If you sell crochet or knit garments that you sell online and have noticed another seller using your photographs that you created as their own, you may have a legal case of intellectual property infringement. Here's what you need to know. 

Photographs of Your Items Are Considered Intellectual Property

You've probably worked tirelessly to produce photographs of your items that you put up for sale, so when you find your photographs being used by someone else without your permission, it can be quite upsetting, especially if the unauthorized person is your competition. But it's important to remember that a photograph of your item is considered intellectual property and is protected legally.

Important note: If the photos are of friends or family members wearing a garment you crafted, it's important to have them or their parents sign a model release. This is a document that says they agree to you using their likeness to sell the items they model for you.

Ask Them to Credit You for the Photographs on Their Website

When you face this problem, one thing you could do is take this intellectual property infringement as a way to bolster your name in the crafting community by asking the person or company to credit you for your photographs that are on their website. Send them a notice requesting that your personal name and/or business name be credited to the photographs. This can be as simple as a disclaimer that says, "Photos produced by [your name] at [your website]." That way, if they follow through with your request, then you may get traffic to your website from their customers.

Legal Options If Photographs Will Not Be Credited to You

If you don't want the photographs on their website at all or they refuse to credit you after you've asked, there are several legal options. There is a law that deals with this misuse—Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). This law gives you the right to tell the Internet Service Provider (ISP) of the website where you photographs are being used to have them remove the photographs.

The photographs do not have to be registered as copyrighted in order for you to do this. You simply need to show proof that you are the creator of the photographs in your letter to their Internet service provider (ISP). This letter is called a DMCA take down notice and can be written for you by a lawyer who specializes in intellectual property.

If, however, your photographs are copyrighted, you may be able to seek statutory damages in addition to sending a take down notice. This means that you would be able to sue the person or company who posted the photos and/or their ISP for monetary damages to cover the losses you incurred from things like sales.

Finding the ISP Is Fairly Easy

It's fairly easy to find out which ISP a website has. There are several websites dedicated to providing this information after you enter the name of the website. The ISP will be listed as Name Server. You'll also find the geographical location of the ISP, which will help you locate the company in an online search by simply putting the name of the company and the location in any search engine. If you have trouble locating the ISP, seek the guidance of an intellectual property lawyer.

Proving Lost Sales Can Be Challenging

If you choose to file a lawsuit to try to recover damages, you may be wondering how to prove that you may have lost sales to the unauthorized user of your photographs. One thing that your lawyer will do after filing a lawsuit is to request a list of all the items they've sold since they started using your photographs, which is called discovery. If you aren't sure when they started using your photos, this can be included in the discovery phase that occurs before trial.

For more information and assistance if you have found someone using your photos, talk with an intellectual property attorney, such as those at Mohajerian A Professional Law Corporation.