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Topic: photo rights violation... advice?
| Author | Message |
| togal | Posted – 9/12/2006 2:13:21 PM | show profile | email poster Hi all A friend and I run a small (very small!) gossipy blog and we posted a photo found from google or somewhere, I can't remember. We've just received a threatening email from the photo rights owners. Obviously we removed the photo straight away, but they are still saying we have to pay a $500 misuse fee. What are are rights if any? Can we claim the photo was in the public domain and we didn't know how to track it to them - which we didn't? How often do they take these things further? I find it pretty surprising they would have even found our site, which is brand new and only getting about 200 hits a week. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks |
| slink | Posted – 9/12/2006 2:19:22 PM | show profile I'd ignore them. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 9/12/2006 2:59:00 PM | show profile First, you can't claim a photo is in the public domain. It either is or isn't. And just because you couldn't track down the owner of the photo doesn't give you the legal right to use it. There seems little question that you violated the copyright of the photo owner by using it without permission. Now this $500 "misuse fee" seems a figure they are pulling out of midair. Personally, I'd probably ignore the email and see if they send anymore. They may or may not press legal action, depending on how aggressively they try to protect their material. At that point, you can decide what to do -- stand tight and hope they don't bother to take you to court; pay the $500; or negotiate a smaller amount. Whatever you do, I'd be very careful about the wording in any emails you send to them since this creates a paper trail and the emails when end up being used in court, if it comes to that. |
| dewdoxx | Posted – 9/12/2006 8:17:05 PM | show profile The photo is NOT public domain. Search engines cache photos as well as text. People try to steal my husband's photos (he's a photographer) almost all the time (mostly blogs) and he has had two websites shut down for illegal use of his photos, and one of the culprits, we almost took them to court, but they backed down. No photograph is in public domain, unless the photographer doesn't fight for it. For example, if several people/websites use it over a period of time (years) and the photographer doesn't do anything to stop them, it can go into public domain, which is why I make my husband fight for his images. My husband finds his images all over the place because his images are tagged with an electronic serial number, if it's online, he can find it. |
| westsidestory | Posted – 9/13/2006 4:14:00 PM | show profile The smartest thing you did was take the offending image off right away. Ignore the request for money -- if they are really pissed off they will file for copyright infringement -- a good bet they won't since $500 would hardly cover the legal filing fees. In future, child, assume that ALL images you find on the web are copyright protected -- don't "borrow" what is not yours. I note you have a "gossip" blog -- there is another way to get pictures. Try this: when you find a picture you like online, and are not sure who did it, email the webmaster and request a link to that page. Most websites welcome inbound links so it's usually not a problem. Yes, it takes a little longer than just grabbing a picture off the screen to decorate your own pages. But imagine if say, Entertainment Tonight decided to use some of your witty blogisms on their web site -- and didn't credit you, create or link, or compensate you in any way. You'd feel pretty different, wouldn't you? As to how the other website found you, there are several methods to search the web for tagged images so it's pretty easy, and often automated. |
| togal | Posted – 9/13/2006 4:30:42 PM | show profile thanks for the humbling advice everyone - because of so many of the blogs out there with images, we didn't really give it much thought as we'd just started and knew no one was reading it... it was on our list of "to do" meaning, figuring out how to get access to images once we'd gotten our editorial voice right (how DO all those celebrity blogs get access and permission anyway?). |
| clairezulkey | Posted – 9/13/2006 5:08:55 PM | show profile | email poster good question. I think most bloggers are trying to figure it out (b/c I think most don't get permission). I agree--ignore the $500 request. That's ridiculous. ------ Editor of MBToolBox |
| Nikongirl | Posted – 9/14/2006 1:21:46 AM | show profile Miss V It?s quite possible that email was from ME. Let me be perfectly honest with you - YOU may just be one of many, many bloggers out there who have no problem stealing photos from the internet and claim you do NOT have any idea that they were not 'public domain'. BUT ? I really don?t appreciate or accept stupidity as an excuse. Really. For years and years, I have been forced to send emails or have my lawyer send letters to many bloggers and website owners (who have stolen my photographs) to let you know you are infringing on MY copyright by using my photographs for public use without payment or permission. You know darn well they are someone else's property. Again, playing stupid and naïve doesn?t work for me. >>What are OUR rights if any? << Interesting how you are concerned now with YOUR rights. What about MY rights? My COPYRIGHT??? My professional and creative work??? >>Can we claim the photo was in the public domain and we didn't know how to track it to them - which we didn't? << NO - you can?t. WHY? Because it CLEARLY states WHERE the photo comes from even when you?re stealing from Google. >>How often do they take these things further? I find it pretty surprising they would have even found our site, which is brand new. << It?s very easy ? those of us who run websites can easily track who visits the site, for how long, what pages they visited, how long they stayed on the page, etc. etc. My next question is if you are running a ?gossip? website ? what else are you stealing? Is this gossip something you have first hand and are reporting personally gathered information or are you STEALING gossip from other news outlets, websites, ezines or blogs? |
| dewdoxx | Posted – 9/14/2006 2:26:06 AM | show profile I don't want to bash you, just want to give you more insight. My husband runs a photo blog and he has over 1500 visitors per day, so he has even more eyes looking out for his photos. In fact, several of his visitors have pointed him to other blogs and websites where his photos were stolen, from poetry websites to authors promoting their books. The author even stole the copy I wrote for him. I was livid! |
| eriksherman | Posted – 9/16/2006 3:06:47 PM | show profile | email poster You have zero rights. You would be well of to go read the copyright statutes (at www.copyright.gov). A photo has a copyright from the moment that image is taken. The owner and the owner's estate retain ownership of the copyright for 70 years after the owner's death, unless he or she signs that copyright over to someone else or declares that the work is in the public domain. The photographer can, and might, choose to sue. If the photographer registered the copyright before you stole the use (that's exactly what it is), then he or she can get a MINIMUM of $750 statutory damage plus could probably get the court to award legal fees. Being invoiced for $500 is relatively cheap in comparison. I also don't think the fee is outrageous. If you want cheap photos, go buy royalty-free collections and use them as you will. If you want custom work, be wiling to pay for it. If you can't afford it, don't take it. And, no, other people also having used it illegally doesn't give you any protection. (Figuring that's where you're going with asking if you can claim it's in the public domain.) It just means that more people are guilty of theft. You can try to ignore the invoice, but you're just burying your head in the sand. I'm surprised that writers who also fall victim to theft would suggest that, particularly Claire, as you just had the experience of someone stealing your work word for word. Do you really think that is any different? |
| will_edit_for_food | Posted – 9/16/2006 11:48:51 PM | show profile | email poster How does one "tag" photos? Hi. Does anyone here know how can I tag my photos? I've sold a few photos before, and I'd like to post some of my good shots on my website, but I've been wary. |
| slink | Posted – 9/17/2006 7:49:03 PM | show profile As long as you credited the photograph properly and are not earning money from your blog, you'll be fine. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 9/17/2006 10:03:04 PM | show profile | email poster From what I understand, "tagging" isn't foolproof, as anyone can take picture into Photoshop and using the copy/paste method create a new document that isn't identified that way. |
| eriksherman | Posted – 9/18/2006 1:22:48 PM | show profile >> As long as you credited the photograph properly and are not earning money from your blog, you'll be fine. << That is terrible advice. If the blog is to market the writer, then it's commercial use. Even if not it's not legally sustainable as fair use unless the blog entry was *about* the content of the photo itself and some issue concerning it. If the photographer wants to make this painful for the blogger, then that's just what will happen. |
