biodieselbob
New Member
Hello,
I am a small business owner that engages in the food export business. The vendor that I am having a dispute with was a small/med size snack food company (hereinafter "Vendor A") that was recently acquired by a larger, well known food company (herienafter "Large Company").
From 2006 to June 2010, we had a good relationship but the relationship turned somewhat sour once the sons of the owners took over. During this time, one of their sales reps asked me if they could use images that I had a professional photographer take of Vendor A's products. Vendor A did not care too much about point-of-sales collateral so I did it myself for my customer's benefits.
Vendor A's sales rep (not sales manager) and I had a good relationship. He was travelling to a food show and wanted to know if he could use my images. Over the phone, I agreed. At no time did I ever indicate that I gave them these images for good or surrendered ownership. Later that year, they wanted to use those images on their website. To my recollection, I wrote an email saying that they could do so, so long as we were business partners. I did not charge them for the images, no contracts, etc. Simply, it was a gentlemen's agreement via email because they later developed images that I forwarded to my clients overseas. Similarly, they provided their images to me with no contract, etc.
Fast forward to June 2010: Vendor A gets acquired by the Large Company. So I requested via email to Vendor A's sales manager to remove my images from their website in 30 days. Vendor A's sales manager says in few words "No" and would refer the matter to the Large company who acquired them. The Large Company's Marketing director and I exchange a few emails, which ended with "Do you have a contract stating that these images were on a permission basis only?" I explained above that in our email exchange, these images were provided for their use (not ownership) so long as we were doing business.
The problem though is that I cannot locate that email. I've called Vendor A's sales rep who I'm still friends with and he will see if he can dig up the email. Aside from that, I have no proof that I did not relinquish my images to them (as they seem to imply now) or other verbiage stating that these images were for their use on a permission basis only.
So what Id like to know is am I on solid or shaky legal grounds to demand anything from Vendor A? If they'd like to continue to use the images, I would definitely sell them the images. However if they choose not to buy them, I would like to first send a cease and desist letter and then if they did not remove them, take them to small claims court. If the latter, who do I go after? The new company? Or the sales manager of Vendor A?
Any opinion or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Bob
I am a small business owner that engages in the food export business. The vendor that I am having a dispute with was a small/med size snack food company (hereinafter "Vendor A") that was recently acquired by a larger, well known food company (herienafter "Large Company").
From 2006 to June 2010, we had a good relationship but the relationship turned somewhat sour once the sons of the owners took over. During this time, one of their sales reps asked me if they could use images that I had a professional photographer take of Vendor A's products. Vendor A did not care too much about point-of-sales collateral so I did it myself for my customer's benefits.
Vendor A's sales rep (not sales manager) and I had a good relationship. He was travelling to a food show and wanted to know if he could use my images. Over the phone, I agreed. At no time did I ever indicate that I gave them these images for good or surrendered ownership. Later that year, they wanted to use those images on their website. To my recollection, I wrote an email saying that they could do so, so long as we were business partners. I did not charge them for the images, no contracts, etc. Simply, it was a gentlemen's agreement via email because they later developed images that I forwarded to my clients overseas. Similarly, they provided their images to me with no contract, etc.
Fast forward to June 2010: Vendor A gets acquired by the Large Company. So I requested via email to Vendor A's sales manager to remove my images from their website in 30 days. Vendor A's sales manager says in few words "No" and would refer the matter to the Large company who acquired them. The Large Company's Marketing director and I exchange a few emails, which ended with "Do you have a contract stating that these images were on a permission basis only?" I explained above that in our email exchange, these images were provided for their use (not ownership) so long as we were doing business.
The problem though is that I cannot locate that email. I've called Vendor A's sales rep who I'm still friends with and he will see if he can dig up the email. Aside from that, I have no proof that I did not relinquish my images to them (as they seem to imply now) or other verbiage stating that these images were for their use on a permission basis only.
So what Id like to know is am I on solid or shaky legal grounds to demand anything from Vendor A? If they'd like to continue to use the images, I would definitely sell them the images. However if they choose not to buy them, I would like to first send a cease and desist letter and then if they did not remove them, take them to small claims court. If the latter, who do I go after? The new company? Or the sales manager of Vendor A?
Any opinion or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Bob
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