Should I do anything about my image taken and used in a business?

[Sirius Glass]

Back in 2012/13, a photo that I took at the last concert of the Beach Boys 50th anniversary tour (their final ever with Brian Wilson) was lifted from a Beach Boys forum and used on various external blog and indeed commercial sites.

Now, I don't do photography for money....I do it for fun....but I did write to every site where I found my photo pointing out that I owned the copyright and asking to be credited. A few pulled it, most apologised and credited me. Which was all I wanted. Was rather flattering to have a few more minutes of "fame" though.

I would at least reach out to them and point out that they're using a photo without permission. They might be unaware and could have obtained it from a source passing it off as theirs or public domain.

I do not want to go through every website looking for my photographs, and that is why when one of my photographs on APUG was copied over 250 times in the first 24 hours I stopped posting my work on any website. As a result of that one time, one of my customers cancelled his photograph print order from me. He wanted only photographs that were exclusive to him alone.

 

[Pieter12]

I do not want to go through every website looking for my photographs, and that is why when one of my photographs on APUG was copied over 250 times in the first 24 hours I stopped posting my work on any website. As a result of that one time, one of my customers cancelled his photograph print order from me. He wanted only photographs that were exclusive to him alone.

So how do you make any sales? Personal contact only? I would rule out gallery representation, since most galleries have websites posting exhibitions and artists' work. Seems limiting.

 

[Nancy123]

Back in 2012/13, a photo that I took at the last concert of the Beach Boys 50th anniversary tour (their final ever with Brian Wilson) was lifted from a Beach Boys forum and used on various external blog and indeed commercial sites.

Now, I don't do photography for money....I do it for fun....but I did write to every site where I found my photo pointing out that I owned the copyright and asking to be credited. A few pulled it, most apologised and credited me. Which was all I wanted. Was rather flattering to have a few more minutes of "fame" though.

I would at least reach out to them and point out that they're using a photo without permission. They might be unaware and could have obtained it from a source passing it off as theirs or public domain.

Thanks for your addition to this discussion, Agulliver. I've been in talks with the CEO of the company that has my photo on their site. It's been pleasant enough but not yet resolved. It seems the CEO thought it was being used legally and is trying to find out how it was obtained in the first place. I gave her three options, to please: give me photo credit, pay me a reasonable fee, or remove it. She opted to have it removed "ASAP", said it was removed, but is still there after four days. So the mystery continues....

 

[warden]

Manually checking every image is a PITA, so I did a minute of research for outsourcing it.

Anyone try this? For those interested in protecting their rights but don’t care so much about the money this may be good. It’s free apparently, and the software people share 50% of your license, should the thieves be convinced to pay.

Fair Licensing - settle copyright violations the fair and friendly way

Fair Licensing is a software to guide you through the process of directly selling licenses to copyright infringers worldwide.

www.fairlicensing.com

 

[Sirius Glass]

So how do you make any sales? Personal contact only? I would rule out gallery representation, since most galleries have websites posting exhibitions and artists' work. Seems limiting.

Personal contact only. I do not need or care to have a significant photographic income.

 

[Don_ih]

one of my photographs on APUG was copied over 250 times in the first 24 hours

So, how did you come up with that number? Is there some functionality of this website I'm unaware of? I have no idea if anyone has copied any photo I posted on here anywhere.

 

[Sirius Glass]

So, how did you come up with that number? Is there some functionality of this website I'm unaware of? I have no idea if anyone has copied any photo I posted on here anywhere.

APUG at that time provided the poster to right click on the photograph and see how many downloads had occurred. That number I saw was after just 24 hours.

 

[MattKing]

APUG at that time provided the poster to right click on the photograph and see how many downloads had occurred. That number I saw was after just 24 hours.

I'm sure that those were just views of your images, not converting your images to their own use.
If you display your photography using any medium, than you are expecting people to look!

 

[Mike Lopez]

I do not want to go through every website looking for my photographs, and that is why when one of my photographs on APUG was copied over 250 times in the first 24 hours I stopped posting my work on any website. As a result of that one time, one of my customers cancelled his photograph print order from me. He wanted only photographs that were exclusive to him alone.

Odd that you would get into the practice of starting so many “Post your XXX photos here” threads after such a traumatic experience. (Yes, we know that you don’t post pictures in those threads.) Maybe you should start each thread with a warning that posting images there will cost people sales of their work.

 

[koraks]

APUG at that time provided the poster to right click on the photograph and see how many downloads had occurred.

I'm sure that those were just views of your images, not converting your images to their own use.

