You told me on the phone that you did not want to negotiate. At least that's
how I remember hearing it. Sorry if I heard wrong. You told me specifically
that PodTech was not in position to negotiate.



The problem is I'm getting in between you and John Furrier. John's mom died
this week which is causing problems figuring out where things are.



I'll get him to answer you.



Regarding photo prices, I talked with photographers who work for Associated
Press, Business Week and other magazines.



I agree that we dropped the ball. No excuses there, but I wasn't involved
back then and am trying to clean up a mess and having trouble getting it
cleaned up because of John's mom's death.



Robert Scoble



###



From: videoblogging@yahoogroups.com [mailto:videoblogging@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of Lan Bui
Sent: Friday, June 29, 2007 10:51 PM
To: videoblogging@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [videoblogging] Re: Hey PodTech - What's up with Lan's image?



Robert, thank you for finally coming out and saying something for
PodTech to the community.

First, I must say that your statement:

"He believes his work is worth that and believes that there isn't room
for negotiation on this issue."

Is a lie.

One of the points in my blog post was that I wanted, at minimum, to be
contacted to negotiate. In the last couple days I did negotiate down a
lot less than $3000 and even sent an updated invoice for it. So how is
this not negotiating on the issue? Remember we talked about this on
the phone, so I'm not sure why you left that out.

PodTech had the chance to ask to purchase a license to use the
photograph before it was used, at which time they would be able to set
the terms. That didn't happen. Now that they have used the photograph
already, who should set the terms?

I gave PodTech over a month to respond to my terms and they didn't.
When it was just me that was involved PodTech didn't care. When others
started to blog about it and it was giving them a bad name, then
PodTech started to care. Remember, that blog post was up for about a
month before others started take notice to it. So PodTech showed to me
they don't care about me, they only care about their image in the
public eye.

Next, I am not Thomas Hawk. Wait... Thomas Hawk? I will be the
professional and not discuss the prices that PodTech pays him.
Remember Robert, you told me how much PodTech pays him and that
reinforced my price even more!

You also said:

"It was easy to see how a mistake was made since usually people in the
community who, when invited to an event we held usually give us photos
that were snapped at our events for free"

I was not contacted... so how could there be a mistake regarding
permission? I also never gave (if you meant sent in to PodTech) any
photographs that this one could be mistaken for.

You also said:

"it's easy to miss the copyright on Flickr"

Come on, that argument is weak. Putting something in the same place on
every page on flickr makes it very easy to not miss.

You said:

"I asked several professional photographers, the average fee was
$300." and "3x what most professionals in the marketplace charge for
this kind of work"

Please don't lie again. The $300 price point is for stock photography.
I even asked John where you guys got $300 from and he said "that is
standard for a stock photograph". If there is a photograph with Casey
McKinnon holding Vloggies in a stock photography book somewhere I
would love to see it. The photograph that was chosen was chosen
because it had great value. It is not stock photography and I am not a
stock photographer.

Ok, lastly. Lets say I accepted $1000. Wow that sounds like a lot of
money to many people that aren't making money from their creative
work. Well this issue is not about me making money. It is about
setting a precedent.

If we allow companies to steal work and only pay a standard small fee
when they are discovered, what is the incentive for them not steal
again? Is that what other companies should learn from this? Just take
now and deal with it later if it ever comes up. And don't worry, it
still won't cost more than if we paid up front.

To anyone else reading this: I hope this clarifies and corrects
Roberts post.

-Lan
www.LanBui.com

--- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com
<mailto:videoblogging%40yahoogroups.com> , "Robert Scoble"
<robertscoble@...> wrote:
>
> Here's what happened.
>
>
>
> An employee made a mistake. We recognize that a mistake was made. It was
> easy to see how a mistake was made since usually people in the community
> who, when invited to an event we held usually give us photos that were
> snapped at our events for free and it's easy to miss the copyright on
> Flickr. Thomas Hawk, for instance, takes lots of photos at our
events and
> gives them to us for free since he's appreciative for the community
work we
> do.
>
>
>
> We asked around what a photo like the one that we used by Lan Bui
was worth.
> I asked several professional photographers, the average fee was
$300. Lan
> was not commissioned to take photos and an employee made a mistake
by using
> a photo and not making sure we had the rights to use it before using it.
>
>
>
> But Lan wants $3,000.
>
>
>
> We have offered Lan something between those two prices which we feel
is fair
> ($1,000 is the price I saw offered by PodTech CEO John Furrier, which is
> more than 3x what most professionals in the marketplace charge for
this kind
> of work).
>
>
>
> Lan wants $3,000. He believes his work is worth that and believes
that there
> isn't room for negotiation on this issue.
>
>
>
> So we're at an impass.
>
>
>
> I'm personally sorry for the whole way this thing has been handled,
though,
> and still would like to find a way to get the two parties to reach
closure
> on this problem.
>
>
>
> I do want to make sure Lan gets compensated properly for his
intellectual
> property, but we want to reach a fair price and one that's based on what
> professionals expect.
>
>
>
> Robert Scoble
>
>
>





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