# employee left the company and is using photos of our projects



## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

jawtrs said:


> I don't pretend to be a student of the law, but I just don't see how it could be legal to create literature using pics of a project you weren't contracted to do. Saying you were, I would believe is illegal. Get the HO involved and get them to ask him to take down the pics.
> 
> If your from a small town it won't take long for everyone to know he's a fraud and a liar, thus he will go out of business and end up working at the local grocery store.


It's not what *I* say. It's what the *US Copyright laws* say. If he took them on his own time, the photos are his. You may not agree, but that's the way it is.

Now, as for him presenting the work as 'his own': well, he did the work, didn't he?

If nothing else, send a letter to his website host.


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## summithomeinc (Jan 3, 2011)

jawtrs said:


> Only a scum bag would take credit for work he didn't do.


Absolutely


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## Integritybd (Dec 8, 2010)

I think I'll talk to him and tell him that he needs to only show photos of the stone work, or give explicit credit to my business for the design and the entire project itself. If he doesn't agree, I'll take it further and have a lawyer write a letter, but I hope he'll think that will be a good situation for him.


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## Diablo View (Apr 10, 2011)

jawtrs said:


> Get the HO involved and get them to ask him to take down the pics.
> .


The last thing I would do is get a HO involved,but everyone does things different.


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## summithomeinc (Jan 3, 2011)

Integritybd said:


> I think I'll talk to him and tell him that he needs to only show photos of the stone work, or give explicit credit to my business for the design and the entire project itself. If he doesn't agree, I'll take it further and have a lawyer write a letter, but I hope he'll think that will be a good situation for him.


IMHO the best thing to do. Try man to man or to be PC person to person communication. Alot of people respect that. Too many people are too quick to get police, lawyers, etc. involved when possibly a simple phone call would have done the trick.


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## Integritybd (Dec 8, 2010)

We'll see how it goes!


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## Jaws (Dec 20, 2010)

Diablo View said:


> The last thing I would do is get a HO involved,but everyone does things different.


 Actually, your absolutley right. That was a very rash statement, that couldnt be any good for you.

It sounds like 480 knows what he's talking about. Like I said, if he is willing to name you as the GC, and just take credit for his own work, I think that is fair. 

If the law states that you can use pics of other peoples work legally, just because you took the pics, that is some BS.


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## summithomeinc (Jan 3, 2011)

Integritybd said:


> We'll see how it goes!


Good luck, Let us know the outcome.


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## svronthmve (Aug 3, 2008)

Metro M & L said:


> At the end of the day you'll sleep better and be happier being inclusive (keeping your friends and sharing your knowledge) than being exclusive (excluding people and hoarding your knowledge).


Hold your friends close, and your enemies closer......


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## Fence & Deck (Jan 23, 2006)

The exact same thing happened to me; not once, but 3 times. I found out at the time because a client looking at my album commented that he'd seen some of my pictures before. I called up the company and they very politely destroyed their copies. Another argued and dared me to take them to court. They went under 3 months later. 
The third dragged on for a year or so, then closed up.
The polite one is still around, and we're cordial.


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## fireguy (Oct 29, 2006)

Can you watermark your pictures. 

http://www.bryanexhaust.com/photos_fan.html

Matt has had his pictures stolen and passed off all over the world as someone else's work.


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

fireguy said:


> Can you watermark your pictures.
> 
> http://www.bryanexhaust.com/photos_fan.html
> 
> Matt has had his pictures stolen and passed off all over the world as someone else's work.




If he could watermark them like that, it's obvious they would be his and proving infringement would be a cakewalk.


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## MALCO.New.York (Feb 27, 2008)

Welcome to Attorney Talk .Com


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## thom (Nov 3, 2006)

I agree with 480, you probably don't own the pictures.

The issue is how he is representing the pictures and his work. If he is indicating the design is his, you may have a case. If he is indicating that work he was involved in doing was done by him, he's fine. 

