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CFM Concepts is screwing me

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paul7979

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I got an email from CFM that they have sold their image library to Grande cheese company and the images are only available to be used by companies that purchase only Grande cheese. This means that the image that CFM used to build my website is no longer allowed to be used on my website. That image is the only reason that I have used CFM for printing, magnets and my website. I always happily paid a premium to CFM as I thought the image was well worth it. I tried to call them today and was pretty well blown off. I was told that Cynthia would call me back but that never happened. What recourse will I have against CFM and or Grande if they no longer allow me to use this image on this website that cost me over $2000?
 
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My guess is that you have no recourse. If they own the rights to the image and you did not get permission to use it forever, than you can do nothing.

Hop on Craigslist, do a LF Food Photographer, and you will get 50 responses from people willing to come in and take pictures of your pizza. Some will even be able to do an amazing job, and you can own the rights to the image.
 
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Patriot'sPizza:
There are many sites you can purchase good jpg images quite reasonably…
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And there were plenty of web designers that would produce a good website quite reasonably but I spent the extra money with CFM to use this photo.
 
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Is there some kind of licencing agreement that allows them to rescind the use of the creative they have done for you?..
 
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Kamron Karington:
MPP Marketing Group has virtually the same image library. Prints the same menus. Does web design.

Go here: http://www.mppmarketinggroup.com/

Kamron
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The point is I paid CFM to design the site because I liked the picture. I shouldn’t have to spend another $2000 to have MPP create a site that centers around a similar image.
 
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Do you have access to the “code” for your website?..If so, it should not be much of a problem to “replicate” your site…As far as the images, I can not see how they can “demand” that 1,000s of their client stop using images that were provided as part of a web package…Perhaps you might want to track down other users and get some legal advice…I searched “Site Design & Images CFM Concepts” (no quotations) in google.com and got quite a list…
 
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Dude… I totally agree… you paid for a website and now you’re getting screwed.

Grande has vastly underestimated the ill will and fallout they’ve set in motion…

My phone has been ringing quite a bit with clients furious over this…

I’ll bet Mark at MPP will cut anyone a sweet deal though… and then you never need to worry about this again.

Kamron
 
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They did the same thing to me. I knew something was up months ago when their support staff quit returning calls.

Grande should be sued for all the trouble they have caused. They turned a highly recommended company up side down and screwed all of their clients.
 
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Hi Paul7979,
My name is Josh from Mail Shark. Why does Grande even want a photo library??? I am a bit perplexed about that. Why don’t they just focus on making and selling cheese???

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I will never understand what some of these other companies think they are gaining by holding your artwork hostage and making you upset? It certainly doesn’t make you want to keep your long term business with them.

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Hi guys - this is Dan and I’m with MPP’s Web department. We’ve been doing a lot of work over the past weeks with clients who are in a similar situation and need images swapped out or replaced because of this.

Also, you really don’t need to rebuild your entire site if you just need some photos changed. We (or any good web developers) can make the changes seamlessly and you won’t even know there was ever a different photo there to begin with. It’s not even that big of a job and can be done very quickly.

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Something seems wrong with all of this.

Do you have a document from the alleged new owner of the image copyrights?

If I prepay the lease of a car and the leasing company is sold, I don’t lose the car and all the money I paid for the use of it. The new company purchased my contract.

Same with those copyrights. You paid to use them and having a new owner of the copyright doesn’t invalidate your right to use them. The new owner bought your royalties in the images at a discounted rate. Your right to use them transfers to the new owner without question. The new owners have a right to include any terms they want with new customers paying royalties, but it cannot be retroactive to previous customers.

If the new owner wants to change terms of the royalties, they must compensate you for the royalty expense of other images and the expense of changing images. Your royalty payment is not invalided.
 
