For those of you following the Lan Bui vs. PodTech struggle, you can rest easy tonight with the knowledge that the saga of a humble man seeking the payment he deserved from PodTech’s picture pilfering has finally come to an end.
If you are not familiar with this story, please read this to get a sense of what you are missing. It’s an all-too-common occurrence these days – a company deciding to use someone’s photograph without permission and deciding not to pay until a big stink is made about it. The difference is that this time it’s a popular digital media company doing the stealing, effectively pooping in its own sandbox.
Bui, a professional photographer, had sent them an invoice for $3000 and had a hard time getting a response. After a while the company got in touch and offered to pay him $1000. Trying to negotiate a little, Bui then lowered his offer to $2500 but PodTech said that $1000 was as high as they would go.
U.S. Supreme Court precedent shows that a person is eligible to receive three times his normal rate in cases of copyright infringement. In my experience, $1000 for rights to a photo to be used as advertising on a banner at a conference is not extraordinarily high. That would make Bui’s $3000 invoice completely reasonable and fair.
Bui says that during negotiations, PodTech CEO & Founder John Furrier actually asked him if he needed the money, and that PodTech has accused him of simply trying to make some quick cash.
“It was never about the money,†Bui told me. He says that the issue is one of holding businesses accountable for their actions and showing companies that they cannot run roughshod over people’s rights without repercussion.
In the end, the big question is what the effect will be from PodTech ignoring someone’s copyright of a digital image. For a company on the forefront of digital media distribution and monetization, PodTech does not seem to have a plan for how to treat digital media makers equitably.
A recent Twitter post by Steve Woolf addressed major publishers saying, “just because you are part of enormous media conglomerates does not mean you get it!†The same thing is true of PodTech. Just because it is a leader in the world of digital media does not mean it does good business in that sphere or others.
What makes a company a good one to deal with is the same today as it was 100 years ago. The company that treats people well is the one people will want to work with. Being first out of the gate is good for something but if you can’t manage to treat people well, what value are you adding to society?
Recently, without having agreed to PodTech’s terms, Bui received a check for $1000 from the company. He has decided that the best use of the $1000, instead of lining his own pockets with the money, was to donate it to the Creative Commons organization. Kudos to Lan Bui for finding a way to turn a negative situation into a positive outcome, despite not getting what he was rightfully entitled to.
Technorati Tags: Lan Bui, PodTech, digital media, copyright infringement, John Furrier, Steve Woolf, Creative Commons