Copyright issues again

magnumlady

I'm going through a Facebook page (a tourist one) and have found photo's of mine that have been used without permission.
I mentioned that I'm cross about this on twitter and was told if I don't like it I shouldn't put my photos on the internet.

What do other photographers think?

Paulw

Lodge a complaint with Facebook about the user. There is a link somewhere that you need to fill in a form stating that they are breaching your copyright.

Me, I watermark my images, but when I have found images used without permission, I do lodge a complaint.

magnumlady

I have lodged a complaint with Facebook.

I've only recently started using watermarks...I was asking advice about this in another post...so if you can help please

Just a bit miffed at being told if I don't like them being used I should put them up.

Necronomicon

magnumlady wrote: »

Just a bit miffed at being told if I don't like them being used I should put them up.

Who said this? The crowd in question, or a random punter? If it's the latter you just have to ignore it, you see and hear those comments all the time from people that don't have the first clue about copyright infringement.

jpb1974

Name and shame... and we'll all start posting on their wall!

magnumlady

Necronomicon wrote: »

Who said this? The crowd in question, or a random punter? If it's the latter you just have to ignore it, you see and hear those comments all the time from people that don't have the first clue about copyright infringement.

A random punter. I think you are right. I had people agree with me and they backtracked.

magnumlady

jpb1974 wrote: »

Name and shame... and we'll all start posting on their wall!

This is the crowd: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002269761906&ref=ts

It's not just my photo's they are using, it's other folks as well.

artyeva

this has happened to me in the past and each time facebook has removed the images - in the space of an hour or two. in one case i also wrote on the wall of the page that i had reported them to FB for copyright infringement and while they removed THAT in the space of minutes, they later apologised, citing ignorance of the law.

mdebets

While I would agree with the earlier posters, that copyright infringement is not on and you should pursue each infringement you find, you also need to be realistic.
If you put your photo on the internet, it has a high chance for it to be stolen. If the site that hosts the stolen picture is hosted in Ireland, it is (relatively) easy for you to sue the person, if they don't take it down. But what are you doing if someone steals your picture and put it on a website hosted in Australia? Would you really sue them in Australia, if he wouldn't take it down, or even get a solicitor's letter from an Australian solicitor? I don't think most people were able to afford this, so they wouldn't really have any chance against that infringement.

Paulw

mdebets wrote: »

While I would agree with the earlier posters, that copyright infringement is not on and you should pursue each infringement you find, you also need to be realistic.

So, do what? Give up? Don't care?

mdebets

Paulw wrote: »

So, do what? Give up? Don't care?

No, do as much as you can. Send a mail to the person who stole the picture or to their host. If it is in Ireland and they don't reply, go through a solicitor.

But also keep in mind, that there are case, where despite all this you can't get the picture removed, because the person who stole it or their host don't care and it is prohibitive, to hire a solicitor in a foreign country.

PCPhoto

mdebets wrote: »

No, do as much as you can. Send a mail to the person who stole the picture or to their host. If it is in Ireland and they don't reply, go through a solicitor.

But also keep in mind, that there are case, where despite all this you can't get the picture removed, because the person who stole it or their host don't care and it is prohibitive, to hire a solicitor in a foreign country.

How so - if the law if on your side and I believe copyright law is international then you are on a winner EVERY time, how can you loose if they have broken a well known and well established international law ?

it may cost a bit to get started but at the end of the day ALL costs and compensation should be received.....all it would take is a solicitors letter demanding payment for legal fees, fee for usage of the image and immediate removal of the image from offending website.

As regards the OP - might be worth contacting Sligo Co. Co and find out who is responsible for the facebook page - phone them and ask to speak to their boss - explain to their boss that they have breached copyright law and could potentially cost the council hundreds of thousands and bad publicity if the word spread that the council were stealing images to use in an effort to cut costs... wouldn't look good come election time !! (especially as a lot of local images would be from local photographers or photo enthusiasts)

magnumlady

I reported it to Facebook and they've now removed my photo's from the site.
If the site had contacted me I would have let them use the photos...instead of them ending up with a small image.
Although I do think as a tourist site they should be paying for their own photos.

