Your Photos Could Ruin Your Life (Part 2)

British teenager Lara Jade’s 15 minutes of fame isn’t going the way the young photographer had hoped. The 17-year-old found a self-portrait that she took when she was just 14 years old being used as cover for a porn DVD from Hustler called Body Magic. According to Jade, the company that re-released the DVD, TVX films, with her photo claimed to have gotten it from an unnamed stock company.

Jade had posted the photo, with a copyright symbol, on the site DeviantART several years ago. TVX films allegedly told her that they were replacing the cover photo, but with the current version still in circulation, this has done little to console Jade.

She has so far been stymied in her search for legal assistance as she is located in a different country than the DVD manufactures, and it is unclear if the blame lies with the DVD company or the Stock agency. However, as her case receives more notice in international newspapers and blogs,advice on courses of action are pouring in and she will hopefully be able to receive some sort of compensation. To read her account of the story, visit her flickr page. Check back tomorrow, when we’ll post steps on how you can protect the copyright of your photos.
—Kathleen Davis

Comments

[TomD.]

So what's the point? Is she embarrassed, or just wanting money for a photo that's been butchered beyond recognition?

[LordArgent]

"Butchered beyond recognition"? Hardly. The original is somewhat out of focus, but the picture on the DVD cover is just as legible as the original. Even for porn, though, this is low; grabbing a photo of a 14-year old for their DVD.
(Instead of using maybe someone actually IN the movie?)

[Scott Tiger]

Well I have to agree that stealing copyrighted material is unpardonable but I do wonder about the lady's motivation for making this incident so public. There doesn't seem to be any risk of her being recognized in public on the strength of that DVD cover, so no danger of defamation. She does however stand to gain a significant number of hits on her flickr pages on the strength of this story.

[Laur]

It only takes one indiscretion to ruin a lady's reputation. Her motivation is sound. As for the flickr hits, judging by the chosen photo, they might not be so misplaced as you lead us to believe ;)

[Brienna]

I think it ruins her life because--well, she was 14 and featured on a porn dvd. It is definitely something that could ruin a reputation. And I don't think that she's using this to gain fame.

She was very well known before this incident and has been featured in several magazines before this story even occurred.

[Brienna]

I think it ruins her life because--well, she was 14 and featured on a porn dvd. It is definitely something that could ruin a reputation. And I don't think that she's using this to gain fame.

She was very well known before this incident and has been featured in several magazines before this story even occurred.

[SJ]

I agree, there's no way Lara would use this for popularity. She's already one of the most well-known internet photographers, why would she possibly want more attention from this?

Honestly, her reaction is something any person would have done in her position. Would you have let some sleazy company take your photo and slap it on their DVD? I don't think so.

[tim maguire]

I have a very hard time believing this could ruin her life given that nobody could know it was her if she didn't go public with it.

[lad madrigal]

it actually can ruin her life. given that the photo do not clearly show her face, but visitors to her online photo space can recognize the photo. she posted it on her DA account and it gained total popularity before it was snatched for the DVD. so even if it doesn't show much of her face, the whole photo itself is known and connected to her.