Guy taking picture off here to promote his business check to see if one is yours

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My, oh my, how morality has been skewed since I was first learning right from wrong. The owners of these tanks have a responsibility to warn could be victims of this guys lies that he had something to do with your hard earned expertise in creating works of science and art. The easiest way to do this is to shut him down. If he has not done that himself at the first hour of learning of his false advertisement, then someone has to do it for him before he rips off some awe inspired innocents in Atlanta.

Its not an issue of a free internet / poster beware, it it false representation of his abilities.
Hope this helps in some way. I am not trying to insult anyone, just calling it as I see it from what I read here.
Now if he is 'cool' and what not, then he needs to give credit to the owners of those tanks he means to imitate.
 
I don't see where he says he set up these tanks...Plus under the resources tabs he gives the link to Reefkeeping Magazine, and to Reefcentral. Alot of those tanks are in the Reefkeeping magazine and plainly show that he did not set them up! To me that is giving credit, saying go on here and look at the tanks and information available! It seems people just want this drama and are pulling straws. Just my opinion
 
Fitchguy,

if that is what he is trying to say, then he needs to "spell it out in plain English." By not explaining himself he is implying that he had something to do with these tanks. At a minimum he is saying that these tanks are "members" of his website and/or service. They are not. At least one tank is in Taiwan, which is no where near Atlanta, GA. Even if he is "giving credit" as you say, he never asked permission to post those pictures to his website, which is unethical and illegal. Period.

Im not trying to get fired up. Im not. My tank is not even on his sight. I kind of wish it looked good enough to be! :D This thread is about right and wrong.
 
LOL Me neither ReefWaters. But as you are saying what he is implying, like you said he doesn't say anything about the aquariums being is work. You are assuming as are many people and we know what happens when you "ASSUME" LOL But yes it does say members, but that could mean members of the hobby of Reef Aquaria, or members of the forums and website that I list on my resource page. This is like proving Libel in court, or arguing religion. Just a dead end! Plus I don't think his intentions were malicous at all, especially since he did reply to emails etc.
 
Fitchguy said:
I don't see where he says he set up these tanks...
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He doesn't, but he labels them as "Members tanks", without spelling out the fact that the owners are "Members" of ReefCentral, not his organization. Look at a few other tank design/maintenance Web sites, and you'll see that it's common practice for these businesses to show off the tanks that they designed/maintain. Custom Aquariums' site looks a lot like the other sites, and "Members tanks" implies membership in his organization.
It seems people just want this drama and are pulling straws. Just my opinion
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Sure, a love of drama has something to do with it, but so does pride in the work the owners have put into their tanks, and indignation at finding out that a business isn't being honest with its customers.

Come to think of it, so far only two of the sites I'm linking have spelled out the fact that they were responsible for the tanks in their galleries. Let's hope the others are showing off their own work, too.
 
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eh, just do the godaddy complaint route if one of your tanks is up there, USEMORE pretty much handed you the resources (big kudos to him!)

whatever, dude is a scumbag, or ignorant, but when has ignorance been an excuse for illegal activity? The last time I tried the "I didnt KNOW the speed limit" line, I can tell you it didnt work for me!!
 
as a former godaddy.com employee, I can tell you they are very good in responding to the copyright infringement claims. The best way is to email them. I believe the address is legal@godaddy.com? I didn't read the full disclaimer above.

within a day, if they receive so many complaints, they will flag his site and remove it.
 
What copyright infringement? He used pictured posted in a public forum. He has not taken credit for either taking these photos or creating the tanks. He lists them under members tanks which means nothing. Sure we all know what he is trying to do and although I think its very wrong, I doubt very much you could legally do much about it.

This kind of stuff is done all the time.

I agree they should be taken down but if you are posting pictures on the internet without a watermark or copyright, its going to be tough to take legal action unless he was actually selling the images which he is not.
 
NeverlosT said:
eh, just do the godaddy complaint route if one of your tanks is up there, USEMORE pretty much handed you the resources (big kudos to him!)

whatever, dude is a scumbag, or ignorant, but when has ignorance been an excuse for illegal activity? The last time I tried the "I didnt KNOW the speed limit" line, I can tell you it didnt work for me!!
Click to expand...

What illegal activity? There is a moral issue here only.
 
I agree with JustinReef on this issue, Bad "immoral" misleading advertising is all. But not "Illegal" advertising. LOL I love these ReefCentral debates! Seriously
 
JustinReef said:
What copyright infringement? He used pictured posted in a public forum. He has not taken credit for either taking these photos or creating the tanks. He lists them under members tanks which means nothing. Sure we all know what he is trying to do and although I think its very wrong, I doubt very much you could legally do much about it.

This kind of stuff is done all the time.

I agree they should be taken down but if you are posting pictures on the internet without a watermark or copyright, its going to be tough to take legal action unless he was actually selling the images which he is not.
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Justin,

Are you a copyright attorney?

I'm not one either, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.

If the photos were "borrowed" from RC or most other websites, they are subject to the user and copyright agreements of the site. In the case of RC, "all submitted materials, text, graphics and files remain the sole property of their creator".

In my experience, if there was enough $$ involved to interest attorneys to file a lawsuit, the parties whose photos were used could recover money damages. Even if the alleged offender might only have to pay $1 money damages, he would be liable for payment of the prevailing party's attorney fees and costs, which could run into the thousands.

You can't take people's personal property and use it to promote your business.

I don't have a dog in the fight, but I strongly believe that the guy in Georgia should just take the unauthorized pictures down. This discussion would probably be over...

LL
 
THE GIMP said:
If he has not done that himself at the first hour of learning of his false advertisement, then someone has to do it for him before he rips off some awe inspired innocents in Atlanta.
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I wouldnt be to worried about that. Most people in the Metro Atlanta area are well aware of this person, atleast those whom frequent forums such as these. I do find post #60 particularly interesting. It sounds like it was done with the owner fully aware of the fact it was not photos they should be using.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1770633&page=3
 
I'm always a day late! Really wanted to see some nice tank shots :(

I would be upset too if I spent alot of time and work on my tank, and saw it on someone else's site claiming credit for it. However, I do feel some of you are over reacting a little bit.

Glad to see someone was able to catch this and point it out to everyone, so they could stop him.
 
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