From the Archives - Death Ride Photo Quagmire

Introduction

In the year 2000, I did the Markleeville Death Ride with my friend J— and my brother B—. This lead, years later, to a dispute that stretched the bonds of our friendship almost to the limit. Read on for the full transcript of our increasingly heated email exchange.

The Death Ride Photo Quagmire – January 13, 2005

From: Dana
To: J—, W—, & B—
Date: January 13, 2005
Subject: We Are Owed…

J—, W—, & B—:

Check out this link:

http://www.deathride.com/course/ [Alas, this link is dead, this having been 19 years ago.]

I was astonished, when perusing the Markleeville Death Ride website, and reaching the above page, to see this photo of us.

Upon reflection, however, it seems perfectly obvious that the ride organizers would want to use such natural poster boys for their promotional materials. Not everyone looks so healthy, so athletic, so—okay, let’s just say it—so sexy, especially when clad in humble garbage bags. I imagine we’ll end up on the posters and jerseys and such as well, if they can get our skeletons right.

J—, I found the original photo on your personal website. Clearly that’s where the Death Ride folks stole it from. Naturally, we are in a position to demand royalties, and it would be downright un-American to let the opportunity go. If we don’t get some kind of remuneration for this, then the terrorists have already won.

The question is, who should get the money? Obviously, B—, J—, and I are the subjects of the pirated photo, but then W—, I believe you took the photo, so you may own the rights to it. And J—, it’s your website they grabbed it from, so it may be that you own the rights to it. (The fact that you and W— are married may end up being very helpful here, as long as you don’t keep separate bank accounts.)

J—, before we go after these guys, you might want to throw some boilerplate up on your site along the lines of, “All photos (and other data) on this website are the exclusive property of J— L—, and any reproduction of said photos, in any form, including but not limited to promotional materials, romance novel cover art, screen savers, and collectible plates, is strictly prohibited.”

So who has a lawyer friend who owes him a favor?

Dana

—~—~—~—~—~—~—~—~—
From: W—
To: D—, J—, & B—
Date: January 13, 2005
Subject: Re: We Are Owed…

It should be obvious to everyone that I own that picture! I make my living writing about and photographing other people - imagine if they all came out asking for a piece of the pie!

W—

—~—~—~—~—~—~—~—~—
From: J—
To: D—, W—, & B—
Date: January 13, 2005
Subject: RE: We are owed…

Dana et al,

Sorry to disappoint you, but I was contacted by a guy named M— who asked permission to use some of my photos for a new Death Ride website. Thinking this was my shot at the Big Time, I gave my consent for their use. I can only assume that this free publicity will bring an avalanche of requests for ... something. Anything. All I know is there is no such thing as bad publicity, so I’m banking on that.

J—

—~—~—~—~—~—~—~—~—
From: Dana
To: J—, W—, & B—
Date: January 13, 2005
Subject: RE: We are owed…

J—,

I’m afraid your apology won’t be enough for B— and me, and perhaps not for W— either. Who gave you the authority to grant that fellow that permission? Sure, I let you put the picture on your site, as a personal favor, never imagining that you’d abuse our friendship by giving out an image of me. What if a collectible plate makes its way into circulation, and said plate makes me look fat, or dumpy, or something?

Have your lawyer call my lawyer. But tell him to talk quickly, since my lawyer is expensive.

Dana

—~—~—~—~—~—~—~—~—
From: J—
To: Dana, W—, & B—
Date: January 13, 2005
Subject: RE: We are owed…

My lawyer will call your lawyer, but I can tell you now that we’re going to win this one. Our lawyer is the best. Okay, to be clear, our lawyer, for now, given our penurious state, is S— [J—’s one-year-old son]. But I’ll tell you this: what he lacks in terms of knowledge of the law or putting words together to make sentences he makes up for in determination and an uncanny ability to get his way.

You’ve been warned.

J—

—~—~—~—~—~—~—~—~—
From: Dana
To: J—, W—, & B—
Date: January 13, 2005
Subject: RE: We are owed…

Determination and persistence are one thing, but he’ll have my attorney’s charm to contend with. It probably won’t be any surprise to you that my attorney is A— [my four-year-old daughter]. See you in court.

Dana

—~—~—~—~—~—~—~—~—
Email me here . For a complete index of albertnet posts, click here.