Seraph Nearly Gets Sued. Again. (How Many Times Is This Now?)

[Sapphire Silk]

I saw a lawyer say (on another site relating to RIAA misdemeanours) that writing a letter demanding money and threatening legal action is effectively practicing law. In most states, you have to be registered with the State Bar Association and licensed to practice law. it's worth checking whether the person who signs any such letter is registered and licensed - if not they are probably committing a felony. Maybe another way to get them off your back?

Just saying - and I Am Not A Lawyer.

I think that lawyer is FOS. Whenever I've talked to a lawyer, sending a demand letter is often one of the first steps I've been advised to do.

[Dadeo]

Wifeo's company got sued a couple years ago for using a photo of a model that they actually had rights to. The picture was purchased for the duration of the campaign but when the new campaign went up, one of the client's stores (a national chain) just put the new poster up over the old one and after that one was over - they were both time limited offers - they pulled it down leaving the first one up. The model happened to be in that particular store and demanded $15k in compensation. She won (WTF?) but the letter that accompanied her cheque made it clear that she would no longer be considered for any work in Wifeo's company (a worldwide agency) which, over time, would have been quite a lot more than that. And since it's a fairly close community, the word went out pretty quickly as to what a bitch she was. I doubt she'll see much work for a while.

[wolfie]

Wifeo's company got sued a couple years ago for using a photo of a model that they actually had rights to. The picture was purchased for the duration of the campaign but when the new campaign went up, one of the client's stores (a national chain) just put the new poster up over the old one and after that one was over

Is your wife associated with the store that had the advertising campaign, or with the ad agency that hired the model? Good on them refusing to hire the bitch (after all, it sounds like a limited-duration advertising campaign, and an honest mistake of failing to take out ALL of the expired posters - $15k is WAY too much for the model to be awarded, probably more than she had been paid for the use of her photo in the advertising campaign). If your wife is associated with the store, I wouldn't blame them for telling any advertising agencies "You can work with us OR you can work with that model".

A legitimate response on the part of the model would have been to ask an employee to get a manager, tell the manager "Your store purchased the rights to use my photo for a limited period, which ended on $date, but I see that it's still there. For legal reasons, I need to protect my image, but since it's probably a case of somebody forgetting to take down an old poster, I won't officially notice it TODAY, but I'll be back TOMORROW." Give them a chance to fix an honest mistake (sounds like the store was in the model's home town, and she obviously hadn't seen the poster when subsequent ones were put into the holder in front of it), but let them know that if they're trying to pull a fast one they'll have to answer for it.

[AngloSaxonViking]

I think that lawyer is FOS. Whenever I've talked to a lawyer, sending a demand letter is often one of the first steps I've been advised to do.

You don't get it - in some states, such a letter has to be signed by a lawyer.

Oh, just by the way, in the original case the judge agreed and threw the case out.

[Dadeo]

Is your wife associated with the store that had the advertising campaign, or with the ad agency that hired the model?

She works with the agency which is quite large and has friends in pretty much every other agency. The moral of this story is don't bite the hand that feeds you and knows all the other hands because they might all bitch-slap you.

We all know that if people were reasonable, this site wouldn't exist. And I would be sad.

[wolfie]

She works with the agency which is quite large and has friends in pretty much every other agency. The moral of this story is don't bite the hand that feeds you and knows all the other hands because they might all bitch-slap you.

We all know that if people were reasonable, this site wouldn't exist. And I would be sad.

In other words, your wife's employer took the pictures, made up the posters, and delivered them to their client (the store). Having the poster up after the contracted time was caused by the store's employees (i.e. someone your wife's employer had no control over), but the model sued your wife's employer, rather than the store which had (most likely, unintentionally) used the poster after the end date? Glad to hear that the model wound up on the "do not hire" list over this.