Sunday, January 27, 2008

STOLEN IMAGE

This past week I was watching a hockey game on sports net and a commercial from the “Albertans for Change” came on. About 5 seconds into the commercial I noticed that this TV spot used a portrait I took of Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach for an upcoming photography exhibition.

The problem with this TV spot was that it was very slanderous towards the Premier and his government. So here was this organization using my image without my approval, in an TV spot I did not agree with. Not only did this organization infringed on copyright laws, but here is an organization which is a collation of the Alberta Building Trades Council and the Alberta Federation of Labor. These organizations preach equal labor laws, and yet here they are taking a photograph and not offering the photographer the adequate compensation.

To be honest I would have never licensed this image to this group as I do not agree with their message.

I have met Premier Stelmach in several occasions and I have to say he is a very honest and sincere man who is doing his best to make Alberta a better place to live for all of us.

Needless to say I informed my lawyer right away about the copyright infringement and we moved forward with the necessary steps to solve this problem.



The issue has since been dealt with. If you are wondering what image was used I have posted it to this blog.


Take care, C

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