When Buzzfeed Stole My Photo — Photo 📸 Copyright Infringement 101
BuzzFeed stole a photo I took of julia child and Jacques Pepin. I contacted them to settle for infringing my rights. Alison Pacuska - a paralegal - wrote back. She asked me for a demand, pretty standard. My rate for an A list celebrity is around $3500.00 - I proved this with backup invoices and tearsheets from other clients. I clearly stated that for infringing my rights there would be an additional demand. I had been copied in their internal communication accidentally so I saw their whole strategy. This is attached below.
I don't get this mentality. I'm the one they stole from and yet they're acting like they're doing me a favor while perpetrating theft from a minority, woman-owned business.
Then, in nothing short of a predatory turn, they made me a below low ball offer of $225 for the use AND infringement, citing that I failed to prove the photo was mine, even though I sent them irrefutable proof. You see, in their theft of my photo, they cropped out my byline and tried to pass it off as something I agreed to.
I am saying this publicly so everyone knows how little they care about women-owned companies.
And yet BuzzFeed continues to embarrass itself. In spite of the fact that I've proven ownership of an image they stole + proof of my rate for an A list celebrity licensing fee (with tear sheet and invoice history no less), they have failed to offer me mitigation commensurate with their own violation of my rights. I repeatedly ask them how I failed to provide above info and they glide past the question by asking me to *further* prove I am the owner + my rate.
You can see below where I asked them to reevaluate their below low-ball offer and resubmit for my consideration, not the other way around.
If you missed it, I also attached below the image they stole. They didn't even try to hide it. They shamelessly cropped out my by line in the original and have the nerve to insist I prove that this is my image.
Did I mention they accidentally included me on their internal email chain?
To enumerate:
My rights were violated when they stole this photo.
Their strategy here is to stick it to me even further.
Buzzfeed, not a good look. Now everyone knows.
