Stolen images

[spidergecko]

What do you guys do when you find an image from your website being used on another site without your permission? Unless the pictures are truly registered copyrights, I think the little (c) we put beside pics means nothing.

I recently found a Japanese site that has used 4 of my images. Two of them were taken from my site and were credited. I am fine with that. However, two others were taken from a forum board so I probably didn't mark them (although the Japanese site did modify my pics - inverted the pics, changed the credit to their own font, etc. so they may have removed the mark.) I wouldn't have minded if they credited the board they took them from but they didn't. To make matters worse, the posts containing the pics are no longer on the original board; but I still have the digicam originals on my hard drive.

I sent a polite email asking them to mark my website on the pics or to remove the pics.

Anyway, I suppose, despite the irritation, it's not really a big deal. It's an informational site and at least someone likes my photos ;) Has anyone encountered this and how did you resolve it?

BTW, I am only mentioning they are Japanese because I don't speak Japanese. That made my email that much harder to write. I had to use Babelfish and really simplify the text so that my email made a little sense. (I sent it in both English and Japanese.)

[spidergecko]

I guess it isn't as common as I thought ;)

[Rikki]

It is, im in web hosting and design ( I own Kyrosera.com) and we have it happen all of the time. Take it to a law suit ;)

[daiyoukai]

I usualy dont put that much thought into using someone elses image. If it's a non high traffic board like this I doubt there would be that much bandwidth loss and most of the time I host them on my another server. It's never "artistic" photo's either, just a discriptive picture.

[BWSmith]

As soon as you take a photo, it is automatically copyrighted. I think it falls under intellectual property. I have had that problem with my avatar photo. I actually had someone email me and say that it was theres and that I had to take it off my site. I informed them that I still all of the originals from that series from strike to swallow and they THEY needed to remove it. They got very humble.

[spidergecko]

I didn't know that. I guess I should be more aggressive if I want the pics removed.

The owner of the private site has moved my pics to his own server, after modifying them, so neither I nor the forum is losing bandwidth. I wish he hadn't though because if I still had the control of the pics I would modify or remove them from the forum.

[Rikki]

Thats not true BWSmith. All pictures taken rather yours or not and posted public are free to use uless other wise stated. A copyright will protect your work for lifetime and then 70 years after you have passed away. Unless you have a copyright which cost about $100 images are free to use :(

[spidergecko]

According to this article, everything posted on the internet is copyright and you don't need to apply for a copyright. It is just assumed:

http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

This site states the same:

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter0/index.html

[Rikki]

From LegalZoom.com:
--------------------------------------------------------
Material not protected by copyright purchase (or otherwise protected) is available for use by anyone, without the author's consent. On the other hand, an author of a copyrighted work may prevent others from copying, performing or otherwise using the work without the author's consent.
------------------------------------------------------

The sites you listed are as said just assumed, and not true.

[spidergecko]

I don't know... According to the US Copyright Office (http://www.copyright.gov/), under "WHAT WORKS ARE PROTECTED?":

pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works

It also reads:

HOW TO SECURE A COPYRIGHT
Copyright Secured Automatically upon Creation
The way in which copyright protection is secured is frequently misunderstood. No publication or registration or other action in the Copyright Office is required to secure copyright. (See following Note.) There are, however, certain definite advantages to registration. See "Copyright Registration."

Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created, and a work is "created" when it is fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time. "Copies" are material objects from which a work can be read or visually perceived either directly or with the aid of a machine or device, such as books, manuscripts, sheet music, film, videotape, or microfilm. "Phonorecords" are material objects embodying fixations of sounds (excluding, by statutory definition, motion picture soundtracks), such as cassette tapes, CDs, or LPs. Thus, for example, a song (the "work") can be fixed in sheet music (" copies") or in phonograph disks (" phonorecords"), or both.

If a work is prepared over a period of time, the part of the work that is fixed on a particular date constitutes the created work as of that date.

Anyway, this is just from some quick searches. I'm sure even if the pics were protected we would have a hard time enforcing it. It's interesting to know, nonetheless.

