Trophy photos action

Has a newspaper or other organisation used photographs, without your permission, of you hunting? You might not be able to get them on hatespeech, but you can get them on copyright.

Have a look through this gallery to see how we can help:

We have a solicitor to represent us.  We are currently looking for claimants. If would like to take part, please get in touch. Please email Charlie Jacoby charlie@fieldsportschannel.tv or call Charlie on +447850195353 or get in touch via WhatsApp. What we would like from you is which newspaper used your photo? And when they used your photo? 

This initiative is free, thanks to support from SCI Life Hunter Advocacy Society.

Copyright claim: the DIY version

You don’t have to do this through us. You can do it yourself.

Syed Rizwan has pictures of himself hunting in Africa. The Daily Mirror wanted to whip up anger against Syed, which it is allowed to do. It is allowed to steal his photographs to use because they are in the ‘public domain’. However, what it failed to mention to Syed from the outset is that it has to pay a reproduction fee when it uses photographs, especially when it uses them without permission. Newspapers often forget to tell that to their victims. Syed’s company invoiced the Daily Mirror and its sister publication WalesOnline for £1,200+VAT per picture for the six photographs they used.

The Daily Mirror's story about Syed

 

The newspaper contested the claim, and eventually made an offer, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy Syed. If you are plan to do what Syed did, it is important you try to reach a settlement with the publication before you go to the next step, which is an online claim. 

This film shows how Syed took the newspaper’s parent company Reach plc to court using the Small Claims Court online service. It provides a step-by-step guide to the online claim process. Anyone can take a UK publication to court this way – even if you are from outside the UK.

Court action was the threat that Reach plc needed. In an out-of-court settlement, Syed eventually won an undisclosed sum from Reach plc rumoured to be more than £5,000. 

Here’s how he filled out the Small Claims Court Online form:

What will we do next?

After we resolve our claims against the newspapers, we intend to pursue anti-hunting organisations and media personalities who steal photos and use them to whip up hatred against people. 

In 2023, four hunters threatened to take MPs to court. The All Party Parliamentary Group on Banning Trophy Hunting used their pictures without permission. See the Daily Mail article about the case here.

Article in the Daily Mail

Sir Roger Gale MP responded to the hunters saying he wanted to contest the claims. The good news is that the claim coincided with  the APPG taking down its website (which contains page after page of hatespeech against hunters). When it put its website back up again, it contained none of the stolen imagery.

Website of the APPG for Banning Trophy Hunting, offline when we looked at it in June 2023

We intend to continue our legal claim against the MPs behind the APPG later in 2024.

A d v e r t i s e m e n t

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