I was just watching at a national broadcast when I saw a 3D animation using one of my textures ( Jeff )... No authorization, no credit, no money, nothing... and they have always been forbidden to commercial use ! Wow, I could have been happy to have my work seen by many, but with no credit... Even society which got a lot of money do that ?! I should say: espeially those societies :) Well, I won't let them do. They just got to ask first, nothing really hard, and I may even grant them right to do it at no charge, but now... joelegecko

Sorry to hear that, unfortunately this seems to be the way of things lately and I kind of despair that it will get worse before it gets better. Some people just can't grasp common courtesy and only think of "me me me me, now now I want..." :( If you can confirm that it was your texture being used you could try contacting the broadcasting company and having a moan at them about what's happened and stating that you are not happy that such a thing was done and are considering taking legal action. They'll probably try to weedle out of it but might give you the information you need to chase this, or offer you some sort of compensation.

My sympathies, Joe. I'd follow the advice given above. Just by contacting the broadcasting company you let'em know that they've been part of something that's technically criminal. Now, you may not get the offender's identity, to say nothing of compensation, but I still think you make'em think twice before dealing with that 'society' again. And if they want to have future anims aired, they just might wake up to the fact that contacting you would be the smart thing to do.

Hey Joe I agree with the above there is a saying "The squeaky wheel gets the grease." It is a shame that you even have to speak up in the first place, but I hope you are not going to suffer this silently. I sure hope some lawyer is watching these posts and will step forward to advise you on this matter.

Oh man. You deserve a break from that kind of crap. I'm sitting here with my head in my hands. This just makes me sick. I think this rises to the level of legal action big time.

Send them a bill for commercial usage of your property detailing the program, broadcast date and time. That should get their attention.

It has been my experience from working in print journalism that big companies don't give a sh*t about small guys whose copyright has been infringed. Newspapers do it all the time and only respond to a professional, no-nonsense, tough-guy approach.

If they fail to pay up you can then get them on a number of fronts. They know that and are more likely to take you seriously.

Be very professional in your letter. CC it to the editor and producer of the program and the Station's financial controller and legal department.

Explain that your copyright has been infringed; include the copyright notice that was posted with your texture. Ask for retrospective payment for the commercial use of your texture in this broadcast and give them terms and costs for the use of your texture in repeat broadcasts or further commercial distribution of their broadcast.

Give them a reasonable but set date for receipt of payment. If they don't pay up or agree to your terms you can then write them a nastier letter threatening to put the matter in your lawyers hands with instructions to pursue the matter for full recovery of your fee, punitive or exemplary damages and legal costs. That will certainly get their attention and if they ignore that a judge will hammer them if he finds against them.

Register or send all correspondence by recorded mail (or whatever its' equivalent is where you live). Keep very good records of all correspondence. Do not get involved in telephone conversations about it with them, keep it to print.

PS Before you do any of this try and get a copy video of the broadcast as evidence, ring up and say its for educational purposes or something like that. You may have to pay for this.

Hope this helps.

Good Luck!
STORM

Payment or not, receiving credit is important if you are at all interested in working professionally. Of course, if you tape or get a copy of the ad, program or whatever it is, and are sure it's your texture or based on your texture, add it to your credits anyway. Good luck, Joe.

Thanks for your support ! I've started negociations with them, and I won't be the "cool Joe" this time... Storm, thanks for all your help. I just wish they'll be smart enough to not turn me berzerk :) Gryffnn, you're right, I will add it to my credits. Anyway, I found a copy of the sequence on their site, so I got a clue... thanks joelegecko

Good luck with it and I hope it all gets cleared up Joe.

I agree with Ghost, good luck Joe, here's hoping it gets sorted out.