Thanks for all the feedback here. I have worked in Italy for many years having started there as a photographer and indeed only came back to the UK a few months ago, so its actually the UK market which I am still trying to understand.
I know how useless the Italian legal system is and even the lawyers have told me as much. As one lawyer once said to me, if you find a fly in a soup tin in the US, you get $250,000, but if you find it in Italy, you take it out and eat the rest. Getting back to my original question, I'd like to know if anybody has had any luck in pursuing these matters from outside of Italy? A short while back I started my company in the UK and invoiced Italian companies, so I would have hoped that this meant I could deal with this through English courts, but Italian lawyers until now have told me this is not possible as any legal proceedings have to be carried out where there is material breech of copyright. I may actually get an informed answer soon on this question from a friend of mine out there who knows a lawyer that works for the British Consulate and is specialized in European corporate law, so if I discover anything positive then I'll let everybody know. Yes Italy is a dog eat dog market and even a discussion group like this is unthinkable. From personal experience I would have to ask how some of you are able to get money paid an advance for photography over there as I have found that it was difficult to get paid after 6 months let alone before a job is done. The simple fact that they are able to always find a dozen photographers locally who will accept their conditions and that price invariably wins over quality means that no photographer I have ever met in Italy has been able to successfully do as some of you suggest. I actually know Tau Visual the photographers association very well and they once managed to get me some money for 4000 transparencies of mine that a stock agency was syndicating, but refused to pay when sales where made and also refused to give the material back. The amount obtained would seem utterly laughable in the UK and I know this solution was wrong, but I had just started out and was in no position to spend ten years in court while they used the earnings from my material to fight me and so I settled. Actually as a matter of warning to everybody here, be extremely wary of Italian stock agencies as they regularly fail to declare sales and what they do declare is generally so little that you'll wonder why they keep wanting more material. Sorry that this isn't a very positive thread for anybody hoping to work in that part of the world, but perhaps its better to know now than later on. Thanks Ashley neil snape15/1/03 8:07 > on 15/01/03 7:40, Michael O'Brien wrote : > >> As you probably know Italy has a near-useless legal system and you'll have >> to look long and hard at the cost-benefit of what you've lost compared with >> the grief and cost of (possibly) getting it back. It's no consolation to >> you now but for future ref. my SOP, having worked in Italy for a couple of >> years, is that I want cash in my hand before handing over any goods to an >> Italian company. > Agreed. Much of the transactions I've heard about function between the > exchange of envelopes of money , even for campaigns concerning large > international ads. >> As a long shot you might seek advice from the Italian photographers' >> association: associazione nazionale fotografi professionisti, tau visual, >> www.fotografi.org > Good associations but not much help in recovery of things possessed by the > people holding and infringing your rights. I lost many things and it is > clear that recovery is usually worth more than the time. Sad but true. Up > until death of my uncle at least I had an ally, as he was a very highly > placed police official. Even that though can breed political unrest as the > people that hold your images have friends in equally high places! > > Neil Snape http://mapage.noos.fr/nsnape =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
