I know others have had this happen, but me?

I was notified by a stranger on Flickr that this picture of mine

is being used on an insurance site. Nice huh? I've already given notice about Notice of Infringement.

 

:lmao: Tell em ya want royalties

 

....and that is why I don't like sites like flickr.

 

It may be thievery, but they are thieves with good taste....

Nice photo.

 

Nice picture nonetheless!

 

once you post the pics without securing them you have em common public knowledge and good luck with royalties

 

Sites like Flickr do have settings declaring your photos as "(C) All Rights Reserved" or "Some Rights Reserved". It would be a starting point for enforcing your ownership.

 

A vendor right here on NAM did that to me. I posted a pic of my JCW steering wheel and they used it on their website (they sell the steering wheel). They blurred out the junk in my garage that was visible in the background . I didn't know about it until someone posted a question about the steering wheel and linked to the pic on their website. I posted my surprise that it was my photo. Soon afterwards, it was quietly removed from their website and nobody ever contacted me.

 

Wild bird photography is a hobby of mine and because of that, I don't care what people do with my images. If they make millions or win contests, great. There was birding software company who approached me for my images and they couldn't get over me not wanting to be paid. If it is your image and you can prove it, make youe demands. Otherwise, be proud of your work and be happy it is in the public domain being viewed.

 

Whether or not to get paid is completely the photographer's decision. However for a business to simply lift a photo for their own benefit without even the simple courtesy of asking permission or giving acknowledgment is rude and borders on unethical.

 

I 100% agree with your comment. But I would definitely get in touch with the company about the whole thing. Hopefully you get something out of it! Beautiful shot btw!

 

I just thought of this too... can't you track your images on flickr?

 

A few weeks ago I was alerted that a law enforcement agency had lifted one of my photos from my web site and was using it in a flyer they were handing out about a new license plate frame law in NC. They were handing out the flyers at a traffic checkpoint. It was kind of funny the edits they had done to it. I still haven't found out which law enforcement agency it was.

 

Does this happen to photobucket users?

 

I have no doubt that it does happen. It doesn't matter where the image resides -- Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa, or any website including NAM. If a user can view a photo in their browser, they can copy and use the image for their own purposes.

 

The photographer always owns the copywrite to their photographs. When you put the picture on a site of course other people will use it for their own purpose if they want to. They are really not supposed to but it does happen all to often. You can go after them but it is costly and difficult. First order is a cease and disist order. Then you have to prove they actually made $$$ from use of your photograph. Oh course you have to prove without a doubt that it was your picture in the first place that they used.

Anyone can use a copy of anyones picture for their own personal use such as hanging on their own wall in their own house. (NOT A BUSINESS) Wedding photographers such as I was at one time always had the problem of people copying our work. Of course we could sue our clients but I never have heard of any photographer winning a case.

 

Fair use is often enough protection for things like this to be forgotten. They are not making money directly off of your picture. That puts it in a bit of a grey area that only highly paid lawyers can navigate. If they were selling the picture it would be differant.

If I were you I'dask them for credit on the photo, or submit one to them with your name and copyright logo edited in. Asking for them to put thy one up. that's going to be the easiest closure.

 

I'm sure if you ask them to remove your photo it will be done. Most likely they hired someone to do the advertising & they are the one at fault here.

 

Thanks for all the replies (and compliments)!

The response I got was:

That site was created by a previous owner of CanyonLands who actually lived in Prescott with her husband. ... I was planning on redoing the site at some point but haven't had a chance since my wife took over the agency. I have no idea how they got the photo but I will get it down.

Sorry for the infringement. Beautiful photos.

I sure won't contribute to any lawyer's income, not worth it. The watermark idea would be worth the effort if I was a professional photographer. I suppose this could be used a resume in the future?

But I should be thrilled that the web site builder picked a MINI Cooper over all other cars, huh?

 

I'd just send a settlement offer and see if they pay as first round.

 

I walked into a convenience store once and found my picture on the entire cover of a nightclub magazine/newspaper.

Imagine my surprise to find out my employer had granted permission when the rep saw the picture of me in her office (I had just had the pics taken at a professional studio and gave her one).

To this day, I hate it when people take my picture...never know where it is going to end up. Guess I should have sued but I was so stunned, I bought every issue!

 

Just checked the link on my first post, they changed the Home Page, but when clicking on Prescott for a quote, there's Swifty! *sigh* Time to write another letter.

 

You may find this interesting reading....

http://guerillaphotography.wordpress...raphic-images/

 

Performance BMW magazine stole this photo of me in the back of my freiend's Z coupe and put it in their magazine. I sent them a very angry email about copyright infringement and their unethical practice of poaching photos from forums for their magazine and acting like they were submitted.

They apologized and told me they'd send me some magazines and never sent them. :shifty

 

I take a lot of photographs with my digital SLR. About 2 years ago I made it a practice to always take photos in RAW format and convert them to JPEG for any web publishing, whether it be my photo gallery, an attachment to a post on NAM, or email. One benefit of this is that since I'm converting to JPEG I just add a watermark to every picture (it's an automatic batch process I've created). The copyright watermark is obvious but non-intrusive. I can provide a sample if interested.

My though it that if someone nicks one of my photos, they will either (1) keep the watermark in place, or (2) modify the photo by removing the watermark. If they modify the photo, they're going to know that they're performing copyright infringement, not that that will always stop them.

As a result, I always have the original image that was used to produce the web-published content. When confronting someone about an infringement issue, simply state that they have knowingly infringed on a copyright and must either remove the photo or pay for use.

Just my $0.02