[BWSmith]

I knew I was right! ;)

[marisa]

Qoute directly from the US Copyright website:

"When is my work protected?

Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.

Do I have to register with your office to be protected?

No. In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work. See Circular 1, Copyright Basics, section “Copyright Registration.”

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/

Marisa

[meow_mix450]

If you ahve a website and want to protect you imgine dont let them right click. But most can probly counter that

Meow

[Linds]

Yes, I've found my pics on web sites before, but it wasn't a big deal at all, as well as there's been at least one instance I know of someone passing around my picture claiming that it was there animal. LOL... Mr. Poopypants is known well enough, it isn't like nobody would catch on to that one! All they did was relabel the pic as 'commongroundboa' (lol... not even the right ssp. :rolleyes: ). I'm guilting of not putting the little 'c' on my pics, but that's bascially because I do not know how to get my computer to type it :o I was always under the impression that that was unecessary though, and that it was automatically copyrighted the moment you posted it.

Originally posted by BWSmith
I actually had someone email me and say that it was theres and that I had to take it off my site.

LMAO! :p

[Gary D.]

It is my understanding that images as they appear in their original context are infact the subject of intelectual and artistic copyright, however if there 5 significant changes to that image the owner of the original has no claim because the original artistic composition is no longer intact. (color change, distortion, collage, etc. would be examples of significant shanges)

[Tim_Cranwill]

Linds, just open MS Word, Insert, Symbol, and it should be there. You may have to dig for it but on mine it's in the "recently used symbol" area because I've recently used it! :D lol

Or just copy it from here: ©

:)

[spidergecko]

(You can actually just type (c) and MS Word will create the symbol for you ;) It works for (r) as well.)

[Matt_K]

I use alt + 0169 in Photoshop..

[Slannesh]

Been a web designer and owned a domain for a whole week now eh Rikki?

Domain name: kyrosera.com

Administrative Contact:
hostgator.com
hostgator.com LLC (sales@hostgator.com)
+1.5612088665
Fax: +1.5612088665
9964 robins nest rd
boca raton, 33496
US

Billing Contact:
hostgator.com
hostgator.com LLC (sales@hostgator.com)
+1.5612088665
Fax: +1.5612088665
9964 robins nest rd
boca raton, 33496
US

Technical Contact:
hostgator.com
hostgator.com LLC (sales@hostgator.com)
+1.5612088665
Fax: +1.5612088665
9964 robins nest rd
boca raton, 33496
US

Registrant Contact:
hostgator.com
hostgator.com LLC (sales@hostgator.com)
+1.5612088665
Fax: +1.5612088665
9964 robins nest rd
boca raton, 33496
US

Status: Locked

Name Servers:
ns1.kyrosera.com
ns2.kyrosera.com

Creation date: 23 Dec 2004 16:42:09
Expiration date: 23 Dec 2005 16:42:09


Not to mention you're dead wrong on copyright law. Perhaps it would be helpful if you didn't talk about stuff that you have no knowledge in? Then again, we'd likely never hear from you again if you did that. ;)

Just to satisfy my own curiosity... do you ever NOT talk a pile of crap when you're posting?

[Brent Strande]

Awesome! Just awesome!

[DragnDrop]

Originally posted by Rikki
From LegalZoom.com:
--------------------------------------------------------
Material not protected by copyright purchase (or otherwise protected) is available for use by anyone, without the author's consent. On the other hand, an author of a copyrighted work may prevent others from copying, performing or otherwise using the work without the author's consent.
------------------------------------------------------




According to LegalZoom you do not have to go through legal channels to secure a copyright, so please quote the proper info if you're going to quote them at all. If you read all the info on copyright, not just the first page, you will find that it is not necessary to register the work, nor is it mandatory to show the © in one form or another.

Registration and the Copyright Process (http://www.legalzoom.com/law_library/copyrights/registration.html)

The way in which copyright protection is secured is frequently misunderstood. Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created. A work is "created" when it is fixed into a book, tape or electronic medium for the first time. Thus, for example, a song can be fixed in sheet music or in a digital tape, or both. No publication, registration or other action in the U.S. Copyright Office is required to secure copyright. However, in order to enforce the copyright and for many other practical reasons, it will be necessary to register the copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office.



