Should I Sue the Phillies?

[Dan]

Blogged about it here, http://keystothebattersbox.blogspot.com ... nd-on.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Basically, one of their Minor League affiliates used an image of mine in their program without giving me credit.




www.dailyautograph.com/2014/08/gregg-legg.html

I don't think I would really sue anyone, I just wanted an interesting thread title. Of course, if someone says I could get paid from this, then maybe I'd consider it.

[Dwight Strawberry]

Tell them you'll settle for a ton of Chase Utley memorabilia personalized to Gloss's son.
Might as well try and get some tickets or something too while your at it. Maybe a bucket of popcorn and a pop to wash it down.

[Kid That's Lifeless]

I would.

[Philaflava]

What Dwight said.

[alpha]

Naw

[capable_keL]

Yes. Nobody can steal your property.

Consider becoming a Mets fan too

[peanut butter]

Any season ticket holder should consider suing the Phils for exposure to that trash product they running out there on a daily basis



PEACE

[Dan]

Yes. Nobody can steal your property.

Consider becoming a Mets fan too

I actually am a Mets fan. They've been my favorite team since I was 8.

[Tommy Bunz]

I would think that the rights would be with whoever owns the Fleer name now or Major League Baseball.
I'm not sure that the fact that it's personalized with an autograph actually gives you ownership of the picture honestly.
I'd just reach out to them to see if you can get some free shit.

[ric]

dan
which image is supposed to be yours?

[Dan]

The autographed baseball card.

[ric]

I'm no attorney and cannot give legal advice but if I was the Phillies I wouldn't want to pay an attorney to defend myself in some baseball card image lawsuit. just write them a letter/email and show them your shit and ask for some tickets or something. don't give them any wiggle room by avoiding saying stuff like 'I don't really care' or 'it's no big deal' etc etc. if they reject you then you talk to an attorney lulz.

[Dan]

I sent them this e-mail earlier today:

I attended the game on Saturday night (April 11). While reading the Threshers Times and arriving on page 12, I instantly recognized an image that was my own. The autographed baseball card of Greg Legg is identical to the one found on my website,
http://www.dailyautograph.com/2014/08/gregg-legg.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Now, I'm sure Greg has signed hundreds of those cards, but I am 100% confident that the image in your magazine was taken directly from my site. Perhaps it was an oversight of the magazine's editor, but, simply doing an image search online, does not make it fair use. Had I been asked for permission, I would have gladly given it, but, I must say I was disappointed that I didn't even get a credit for its use.
I hope you understand my concerns.

Thanks,

Will post an update if/when they respond.

[ric]

well good luck boss.

[Philaflava]

comped tickets and a hatfield dollar dog voucher?

[Dan]

I'm surprised that they have not reached out to me yet. I thought for sure I'd get an e-mail apologizing to me. I haven't put it out on Twitter yet, maybe I should do that.

[Dan]

Okay, I put it out on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/DanGiacobbe/status/ ... 1473830914" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So, if you're on there and want to help me get some recognition, that would be great.

[Dan]

When I made this thread I wasn't serious at all about suing them, I didn't think it would be worth it. I just found a site where you can post legal questions and lawyers from the across the country answer them. So, I decided to see what they'd say. Two lawyers responded already.

[Philaflava]

1) Every response will tell you to hire an attorney. They are promoters.
2) Don't invest too much energy in this brah. I'm sure you'll get what is rightfully yours.

[Dan]

A third lawyer has responded and killed all my hope.



The thing is, I never went in looking for damages. I just wanted to know why I wasn't given credit and what I could do to remedy that.

[Philaflava]

You bought a card and got it autographed and hosted it on a fan site. If you sold that card on ebay whatever you sold it for would be yours. But you aren't licensing a picture you did not take, on a card you did not make and the only claim you have was that you got said card autographed. I think some sloppy minor league team was just unprofessional and overlooked it. Shit, it was probably some intern who did it. You are owed an apology and if they were decent, maybe some free tickets. Otherwise, I don't see how you have much to stand on.

[Kid That's Lifeless]

Never even knew a baseball game was being played 1/2 the time when I was getting shithoused in the tiki hut. Great times.

[Tommy Bunz]

Yeah, again, you're trying to claim copyright on an image that is already copyrighted and has trademarked images within that copyright.
The fact that its personalized with an autograph doesn't make it yours.
I can take a picture of the Mona Lisa and draw a dick on her forehead, but that doesn't give me the rights to the Mona Lisa.
And since your image is a modification of a copyrighted image that they own, at the very least it would fall under fair use.

The legal rights for images generally lie with the photographer, not the subject. Simply re-tracing a copyrighted image or diagram does not necessarily create a new copyright—copyright is generated only by instances of "creativity", and not by the amount of labor which went into the creation of the work.

[Dan]

Of course, the 2 Phillies fans here are talking me out of it.

If this were the Mets, Gloss and Bunz would both be looking into University of Samoa law degrees, wanting to defend me.

[Philaflava]

Yes and no. I think you're having a) fun and b) exhausting way too much into this. And FYI I sued MLB, Carlos Beltran to be exact and settled.

[Tommy Bunz]

yeah IDGAF about whether the Phillies lose money over a lawsuit. They have tons of it to spare.
I just don't think you have a case. You do not have a copyright on the picture. You don't have a disclaimer on your site clarifying that the rights of any of the images belong to you.
You didn't do anything to create the image personally, so you don't really have a right to actually file for a copyright.
The Phillies and/or the MLB probably have the copyrights to the original picture. They could just as easily argue that you are using THEIR image on your website without their permission.

[Dan]

I am having fun with it. Trust me, I am not going to fight this. I spend my spring and summers going to that stadium, I'm not about to risk being put on some sort of blacklist over a baseball card.

I never saw $$$ when I saw the use of my image. I was just hoping to see a cheap plug for my website that has earned me $3.68 since I started it 2 years ago.

[Tommy Bunz]

Word, I'm just playing devil's advocate. I hope you get some free shit out of it. I think your website is cool man. I would kill to have all those Phillies autographs.

[capable_keL]

Mr Ballard comes off kinda cunty

[Philaflava]

Dan deserves every auto he gets. He's genuinely a good person, but don't fuck with our Phillies please. It's already a sensitive subject for a few of us.