What if someone is using your copyright photos from your website on their website? Is it hard to prove in court? I have notified this person and they have yet to take them down; this has been going on for more then a month now. I have reviewed the Federal laws on www.copyright.gov/title17. Any legal advise would be great on what I should do next and how I should handle this.

All Answers To Questions

Well, my friend, this is illegal. You could call it picture plagiarism as well. Do you have a lawyer? If not, find a friend and ask them to recommend one for you. First tell your lawyer the case and ask them about court, if you are not experienced. But good for you doing research on that. No, it is not hard to prove in court as long as they (the pictures) are copyrighted. This person can be fined a whole lot of money, so make sure you are not in companion or a friendship with them. I hope this goes well with you, best wishes.

Copyright claims must be filed in the United States District Court. This is not a task for a dabbler--you will need an attorney. If your copyright is not registered with the USPTO, proving that you own the copyright will be somewhat difficult if the claimed infringer disputes it. There are also many defenses to copyright claims, including license, failure to police a copyright, and "fair use." It is impossible to assess whether any of these defenses apply based upon your description of the facts. Also if you are putting your photos up on a networking site like MySpace, you have agreed to the terms and conditions of the website, and probably have waived your claim or even assigned your copyright to the site. Further, damages may be limited if there is no commercial loss. You can get nominal damages, but they are...nominal. Unless you have a real economic loss, you are not really going to prosecute a copyright claim. There is no justification for investing the tens of thousands of dollars it would cost. You might, however, pay a lawyer a few hundred dollars to write a more informed letter to the claimed infringer. Without disrespect to the first answer, it is completely uninformed.

How did you notify the person, did you just tell them, or did you send an official Cease and Desist Letter? once you do this, if they don't comply get an attorney and go to court.