Copyright Library Infringement (http://www.legalzoom.com/law_library/copyrights/infringement.html)

Since 1989, a copyright symbol (©) has not been required in order to protect a copyright. However, it does put people on notice that your work is copyrighted and weakens any "innocent infringements." A person may use the "©" symbol even without registering the work with the U.S. Copyright Office.

In addition, the United States has copyright relations with more than 100 countries throughout the world. As a result of these agreement, a U.S. copyright is recognized and honored in most industrialized nations in the world.


Originally posted by Rikki

The sites you listed are as said just assumed, and not true.

The sites listed say the same thing your site does. You just didn't read enough of your site to find the info.

[spidergecko]

Originally posted by meow_mix450
If you ahve a website and want to protect you imgine dont let them right click. But most can probly counter that

Meow

I used to visit a site and they did this protection. I didn't particularly like the images on the site but the fact that they didn't want me to have them was enough for me to try and figure out how to get at them.
First I tried taking a snapshot of the webpage and cutting out the pic. That was too difficult. Then I tried copying the page to web software (I used Frontpage) and that will get all the pics.
But I finally found that you can just hightlight the pic you want and press CTRL+C to copy it. No problem!

So anyway, when I started my own site, I decided I was going to add the code to protect my pics. Did you know that Macs ignore all that protection? Anyone using a Mac can copy protected images with a click or two. I figured with the Mac popularity (I use one, too) and the fact that someone with a website probably has the knowledge/determination to take any protected images they want, it was safer just to let them have what they want. The best I could do was watermark my pics.

Anyway, I'm not sure why I told this story but since I devoted a few minutes of my life to writing it, I'm going to hit the "Submit Reply" button and you can use some of your life reading it ;)

[hhw]

There are many ways to bypass the "right click" detection; aside from using a different browser, you can view the source code and find the link to the real picture.

Even if it there was some way to feed the image to the browser without offering a copy of the location of the picture (which there isn't, as the browser otherwise wouldn't know where to view the picture), you can always do a packet dump and reconstruct the image from the raw data.

No matter what, no amount of code protection can do anything. If you can see the picture on your own computer, you can make a copy of it. 0's and 1's can always be reproduced perfectly.

[DragnDrop]

Or simply go through the browser's cache and find the image :)

[ravensgait]

The way I look at it is this, You should be proud that others find your photos that good. Unless they are claiming they took them or are say useing them in an add ie saying the animals in the photos are theres and for sale.

I'd just smile and say damm I took a good picture!!

We all do it grab and save a picture of this or that and often post them on boards like this to show or prove a point. now giving the owner of the pic credit would be nice but you may not know who took it... I've seen sites where they claim copy right to photos they state were taken by someone else , doesn't work that way unless the person gave the CRs to them.

I'll have to look at your photos and see if there are any I want to borrow;)

[BWSmith]

Just as an ironic side note, I just got an email a few minutes ago from a graphic design education company asking permission to use one of my photos for their logo. Odd timing. As long as people ask, I generally don't have a problem with it. I just always tell them to keep a copy of the email permission on file in case I forget ;)

[marisa]

When people ask me, I am more than happy to let them use the image, if not hand over even more for them to use. I never thought of giving them the persmission email if I forget. Good call BW.

Marisa

[spidergecko]

I really didn't have a problem with him using the pics. I was very flattered. I even told him he is more than welcome to use any pics he wants; just ask first, or at least credit me. But I suppose it's a kind of "school" mentality. I might not care that you copy my homework but you better ask first or I'll bop you in the nose!

[CamHanna]

Out of curiosity, has anyone here dabbled in selling photos or do you always lend them freely? I sold one once for $5 US; I've never had anyone ask to use one.

[DragnDrop]

Here is a partial quote that should answer most questions about stealing images online. There's way more info on this website, worth a look if you think it's okay to use a picture or info just because it's not displaying a © sign.
The info is from a website belonging to Dr. Ronald B. Standler attorney in Massachusetts and consultant, so it's pretty safe for even the non-believers to believe.