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I agree with something is not right here. Has anyone contacted Grande directly or gotten an actual letter stating they have to remove the images in question? I know from personal business needs that everyone uses stock photos for items…but at least in our usage we never did with the actual finished product pics. If your product (ie: pizza) is not good enough to look at then why bother? One of the first things you learn as a chef is that appearance is almost more important than the actual taste! It is easy these days to get high quality photos at very low cost…so why even use stock photos on a web page or other literature? :?:
 
I would say your safe until your “contract” for hosting is up. But again those images are very easy to come by and if they are not honoring your original agreement then they need to release total control of your site so you can move it to another server and update the picture.

A family sitting around eating pizza is pretty common. I started creating my own work since I was so limited by CFM or MPP. I can print very great looking menus for about 60% the cost using www.gotprint.com and my graphic artist only costs about $150 per job on the design.

My web guys are cheap too and with “word press” nowadays even someone with zero time and multiple stores can easily maintain and keep their own website updated.

Mine cost $2000 to build and now is FREE for me to make changes to everything but the overall look.

http://odbj.com
 
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qcfmike:
If your product (ie: pizza) is not good enough to look at then why bother? One of the first things you learn as a chef is that appearance is almost more important than the actual taste! It is easy these days to get high quality photos at very low cost…so why even use stock photos on a web page or other literature? :?:
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Making gorgeous food is right in my wheelhouse . . . taking exceptional, professional quality pictures good enough for use in print and internet assets . . . not so much. That’s the value of A. Paying a photographer or B. Buying stock photos.
 
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Nick I remember when we were first starting out back in 1985-6 and had to put literature out to our new out of the box sales force to sell a product idea that was new too the industry. Frozen ready to serve soup in a bag…who would want it. Requires freezer space and the equipment to boil-in-bag to heat. Lots of space space space! Wait…doesnt everyone have that? 😉 I do recall something from then that touches on Nick’s comments. Even though cameras are cheap and great… the people behind them are usually not. That said… we hired a local unversity arts student that was working on her own portfolio. She was very interested in having her images go nationwide…a lot harder in the 80’s! Cheap, professional, and even “TOLD” us our company color layouts stunk! She is the reason we changed them. What I am saying is there are still those out there that photograph from many reasons or just for fun and I would bet if you looked around you could find someone to exchange time for pizza just to get some hands-on food photo experience. Food photography is tricky. Also, as a customer I want to open the box and see what I ordered off the menu! :shock:
 
I have also had quite a few calls regarding people seeking photography to use or replace on their websites due to this issue.
We are offering all of those clients with this issue, the same photography they currently have for use on your websites FREE of charge. No need to search through libraries of photo’s.

With regards to the “do it yourself” comments. It is very true that there are a variety of ways to cut costs in this world. I could rotate my tires and change my oil to be able to save myself $ .
This being said, some people prefer to hand specific responsibilities of their life over to an individual that is an expert and knows how to do it right. It’s not the cheapest choice but at the end of the day we get what we paid for. I prefer to not clean my silk shirts and deal with my husbands dress shirts 😉 . . . . yes Susan at my neighborhood dry-cleaners charges me more then what I would pay at home BUT i trust her to do an amazing job and appreciate that she saved me 2 hours of my day 🙂

Loved the idea for the photo shoots btw, just make sure the color correcting process when printing is done correctly that way the images look just as tasty when printed on paper 😃

Paul, I think you are getting some great advise and options on here. I hope that your issues are resolved quickly.

T
1-866-889-8745 x240
 
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If image quality is of the utmost importance to you, and you are charging a premium for high-quality food, it does make sense to use your own photos on all marketing collateral. In reality, why wouldn’t you want to feature your own food on your menus and website? The only good reasons I can think of would be related to achieving high quality results, and of course, saving money.

For many pizzerias, great stock photography is sufficient - it can look outstanding and save you time and money. But if you demand more, hire a local photographer off of craigslist, etc. Ask to see samples of their work. Get them to cut you a deal. And when you’re done with the photoshoot, get the unedited source photos - and make it clear up front that you OWN the rights to them.

That said, hindsight is 20/20, right?

All the best, and good luck!

Chris
 
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