Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

It appears that someone possibly submitted a photo to the media organization.
What are any agreements when doing so?
Who submitted the photo?

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Have you or do you intend to contact an intellectual property rights attorney? You should.

What is your goal? The copyright infringement has already taken place. Are you just trying to get them to stop, or are you interested in obtaining payment for every instance where the image has been sold and you did not receive payment?

While it's true that merely taking the picture establishes copyright, the only way a judge will allow the recovery of revenue and damages is if the image(s) in question are registered with the US Copyright office:

https://www.copyright.gov/

If you have not registered your work, you are S.O.L. - you don't "need" to register, but you are in a much better position if you do.

This website is maintained by an attorney and a photographer who provide excellent guidance - which boils down to what they have experienced, and the strong recommendation to use a copyright attorney.

http://thecopyrightzone.com/

They also publish a book - The Copyright Zone - and it's worth purchasing.

It's best to ignore advice that dismisses either the need for an attorney or the need to register your work. For what it's worth, there aren't a lot of lawsuits that get in front of a judge - in many cases, the infringing party know they are wrong, but do it anyway, banking on the fact that many amateurs don't pursue infringement recovery, and when confronted with overwhelming evidence of ownership and copyright registration they just settle.

coullone Loc: Paynesville, Victoria, Australia

American Copyright is a minefield, rest of the world is much simpler. I you take a photograph it is the copyright of who is paying for it. I it is taken without being contracted it is the photographers for the next 75 years.
Some of my Photos from 1957 are getting awfully close! If I can just last another 13 years ;-)

khorinek

I would contact them and find out what they intend to do with the proceeds and ask how it came to this point. I doubt they will sell many photos anyway.

aphelps Loc: Central Ohio

Is it necessary to register each image individually or is there some way to cover all images with your name watermarked?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Gene51 has provided links to the relevant information a few posts above.

catchlight.. Loc: Wisconsin USA- Halden Norway

Is this a major Band, big money?

You seem to know who is selling... so how much money, and who is publishing it?

If your name is on it, your exposure will be worth overlooking it, and not being a source of grief will be a gain, rather than a detriment to future clients.

Value more what you can produce now, not what you have done in the past. It's easy to make a few calls, but making friends has far greater value than making enemies.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Boy, that is bold! I would definitely contact the person doing the selling. You should get any money he has received. I'm surprised that he kept you name on the photo.

riffmax

Send them a DMCA notice. Cheaper than a lawyer and pretty effective. You can find a sample one on line easily.

maxlieberman Loc: 19027

Call a lawyer. Next time, call one first.

Tomcat5133 Loc: Gladwyne PA

I have a friend who is an entertainment shooter. Like you he shoots bands famous and not so famous.
He sometimes uses the photos to promote himself for other jobs. Like weddings and family portraits.
He knows that he will not be paid. Occasionally the band we see and like his pic and pay something for it.
He does not expect anything but the experience and promotion of his services.

Even if you have a copywrite on the photo band is really the one to release you to sell their pictures.
This had happened to me. I did a corporate event and suddenly find photos and video we took
being used. I got paid to produce and the rest is just how business exists.

Actually when shooting a band or event they should really release you to take and use the shots.
Suppose the photos are not ones they like and you publish them.

Just an additional thought. Images and moving images are just all around us everyday. Facebook etc etc.
Who owns what and who is paid no one has an answer. Even the ownership of images is in doubt
at this point. Enjoy yourself.

Move on and enjoy your photography. I found myself in italy on vacation at a small James Taylor
concert. Sting sat a few seats from us and joined James on stage. Great experience. I used stills
from this event on my website and promo's for years. This is the way of the world.