Some Observations on Copyright Law Copyright 1997-2001 Ronald B. Standler (http://www.rbs2.com/copyr.htm#anchor555555)
"Copying on the Internet"

A user who copies text or pictures from one web site and then posts the material among the user's own web pages is generally infringing a copyright. Even if the user makes some changes before posting the material, the act of posting can be copyright infringement, as explained above in the section on plagiarism.

Aside from legal implications of copyright infringement, reposting of material from other web sites can be an inconvenience to other users. The author may revise the original document frequently, but copies posted by other users will not be revised (indeed, the author may not know of the existence of these copies). The easiest way for everyone on the Internet to have the freshest information is to have only the author post the document. Other people can post a hypertext link to the author's document, to refer their readers to the most recent version of the document at the author's site.

Copying illustrations or diagrams or photographs (e.g., scanning a printed image or copying a GIF or JPEG file) always requires permission of the copyright owner, unless the works are clearly in the public domain (e.g., either a work produced by the U.S. Government or a work that was initially published before 1922 and was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office).

Posting a document on the world wide web is not publication. Publication is defined in the U.S. Copyright statute as

... the distribution of copies ... of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending. .... A public performance or display of a work does not of itself constitute publication.

17 U.S.C. §101.
Posting a document on the world wide web is a "public display" of the work, which is among the rights exclusively reserved to the owner of the copyrighted work. 17 USC §106(5).

I have seen many web sites with collections of images that contain a notice similar to the following:

If you find an image that belongs to you and you do not want it displayed here, send me an e-mail and I'll remove it immediately.

That may be a pleasant statement, but it shows a serious misunderstanding of copyright law. The law requires that the author of a web site, book, etc. ask permission of the copyright owner before displaying any copyrighted work. The burden is on the copier to ask permission. It is not the duty of the copyright owner to cruise the Internet and ask authors to stop infringing a copyright. In fact, the copyright owner can file copyright infringement litigation immediately on discovering the unauthorized use of copyrighted material.

[Linds]

Tim and Matt,
Thanks! :)

[Removed_2815]

I always put my name and the copyright symbol on all of the photos I put up on the web. I do this as an initial step to reduce theft of my images. I also make sure to never host a photo with the original size attributes so that if there is ever a question of ownership I can simply say mine is bigger (and bigger is always better, apparently). All of my images on the web are 500 x 375 yet I have the original 2048 x 1536 on my hard-drive so it would be a pretty clear case of infringement if someone is claiming that their 500 x 375 version of my photo is the original.
I mainly provide my photos to the Canadian Government and various State DNR's so proper accreditation is rarely an issue.
Take the time to put your name on it in an area that would be obvious if it was edited out (thus making it less desirable for theft) - you'll save yourself a lot of hassle.
Cheers,
Ryan

[Rikki]

Originally posted by Slannesh
Been a web designer and owned a domain for a whole week now eh Rikki?



Not to mention you're dead wrong on copyright law. Perhaps it would be helpful if you didn't talk about stuff that you have no knowledge in? Then again, we'd likely never hear from you again if you did that. ;)

Just to satisfy my own curiosity... do you ever NOT talk a pile of crap when you're posting?

What the hell is this about? Why are you diiginh into my business in the first place? I have been a reseller of ExcellHosting.net though just switched to hostgator, though it is none of your business what so ever.

Who are you to tell me what I do and do not know? I provided links to LegalZoom.com, worry about your self.

[Slannesh]

Because as i've already pointed out many times, your posts are filled with inaccuracies and in many cases just plain wrong information. This copyright stuff is just the latest on the list.

When you make claims that you have expertise in a certain area when it's obvious you don't then you make it our business. The fact that you've been caught in at least one outright lie and I suspect that's not the only one. As I said in another post, when you stop talking crap i'll leave you alone :) Till then i'll keep pointing out the factual inaccuracies in your posts and do whatever I please with information that exists in the public domain thank you very much :)