[bthomas]

Naive question: how does the legal system determine appropriate damages for this kind of infringement? Can ImageRights just name a number, or is there some kind of precedent?

Using a $500 photo intuitively seems worse than using a $5 photo. But if the offender had no intent - ie. a grandmother that didn't know you can't just copy anything from Google Images - would be bizarre to have punitive damages be a multiplier of the original license cost.

[kweks]

Depends on the country. I recently had a case in France where a very well known magazine used one of my photos without permission; my lawyer advised that photo worth is judged by the reputation of the photographer.

If you're an amateur happy snapper, you'll get hardly anything. If you're a world famous photographer, you'll get significant amounts.

In one regard, that seems fair - and in another - grossly unfair.

[scott_karana]

Sounds like "greater of: reputation of infringer and reputation of photographer" would work.