I'm an amateur photographer in New Hampshire and have taken a number of photos of various state and national politicians, some of which I license under a Creative Commons (CC) license. The CC license is a simple way to allow other people to use my work at no fee in exchange for following certain conditions.
The photo in question of Governor John Lynch (http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcn/2616348625/) I've licensed under a "Attribution Creative Commons" license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/).
That license requires:
"Attribution — You must attribute the work in the manner specified
by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that
they endorse you or your use of the work)."
The 'you' in the above paragraph refers to the person using the work, in this case NOM. The 'they' is refering to the copyright holder, in this case me.
The National Organization for Marriage (http://www.nationformarriage.org/) & Cornerstone Action (http://www.cpraction.org/) has produced a TV Ad that is uses my photo but does not give me proper attribution and therefore is in violation of the license agreement.
The video can be found on Youtube "He's Changed" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZajaoReo8Xg) where my photo of John Lynch appears 7 seconds into the video. A screen capture can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcn/5054289922/
I demand Cornerstone Action and National Organization for Marriage cease and desist all use of the "He's Changed" video on the internet, cable and broadcast TV and other distribution methods.
Additionally, this is directly affecting my right to sell non-exclusive use of my work. Yesterday morning, prior to learning of NOM's copyright violation, I sold a non-exclusive license for that very same photo to a Washington DC-based production house. It is unclear if that deal is now in jeopardy since it is to be used in a
pro-Lynch work.
Sincerely,
Marc Nozell
[[my contact info]]
My photo:
Screen capture from the video showing my photo:
Update 1
Tuesday 1:45pm -- got call from WMUR's general sales manager who talked with the SF-based Ad company. They will be re-cutting the commercial and also contacting me directly. The video on youtube.com hasn't been changed yet.
Update 2
Submitted a copyright complaint to youtube.com @ Tuesday 3:50pm EST
Update 3
Google/Youtube accepted my copyright complain and has taken down the video. @ Tuesday 6:24 PM It appears that NOM has re-uploaded it and now links to the original content from their website. Submitting another complaint against: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgzs-TPYWQ4
Update 4
Google/Youtube got back about my 2nd takedown request @ Wednesday 5:14pm. NOM has taken down the video that used my photo & uploaded a new non-infringing version of their dreck of a commercial.