PCPhoto

I still think you should contact the Sligo Co. Co. and find out who is in charge of it.

Chances are they don't actually know they have performed an illegal act (or at least that will be their response)

it does seem that the majority of white collar crime in this country is seen as legal until you get caught and even then you plead ignorance of the law !!

EDIT: Even the earlier comment claiming if you put stuff online its likely to get robbed - while it may be true for now - it should be stopped and the law should be enforced - if the law is enforced people will learn that its illegal.

pearljamfan

its not fair at all to say that if u put something on the internet it will be robbed! id be miffed too! the same thing happened to me last weekend, i never expected one of my photos to be stolen!

a photo i took last summer of my husbands band was used in a local theaters flyers and posters advertising an upcoming weekend of music etc, they got it off my personal fb page, after we got in touch they apologised and said they didnt know where they got it from!! VERY cheap and sleazy of them i think, it really annoyed me:mad:, they shudve asked me and i would have said they could use it if they gave me a job taking photos for the theatre or something.

ive watermarked everything ive put up on fb now. (which takes me ages to do! more :mad:)

PCPhoto

ignorance of the law is not an excuse.

Photographers and amateurs/enthusiasts need to learn that if their image/photo is used by someone else you are entitled to compensation for copyright breach.

Pearljamfan - if you have a copy of the flyer/poster I think you should contact a solicitor and get them to send a letter on your behalf demanding compensation for illegally stealing your work.

the more people do this kind of thing and get away with it the more likely it is to happen again, but the more people take action (legal) the more publicity the matter will get and the more people will know that its illegal and the more cautious people will be when it comes to illegally using images.

xshayx

I am going to have to go the solicitor route, as emails and letters are being ignored from a Dublin establishment that has stolen one of my photos.

If i steal someone else's photograph, and they report me to Facebook, what do Facebook tell me?

I noticed that on the report form they want an address and phone number. They hardly give this information over to the person who stole the image?

Paddy@CIRL

Intellectual Property Law in Ireland is not very well enforced or regarded as seriously as it should.

You should try pick up a copy of Intellectual Property Law by the Law Society of Ireland (ISBN 1859418058) as it'll give you a much better understanding of the laws surrounding copyright along with the appropriate legislation. It's no substitution for a solicitor but if you're serious about photography it'll be of great use.

Regarding the whole 'if you put it on the net, expect it to be stolen' argument, it's complete BS - an artist / photographer has a right to publicly display their work without fear of it being stolen or misused.

challengemaster

Deleted User wrote: »

If i steal someone else's photograph, and they report me to Facebook, what do Facebook tell me?

I noticed that on the report form they want an address and phone number. They hardly give this information over to the person who stole the image?

Probably to remove the offending article ASAP or your account will be deleted... or atleast that's what you'd hope

ScumLord

PCPhoto wrote: »

How so - if the law if on your side and I believe copyright law is international then you are on a winner EVERY time, how can you loose if they have broken a well known and well established international law ?

it may cost a bit to get started but at the end of the day ALL costs and compensation should be received.....

Wining a copyright claim doesn't necessarily mean you'll be rolling in it. I've been involved in a copyright claim where the company didn't get back anywhere near what they spent on fighting it.

If you can find an amicable settlement outside of court then I think you should do and keep every bodies money out of the hands of solicitors.

These kind of people are chancing their arms to keep costs down, it's very likely they wouldn't have the money to make any big payments. You have them over a barrel but there are other ways to get something back out of it without involving the law.

magnumlady

Deleted User wrote: »

If i steal someone else's photograph, and they report me to Facebook, what do Facebook tell me?

I noticed that on the report form they want an address and phone number. They hardly give this information over to the person who stole the image?

I reported the Facebook page to Facebook. I think all that happened was they removed the photos.
I later got a message from the company asking which photos they had used, they weren't aware I had reported them.