em>\u00a0the names of any filed copyright cases where the employee\/lawyer who is going to handle your case has actually appeared in court. The names of cases and attorneys in the Federal Courts are a public record.\u00a0 Any refusal to provide such information tells you all you need to know.<\/p>\n

12.)\u00a0 A last issue to be aware of with stock agencies, is if the infringer is a regular client of theirs, they tend to not be as interested in getting you as much as possible. Their client\u2019s check for images is more valuable to them than your supplied photographs. We know of one photographer who came to Ed with a case possibly be worth 5 to 6<\/strong> figures. But by contract, his stock agency retained the right to pursue the infringement. He could not pursue the matter himself. They \u201csettled\u201d with their client\/infringer and the net settlement check the photographer got was for less<\/em> than $100 (that\u2019s 2 to 3 figures for those counting).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When you need a dentist you go to a dentist.\u00a0 When you need a lawyer you go to a lawyer.\u00a0 If your copyright has been infringed you need to see a lawyer. There are no substitutions on this menu. Copyright enforcement is not a subject for DIY.<\/p>\n

Register your images and you get attorney fees if you prevail.\u00a0The statistics quoted at the top of $373,000 to $2.1 million are used to scare photographers into giving up their rights to pursue these cases and handing them over to companies who profit. The numbers are intimidating and misleading.\u00a0 It includes ALL copyright cases, assumes a trial to a conclusion and includes things that are not “legal fees”. Your mileage may very well vary. A lot.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a famous quote attributed to Mark Twain, who in turn erroneously attributed it himself to Benjamin Disraeli, which has been used by many,\u00a0 and is absolutely one of our favorites. It goes: \u201cThere are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”\u00a0 This will be a blog article on statistics. Some in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[151,1,3,7,15,5,21,20],"tags":[346,141,347,344,349,348,345],"class_list":["post-1284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-be-aware","category-copyright-info","category-copyright-registration","category-giving-it-away","category-legal","category-paperwork","category-stock-photography","category-stuff-you-should-know","tag-american-intellectual-property-law-association","tag-copyright-registration-2","tag-economic-survey","tag-infringements","tag-mark-twain","tag-statistics","tag-stock-agencies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1284"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1291,"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1284\/revisions\/1291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}