Stolen Photography

jalpuerto

jalpuerto

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Really stinks to have a photograph stolen no matter how much you actually care about it. Disgusted that someone people would even go as far as to watermark it with their own logo 🙁! Below is a picture from a thread I posted a while back on RFF from this link. Sorry I didn't resize it 😛

IMG_1643_zpsa7228513.jpg


Now, here's the image from this eBay listing I stumbled across the other day:
$T2eC16hHJHwE9n8ikMw8BRhSqN0,jg~~60_3.JPG


I Google Searched all of the images and the majority of the ones on his or her listing are stolen from other photographers. For example, here is an image found on this blog alongside one from the eBay listing:

dscf04101.jpg


$T2eC16h,!)EE9s2uiwzzBRhSqV1w)Q~~60_3.JPG


Even worse is that he's trying to scam people out of some extra money by posting the same items in a range of prices 🙁 I have sent eBay a Notice of Claimed Infringement form off of their website and hope to get the pictures taken down sometime soon!

eBay Listing
My Image
Stolen Image Set 1
Stolen Image Set 2

 
I wouldn't care if it was just a snapshot of the camera . Only purpose of this shot is to show camera for sale. In no way it is artistic or even well shot product photograph.
 
Well, I think that if you expect selfish people to be honourable, you're doomed to disappointment. I take the view that I shouldn't put anything on the web that I don't want to have used by others.

Occassionally, I have informed ISPs about infringement of my pictures but only when I'm certain that the infringers are out to steal from other people. Otherwise, I just see it as the sincerest form of flattery.
 
It wouldn't be quite so irritating if he/she/it had not claimed copyright. Without that, well, sh*t happens. WITH that, the poster IS the sh*t that happens.

ADDENDUM: What always surprises me is how many people steal images for their avatars (no-one here yet, I imagine, but quite a few do).

Cheers,

R.
 
Roger Hicks said:
It wouldn't be quite so irritating if he/she/it had not claimed copyright. Without that, well, sh*t happens. WITH that, the poster IS the sh*t that happens.

ADDENDUM: What always surprises me is how many people steal images for their avatars (no-one here yet, I imagine, but quite a few do).

Cheers,

R.
Click to expand...

Words straight out of my and my girlfriend's mouth, haha! Funny how many of my friends said to get money out of it, but I'm just here like "Meh, was never going to use it for anything anyways". Thanks for the input guys! Don't get me wrong, I'm more so upset about the watermarking than anything. 😛

As for a mob, maybe something with a sight might be better than a slingshot for rangefinder users like us 😉
 
I've had many images stolen. I did a documentary series on the late moonshiner Popcorn Sutton and have sold one time rights to many publications including the NY Times, Gourmet Magazine, Maxim and many more end users. I make a living from my work and have registered my work with the US copyright office. I've found many dozens of people and companies using my images without authorization. When I find them I contact them and if it's a company making money from them and many are I assess a value and require that they pay up. Most of the time I have no problem an shave collected some serious royalties. I inform them that they are in violation of copyright and if they don't do as I say I'll turn my lawyer on them. So far so good. I had one of several professional musicians using several images in a music video. This particular time I thought it was going all the way to federal court. When the thief and his manager realized I was dead serious they complied with my wished. I was prepared to take the farm and would have.

I too have found my work many times on ebay and as you found one guy with his watermark on my images and selling prints. The bad thing here was ebay will not provide information to serve a federal warrant unless you serve a subpoena on ebay. Ebay is very uncooperative and protects the thieves.

I've found people in Norway, UK, Australia, and the US using these images for shirts, playing cards, buttons, silk screened images on a portable bar and just copying them and selling them. One image had never been published other in a traveling exhibition I have that's in museums. Someone walked into the museum with a camera and shot a copy right there. This image was one of me with Popcorn and I found it for sale on ebay.

I found another series of my images being used for commercial use by a person at the Chicago Art Institute. Yes selling my work! Got that taken care of too.

It takes time to run these companies and people down but it's the only way to deal with them. Inflict pain and they will stop. The catch is if it's not registered with the copyright office all you can do is tell them to stop.
 
If you post your photos on the web.....

