I just received my first cease-and-desist order. Goes with the territory of personal publishing. On April 21 I republished the photo of flag-draped coffins taken by Tami Silicio that is floating around everywhere on the Net. The next day I posted the news that she had lost her job because of the photo’s publication in the Seattle Times.
Here’s the text of the cease-and-desist order, which is understandable, given that I neglected to credit Zuma (as did just about everyone else). I’ve done so now.
Dear Sir/Madam
It has come to our attention that there is a copyrighted photo by Tami Silicio from the Seattle Times posted on www.newmediamusings.com. We are writing to inform you that the picture is represented EXCLUSIVELY by ZUMA Press. Attached is a screen capture of your site showing how the image is used.
We appreciate your sympathy for Ms. Silicio’s cause. However, as Ms. Silicio’s agent it is our job to protect her copyright. Posting this photo on your website without permission is a clear and irrefutable infringement of her copyright. Therefore, we request that you remove it from your site OR assign the image the proper copyright credit, which is ©TAMI SILICIO/ZUMA Press. This credit must link to our corporate website which is http://www.ZUMApress.com.
We ask that you comply within 24 hours of this email being sent. If you have any questions about this request, please feel free to contact Scott Mc Kiernan, director and founder of ZUMA Press at 949.494.7704 or our legal counsel, Paul Mahon at Mahon, Patusky, Rothblatt & Fisher at 202-483-4000.
Yours sincerely,
Sylvia Stewart
VP, Corporate Communications
ZUMA Press, Inc.
Headquarters: (949) 494-7704 Fax: (949) 497-8505
JD Lasica, founder of Inside Social Media, is also a fiction author and the co-founder of the cruise discovery engine Cruiseable. See his About page, contact JD or follow him on Twitter.
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