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I recently provided a photograph to a publisher to be reproduced for free, on the condition that a credit was included alongside the photograph. When I saw the publication, the image has no credit included. Would I be within my rights to invoice the owner of the publication a fair price for it's use?

To provide further information, based on questions raised in the comments, there was no formal agreement, but an email exchange occurred which confirms that a credit would be published alongside the image. As for jurisdiction, both parties would be subject to UK law.

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    Do you have the agreement in writing? If not, you might have a hard time enforcing it. In addition, this is probably going to vary a lot by jurisdiction, which you don't mention... – twalberg Apr 14 '20 at 15:55
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    And further, it's unlikely anyone here is qualified to give legal advice; you might want/need to contact an IP lawyer. Bring a big bag of money... – Zeiss Ikon Apr 14 '20 at 16:19
  • Did you have an agreement/contract? Did that contact have conditions/repercussions for breach of contract? Did that document include a process to be followed for breach of contract (court, arbitration, etc)? There are many, many avenues that this could take and this stack isn't designed to give you any sort of answer. If you're looking for pertinent laws in your jurisdiction, try the Law stack. In any case, though, if you're serious about pursuing damages, you need to get a lawyer. – OnBreak. Apr 14 '20 at 18:48
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    @twalberg actually, on the contrary. If there is NO agreement in writing, the publisher will have NO rights on the image and the publisher will have a hard time to prove that he was allowed to use the image at all. That said, in court the e-mails probably will be reviewed carefully. The OP should get a lawyer have a look at it and sue for damages. If the OP feels inclined he could approach the publisher without lawyer and demand compensation and explanation – planetmaker Apr 15 '20 at 9:46
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    I’m voting to close this question as off-topic because it is a legal question about licensing rights, rather than a question that is primarily about photography. Law Is the appropriate home for this question. – scottbb♦ Apr 20 '20 at 22:05
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The burden of satisfying any copyright is on the user of the copyrighted material. If the publisher failed to obtain a license from you, then you have a copyright violation.

If you gave them permission but failed to clearly state the terms, then you may have a legal gray area.

Rather than invoicing for unauthorized use, I would consult with an intellectual property attorney to discuss a strategy for your recovery of damages.

I would suggest that you compile the emails into a document, and create a timeline of your interaction with the publisher, annotated with the events as you see them. Then you are armed for an efficient interaction with an intellectual property attorney.

I cannot advise you on copyright enforcement process in UK, you will need the services of a local intellectual property attorney.

You might consider after you assemble your email compilation and timeline, approaching the publisher, and letting him know that you consider his use to be a copyright violation. He may settle with you for X. But I think that is a poor strategy, and since this matter has gone this far, engaging an attorney would be best. Undoubtedly you were interested in the credit, which had value to you. Lacking that credit, and with no ability to have the work republished with that credit, you must determine what compensation would be appropriate in lieu of that credit. For example, your compensation might not be the small value provided for stock photo use, but rather a larger value which compensates one for the opportunity, creativity, technical execution or whatever was utilized in capturing and expressing the moment of your image.

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