PhotoAsia successfully recover damages for copyright infringement

doreenlau — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:13:12 +0000

PhotoAsia successfully recovered damages for copyright infringement from a client who sheepishly confessed that they have used our images for commerical use without authorisation. After five weeks of negotiations the client finally agreed to pay RM127,790 ($38,438.83) in damages for the use of 30 images from 18 different photographers represented by PhotoAsia. The 18 photographers have not been contacted yet but they should be getting their share of the damages by the first week of April 2010.

What caused the client to confess this infringement? We found out later that another library has sent them a lawyer’s letter for copyright infringement for an image. This started a chain reaction and the client decided to do some housekeeping, digging out all their projects that used images to see whether they have all been paid. To their horror they discovered that the staff in charge of these projects have not paid for the reuse of many images or renewed the licence to continue using some of the images. According to the client the staff has already resigned sometime ago and her inefficiency has only now been uncovered.

This particular client has been a regular and loyal client and we have no reason to doubt that this was an oversight on the part of one individual staff and not a deliberate desire of the company to infringe our copyright. In view of the fact that they themselves came forward to make retribution, we were happy to reduce the penalty and charged the client only three times the normal rate. They even came to hand us the cheque personally and I have to say that this is the easiet settlement that we have experienced and without the aid of a legal counsel too!

Reminiscing the Past – Malaysia 50 Years Ago

doreenlau — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:30:32 +0000

Chinese Opera, Hong Kong. Photo Credits: Oriental Touch

Come August 31 Malaysia will be celebrating 52 years of independence. While I ponder on this I can’t help thinking of the things I missed and the happy childhood memories that will never be revisited by the children of this generation. I read with nostalgic despair in today’s papers a news item that gleefully announced that the traditonal Chinese opera is going high tech – they are using fogging and snow machines in their back drops! Very soon we will only be able to watch such stage shows in huge LCD screens in air-conditioned theatres in cool comfort or in dinner shows where you have to pay an exorbitant sum for such performances.

Fifty years ago you can watch such performances for free but you would have to bring your own seat, usually a wooden stool, to sit in front of the stage or stand and watch whenever the show was in town to perform in celebration of a religious festival. Such stage shows may still be in practice in some small towns and if you know of such a place and you are a photographer, professional or otherwise, I would seriously suggest that you capture this moment in time not because the images will sell but for posterity, for your children’s children.

None of us can stop the rapid rise of technology but before we totally lose sight of all traces of the good old days, make an effort to look out for such scenes and capture them on film. Fifty years ago when there were no television or computer games, we cycled to the beach, to a river to catch fighting fish, made simple kites to fly on a windy day, climbed trees, played hopscotch and played all kind of games, mostly of our own invention and imagination. Remember these scenes?

While I applaud the the progress of our country on one hand I cringed at the way society wants every thing quick, fast and immediate. To me the greatest loss is to lose the appreciation of the beauty of a language, the joy of communicating with words. I truly despair at how prevailing the use of text messaging in our lives today not only by handphones but in emails and chat as well. It really pains me to receive an email that reads “C u b4 3 pm 2day when you could easily have written “see you before 3 pm this afternoon”!

Happy Merdeka, everyone!

Two boys cycling in the rain, Malaysia. Photo Credits: S K Chong

Children flying kites, Sabah, Malaysia. Photo Credits: Pang Piow Kan

Children sitting on the coconut tree, Malaysia. Photo Credits: Arthur Teng

Children playing ball in the river, Malaysia. Photo Credits: Pang Piow Kan

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PhotoAsia successfully recover damages for copyright infringement

Reminiscing the Past – Malaysia 50 Years Ago