Precisely. The 'number of downloads' is really just the number of views. In order for an image to be viewed by a visitor, it needs to be downloaded to their device. Therefore, 'downloads' are not indicative of copyright violations, theft, re-appropriation etc.

Odd that you would get into the practice of starting so many “Post your XXX photos here” threads after such a traumatic experience.

Let's not get into the thickets of personal views on whether or not it's desirable for one's credibility on the forum etc. to post pics.

 

[Romanko]

She opted to have it removed "ASAP", said it was removed, but is still there after four days.

I can confirm that your image is still on their website (definitely not cached by your browser or provider).

Once the CEO accepted the breach of your copyright you have more options:
1) Filing a complaint with the gosee.news domain registrar about the breach of copyright;
2) Filing a complaint with their hosting service provider;
3) Reporting the company to whatever government agency in their country is responsible for copyright protection;
4) Leaving a feedback on social platforms. To be on the safe side you should to be careful with your wording and avoid accusations of piracy or theft even if this is what actually happened;
5) Ask our moderators to edit the title of this thread to include the name of the offender. Google loves photrio.com and this thread will certainly appear in search results for gosee.news. We can help with mentioning it in every single post to "improve search results".

With 1) and 2) the normal procedure is for the registrar/hosting provider to contact the company and let them know of the complaint. Re-registering a domain and changing a provider is a lot of work and disruption to the business. If they are not complete idiots Gosee.news should listen and comply.

 

[Nancy123]

I can confirm that your image is still on their website (definitely not cached by your browser or provider).

Once the CEO accepted the breach of your copyright you have more options:
1) Filing a complaint with the gosee.news domain registrar about the breach of copyright;
2) Filing a complaint with their hosting service provider;
3) Reporting the company to whatever government agency in their country is responsible for copyright protection;
4) Leaving a feedback on social platforms. To be on the safe side you should to be careful with your wording and avoid accusations of piracy or theft even if this is what actually happened;
5) Ask our moderators to edit the title of this thread to include the name of the offender. Google loves photrio.com and this thread will certainly appear in search results for gosee.news. We can help with mentioning it in every single post to "improve search results".

With 1) and 2) the normal procedure is for the registrar/hosting provider to contact the company and let them know of the complaint. Re-registering a domain and changing a provider is a lot of work and disruption to the business. If they are not complete idiots Gosee.news should listen and comply.

Thank you for your suggestions Romanko. Since this all happened over the holidays, I'm giving them some leeway in making it right. This week I will revisit the issue and contact the CEO again, who seemed willing to "talk" to me on email. The more I think about it, the more I'm going to encourage them to just pay me a fee to keep it there. Seems like the easiest way to me. The question would then be, what is a fair price? I'm not sure I know. I also don't know how long they've enjoyed my photo for free so far.

 

[Kino]

You could try looking at the Internet Archive's "Wayback machine" to see if their website has been archived. If so, you may be able to see how far back your image has existed on their site.

Not every site is archived, but it is worth a look.

Wayback Machine

webcf.waybackmachine.org

 

[Nancy123]

You could try looking at the Internet Archive's "Wayback machine" to see if their website has been archived. If so, you may be able to see how far back your image has existed on their site.

Not every site is archived, but it is worth a look.

Wayback Machine

webcf.waybackmachine.org

Funny you should mention that. I've tried it and there's something about that URL it doesn't like and can't take me there. Plus, there's no date on the blog, either. :-(

Montreal / Quebec Production - Member of GoSee

Michelle d'Eze - Montreal Montreal - PHOTOGRAPHY: Producer PRODUCTION SERVICES: Photo Prod SUPPLY: Services

www.gosee.news

 

[Romanko]

I've tried it and there's something about that URL it doesn't like and can't take me there.

It was not saved.
It is now, complete with your image:

Montreal / Quebec Production - Member of GoSee

Michelle d'Eze - Montreal Montreal - PHOTOGRAPHY: Producer PRODUCTION SERVICES: Photo Prod SUPPLY: Services

web.archive.org

 

[Nancy123]

It was not saved.
It is now, complete with your image:

Montreal / Quebec Production - Member of GoSee

Michelle d'Eze - Montreal Montreal - PHOTOGRAPHY: Producer PRODUCTION SERVICES: Photo Prod SUPPLY: Services

web.archive.org

I didn't notice it was available to save like that. Thank you!

 

[Don_ih]

I'd sure like to know how you did that!!!?

It's good, because it gives you another place to get your photo removed from

 

[Nancy123]

It's good, because it gives you another place to get your photo removed from

That's pretty funny