Such is the nature of the beast. Most people are aware of that. Me, I don't care if someone "steals" one of my shots. I have thousands of them, you know? A little web image is of no concern of mine. They sure aren't going to be able to print it large in a darkroom like I do. Someone wants one of those, they will HAVE to come to me or the gallery. I guess my thinking is really that of a painter, which is my first vocation. Everyone steals from everyone else is the first thing you learn in that game. Not literally, as in your posted photos, but figuratively. Everyone influences everyone else. So if someone wants to take a little image of mine, either a photo or a drawing/print, that's OK w/ me. The gallery will be upset, but I don't care. It's a compliment, to me. I made something that was nice enough to steal. People don't take work that is of no value, or work that they don't like. They can't steal one of the originals unless they break in and take it out. If they want it that badly, let 'em have it. I'll make another one.
 
Roger Hicks said:
It wouldn't be quite so irritating if he/she/it had not claimed copyright. Without that, well, sh*t happens. WITH that, the poster IS the sh*t that happens.

ADDENDUM: What always surprises me is how many people steal images for their avatars (no-one here yet, I imagine, but quite a few do).

Cheers,

R.
Click to expand...

I can think of at least one. Not really in the mood to be "outing" people though.
 
Good luck on getting eBay to back you on your complaint. I've never been able to get eBay to stop sellers from using my photos, even when the photos in their listings had my name on it.

EBay's reply: "We see no violation."

Last week, I bought a camera, and the description seemed very familiar. Then I realized that it was familiar, because I wrote it.

I'll make note of it in the feedback. Happily, I bought the camera and accessory lens at a bargain price ($49) when the accessory lens sells for more than $150 by itself. I guess I get the last laugh - for once.

Bottom line: eBay won't back you. But let us know if they do.
 
Hi,

I'm not into the law in the USA but can't you claim USD750 for infringement of copyright? It was an automatic award or default amount from memory but it was a long time ago and I was just glad to get the thing removed.

Regards, David

PS Sejanus.Aelianus you must be telling the truth because you are on the internet and everything there is gospel...
 
I've had a lot of stuff pilfered off of Flickr. People have used my pics on websites, on Youtube and in their own personal blogs. A TV station in Ohio used several of them to illustrate an article on their website; who knows, maybe they appeared on TV too.

This annoys me. Its not a money thing; its the principle of it. I eventually made almost everything on my Flickr account private because of it.

Some years ago, I had a photo published in a magazine. Recently, someone on Ebay was selling refrigerator magnets made from the published photo! I sent them a pointed message asking if the magazine gave them permission to use the photo, knowing quite well that the magazine's policy was to refer all usage inquiries back to the photographer (IE, me). I never got a reply but the listings were taken down, never to reappear.
 
I'm no lawyer but David's right insomuch that the image maker owns copyright as soon as the shutter is fired and of course you can sue to claim what's yours.
But Xray's comment that all you can do is ask, in a way trumps my earlier observation.
I think the key advantage of registering your images with the Copyright office is that you're provided automatic reimbursement of your legal expenses in pursuing your claim, if you're successful.
It's not so much that you have more legal weight that helps with resolution rather than other peoples' knowledge ( you can tell them ) of your protections, that sorts issues out early in the conversation.
Registering your images isn't too difficult if they're previously unpublished, but more paperwork if previously published. It might have changed, but my understanding of "published" when considering online is the question of whether or not you could have stood to make money by the image having been seen. As opposed to sharing for the sake of discussion.
Philip
 
You're going to get advice from someone else I hope, but I'll tell you what I know.
You can google some kind of search "registering photographs with US Copyright Office". You should be able to download a 2-page submission form that gets sent in with a DVD of your images.
I'll stop here and say that you should find someone who's familiar with online digital submission because that's the way it's going ( and it's cheaper) and it won't surprise me if they discontinue paper submissions.
You'll find that a large number of images can be submitted at a time ( I've heard of 10,000 ). I suspect that they advise a minimum size - needs to be large enough for them to pull up and look at should you require their corroboration in a dispute.
I have slow broadband and submit by DVD with USPS. That type of submission was $65 a year ago. Electronic submission was $35 then.
Create a naming system for your submissions that are not a duplication but make sense when looking back over prior submissions to find stuff.
A suggestion would be name and date "Roger Rabbit unpub.prior to 26 Feb'14" - sort of thing.
They don't tell you this but their mail sorting equipment can mangle discs in envelopes and so the submission by USPS needs to go in a small priority box.
Philip
 
Hi,

What makes me laugh sometimes is doing a search and getting one of my images from my website up on Google. The other thing that makes me laugh is discovering hundreds of us have searched and got nowhere as all I get is where can I find threads from forums.

I often wonder what would happen if the opening page of my website said that my flat fee for copying and publishing once, even thumbnails, is UKP 500...

Regards, David
 
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