I take pictures of my houses. I tell people I built them but in reality I used subs and employees, I did only a little. The cabinets look nice but I didn't build them. When I've done work with custom cabinetry I've not had a problem with the cabinetmaker taking pictures of the finished cabinetry or kitchen and using them to market his work. They were his work, they were my work too. 

Attacking him may damage you more than it will help. If a potential client ever asks just respond with something like "yea, he was working for me at the time, he's a great mason, almost as good as the one I have working for me now." then let it go.


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## Pearce Services (Nov 21, 2005)

I agree with Metro...

You could take it one step further, Let him keep the pics up, give him a testimonial that says something like this....

As a former employee, I had _Benedict_ run the masonry portion of this project, His work was excellent, and was a great compliment to the overall project. We look forward to using _Arnold Masonry_ as a subcontractor on future projects, 

Joe Contractor
Integrity Builders
Chattanooga TN


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## Tom R (Jun 1, 2004)

Metro M & L said:


> You could look at the former employee as an enemy and competitor or as an asset.
> 
> If you were on ok terms when he left I would let him take credit for work that he did; perhaps ask him to give you credit on his website "Project overseen by XYZ Construction, framing by Mark Walters, painting by Jorge Jimenez etc..." Gets you mentioned on another sites meta tags if the info is in the pic description.
> 
> ...



Couldn't agree more, - - a guy who worked for me several years back went into his own business, - - and I not only 'allowed' him to use the photos of the jobs he worked with me on, - - I personally installed them on his website for him. :thumbsup:


.


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## NYCB (Sep 20, 2010)

I worked at a company a few years ago and we had to sign a very well worded separate agreement stating that anything created by me, while in the employ of them would belong to them, that included jobsite pictures.

A very good idea in my opinion because they hired some of the best guys in the area and did really premium work.

I have worked for another guy though that encouraged me to use pictures from his jobs. I still don't but I have them if a customer wants to reference them. 

If I ever were to use them though I would put a footnote like *Job completed in conjunction with Golicki Masonry. Or something to that end.


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## KAP (Feb 19, 2011)

I've got mixed feelings on this one... While I agree with others, a slight tap on the head with a padded mallet is in order, and you can keep him as a resource, the only problem is if he is using the pics to portray more than he did.

Like others, I've helped guys go out on their own, and let them use some of our pics, but in doing so, we limited the pics to the work he did for liability reasons. 

Don't want it coming back to him being in a jam and pointing the finger in our direction. You need to be in the position of being able to say, yeah, he did the masonry, but I don't know why he was showing you pics of the cabinets...

We would just give him a CD, a printout and had him sign a release with the pics as part of the doc. But then again, that was with the respect of asking... 


In reality, the chances of these pics showing up in front of you when you are selling the job are almost nil, and even if they did, it's easily explained away, as YOU are the one with the contract that are tied to the pics, remember? Puts you on the high-ground either way...

I'd err on the side of helping a new entrepreneur... after a couple jobs, he's going to be using his own pics for ego's sake and it will become a mute issue...

Best of luck... 8^)


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## Jaws (Dec 20, 2010)

thom said:


> I agree with 480, you probably don't own the pictures.
> 
> The issue is how he is representing the pictures and his work. If he is indicating the design is his, you may have a case. If he is indicating that work he was involved in doing was done by him, he's fine.
> 
> ...



Smart words right there. :thumbsup:


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## annstar (Aug 9, 2011)

I haven't faced a situation like this myself but I definitely think it would be a fairly straight foward to deal with.

In terms of copyright law that 480Sparky mentioned, he is correct. So if it was within his job role to take the photos, they legally belong to you and you have a case. If they're his private photos, there's not much you can do. It's like someone taking a picture of the eiffel tower and posting it to their facebook.

However, I agree with some of the other users, as he is just starting up, there's probably not much need to start involving bigtime lawyers as he won't have too much to give you. I'd just speak to him personally, or write to him and explain the situation. But definitely let him know that you'd be looking to take it further if he doesn't cooperate.


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