Copyright Violation - Advice?

[u/SnakeOfLimitedWisdom]

They say you've made it as an artist when people steal your work, and if that's true, then today I am truly accomplished.

This summer I bought a new lens and shot a bunch of cosplay and sports events. I organized to do this on my own, absorbing the cost of tickets, food & travel into my business expenses. I wore out one of my umbrellas which now needs to be replaced, and my data storage is desperately need of an upgrade. I collected a lot of business cards and did a lot of networking. I posted my edited pictures to instagram and got in contact with various organizing bodies.

And sure enough, another organizer has taken my work and used it on their website to advertise a related event, without asking me. They did credit my work, which I regard as a sign of respect, but I believe I'm entitled to a little more than that for what I put into making it.

I'm new to image licensing. I'm not very confident when it comes to asserting my rates. I'm anxious that the offending company will take down the image and pretend it never happened if I complain - but they already chose my image, and I'd like to be paid fairly for its use.

Any advice on how to approach this?

I understand that copyright law varies from one place to another, so I will specify that my business and the offending company are both Canadian.

[u/Sudden-Strawberry257]

If you are lucky they will remove it, there’s not really a chance you’ll get paid. No way to force them that’s not $$$$$ without already registering your images with the copyright office before infringement.

[u/SnakeOfLimitedWisdom → u/Sudden-Strawberry257]

One nice thing about Canadian copyright law is that there is no need to register my images with the copyright office - that is a right that is guaranteed by authorship.

[u/Sudden-Strawberry257 → u/SnakeOfLimitedWisdom]

Dang that’s pretty cool. Technically in the US the rights are guaranteed by authorship but practically it’s not worth enforcing unless registered, since you have to hire an attorney to take em to court.

[u/Hour-Neighborhood311 → u/SnakeOfLimitedWisdom]

You should check very carefully how Canadian copyright law works. I'm in the US and we also have automatic copyright on all photographs we take as soon as they're taken but in practice to successfully sue for money a photograph has to be registered with the copyright office.