Whe photographers start talking about lawyers and rights etc usually they are shooting for themselves
and then want to be paid.
I was involved in mediating issues between photographers and clients in advertising.
Photographers wanted to get paid for the use of the photo. Makes sense if your photo is
on the companies magazine or just on an editorial page you should get a different amount
of money. We used to produce advertising with photos taken for a brochure and suddenly
the photo would appear on a Annual Report. The client would say hey I paid you I own the shot.
The photographers started this and clients were turned off.
This is maybe why the photography business in US is in the crapper. All those with studios
I know are gone. And photographers shoot Pro Bono to get work and start a career.

gmsatty Loc: Chicago IL

You can send your own cease and desist letter first. There are great examples on the Internet. I am a lawyer and I agree that the cost of hiring one may be prohibitive. I would start with my own first. I would send it with some sort of record of delivery.

TomForsythe

I'm no lawyer but I was on the receiving end of a Copyright suit - see Walking Mountain V Mattel - and discovered that this is a boxing ring for the rich - and that it's worth fighting for your rights.
I ended up with high powered attorneys backed by the ACLU and an appeal's court decision that called Mattel 'frivolous and unreasonable'. During the five year journey I learned quite a lot and I can say that you should take action.
If you can participate in this forum, you can take the initial steps yourself. Google it. I just did and there are copious resources, including sample forms for Take Down Notices and Cease and Desist orders.
You may never get reimbursed for the stolen images - but that doesn't sound like much money. You're more concerned with stopping the infringement to protect your body of work and future projects - so the mere threat should do the trick. If your self help doesn't succeed, then I recommend seriously considering the wisdom of taking this the attorney/court route. Unless you have an attorney friend who can help out, or unless you have the deep pockets to press your principles, these sorts of things get very expensive very quickly.
My case cost me over $50,000 out of pocket and that was with pro bono legal fees in excess of $2 million. The case didn't even go to trial and luckily Mattel had to pay the legal fees. Chump change to them but I believe the case has stopped them from being such Copyright bullies.
I recommend that you personalize whatever actual notices that you send so that the infringer recognizes you as both a human being and as someone who takes the issue seriously.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Years ago, I worked for Beeline Dragway as a photographer. My photographs were regularly published within stories covering activities at the strip every Saturday night. As such, I was asked to do a few promotional photos of the AA/F dragster sponsored by Der Wienerschnitzel drive-throughs. We posed the car and driver, Jim Nicoll, in the drive-through bay getting a soft drink from the attendant there. The photo was to be used exclusively by Der Wienerschnitzel for promotional purposes.

Some months later, that same photograph appeared in one of the drag racing magazines associated with another product. By mail, I contacted the company using the photograph and inquired as to their advertising agency. Upon getting that information, I contacted the agency and informed them that I was the photographer and at not time granted them permission to use that photo and included a fee for such usage. A few weeks later, I received a check for $500 in exchange for that one time use and an agreement that they were not to use that photograph again without written permission from both Der Wienerschnitzel Corp. and myself. At the same time, I contacted Der Wienerschnitzel Corp. informing them of the incident and resulting correspondence. They contacted me in return and informed me that since I was the photographer "hired" for that particular photo, they would not want any portion of the fee paid to me.

I probably should have taken this as a sign that law might be an avenue to a profession, but chose another instead.
--Bob

Jaackil Loc: Massachusetts

This is absolutely not true! Registering it only makes it public record. A judge will not base a decision of law on whether it was registered or not. The question in this case is whether the person selling the images could have reasonably known it was copyrighted. That is answered by the fact as the OP stated his name is one them. Easy case to win in court. However it could cost a lot of money. So if they have only made $500 on selling the pictures and it cost you $5000 in court costs would it be worth it? You would not be eligible for damages unless you could prove you were harmed economically beyond losing what they sold the pictures for. Did them selling your images devalue your work to a point where you had a significant loss of income? I doubt that would be the case here. But if it is you can go for damages.
Consult a real attorney, not a UHH Philadelphia Attorney. Most will do an initial consult for free. They will probably suggest sending a cease and desist letter for a couple hundred dollars. That would seem to be your best outcome at this point given cost vs reward.