DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Clothing company shuts down after a copyright dispute with photographer

Jan 1, 2019 by Dunja Djudjic 17 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

You may have followed a recent copyright dispute between concert photographer J. Salmeron and Thunderball Clothing. What started as one of the disputes we see pretty often has quickly ended up in the clothing company shutting down. Marta Gabriel, the owner of Thunderball Clothing, has announced that she will be shutting down the company due to a huge amount of hate comments she has received after the incident.

In case you missed it, you can read the full story on this link, and I’ll sum it up. In June 2018, J. Salmeron attended a festival where he photographed Arch Enemy, a famous metal band. He posted a photo of lead singer Alissa White-Gluz to his Instagram and she reshared it to her feed with appropriate credits.

After this, Marta Gabriel of Thunderball Clothing reshared the same image to her company’s feed, since she designed the wardrobe Alissa was wearing at the concert. Since the photo was used for commercial purposes, Salmeron reached out to Thunderball Clothing with a takedown notice. He gave Marta the option of paying him €500 for photo usage or donating €100 to a charity of his choice (the Dutch cancer society).

The case quickly got attention of the public, and Marta publicly apologized to J. Salmeron on 28 December. She wrote that she meant no harm and that it wasn’t her intention to promote any product she made. She thought that an email from J. Salmeron was a spam or scam, seeing the amount of $500 and Alissa White-Gluz’s name. She says that she didn’t go deeper into the message, but she did what she thought was most logic. She Alissa, forwarded the original message to her and asked what to do. “I was instructed to take down the photo (what I [immediately] did), and was informed that someone else will take care of it,” Marta writes.

https://www.facebook.com/thunderballclothing/photos/a.301509343278590/2016143075148533/?type=3&theater

However, it seems that the public apology wasn’t enough. Only two days later, Marta issued a public statement that her company is shutting down. Considering that she is the only person behind the brand, she says that she wasn’t able to just ignore all the hateful comments she has been receiving ever since the incident happened.

https://www.facebook.com/thunderballclothing/photos/a.301509343278590/2018793761550131/?type=3&theater

Honestly, I find it sad to see that Marta received so much hatred that it made her close her business. She did make a mistake, but she publicly apologized and made an effort to make things right. It’s especially horrible to hear what people have been telling her only because she wasn’t educated enough on how copyright works. And if she was indeed told that someone else would take care of it, then they should have taken care of it.

Marta made a mistake, but I believe that she deserves a second chance, especially because it really doesn’t seem that she was trying to do any harm. After all, she also credited the photographer, she was probably just unaware of the limitations when it comes to commercial use of the photo. What do you guys think of this case?

[via FStoppers]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Legal dispute between founders sends lens manufacturer Veydra out of business Manfrotto parent company, Vitec, acquires motion control company Syrp US Copyright Office: Photos Taken by Animals Have No Copyright. Nor Do Photos Taken by God. US Copyright Office proposes 41% increase in copyright registration fees

Filed Under: news Tagged With: Arch Enemy, business, copyright infringement, Instagram, Thunderball Clothing

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.net

About Dunja Djudjic

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

« Demystifying the histogram to get great exposures every time
Check out this free flash photography course for headshots and portraits »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Comica CVM-VM30 is the world’s first wireless shotgun mic
  • Everything you need to know about science/technology photography
  • How Fujifilm survived while Kodak didn’t
  • Use these two simple methods to remove skin shine from portraits
  • Improved Sun Moon Expert app gets you perfectly timed sun and moon photos

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy