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

[seashark]

Shady indeed!!!

 

[arrik2001]

i think helfrics chics tank is in there also i think

 

[serpentman]

I recognize a lot of those tanks. This guy kind of activity deserves absolutely no sympathy. Although he is guilty of copyright infringement, he is insinuating that he had something to do with those tanks. In my opinion, this also constitutes fraud on anyone that secures his services.

I hope everyone whose picture was used illegally pursues a formal complaint.

 

[caad3]

great info... Thanks

great info... Thanks

Unfortunelty, I don't think he would want to steal a pic of my tank, its sucks compared to the ones I saw.Lol

Don't bother wasting your time writing and requesting that your pictures be removed ... an individual like this that is blatently loading his website with multiple stolen images will only steal some new ones to replace them or ignore you. Instead, teach him a lesson he won't soon forget.

With the work we do in website design, copyright infringement and stolen photos are something we deal with on a very regular basis. The good news is that with the right information, you can simply and easily require that this guy's entire website be shut down due to his misuse of stolen copyright protected photos without permission.

Here is all the information regarding the registrant of this domain name:

Registrant
custom aquariums
(404) 680-6031 Phone
101 mccook way
kennesaw, Georgia 30144
United States
gacustomaquariums@yahoo.com

Administrative Contact
bobby taylor
custom aquariums
(404) 680-6031 Phone
101 mccook way
kennesaw, Georgia 30144
United States
gacustomaquariums@yahoo.com

Technical Contact
bobby taylor
custom aquariums
(404) 680-6031 Phone
101 mccook way
kennesaw, Georgia 30144
United States
gacustomaquariums@yahoo.com

Registered Through
GoDaddy.com, Inc.
Domain Name: gacustomaquariums.com
Created on: 2008-02-09 00:55:11
Expires on: 2013-02-09 00:55:11
Last Updated on: 2008-06-03 16:56:21

Domain Servers
NS13.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
NS14.DOMAINCONTROL.COM​

First, read these links from my website to understand the questions and information on Copyright (which the photo owners hold), and the DMCA act (which will allow them to require that the photos removed):

What is Copyright, and how does it protect you?

Protecting and Enforcing your rights - the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act)​

Then, file a DMCA complaint with his hosting company (Go-Daddy).

Here is Go-Daddy's policy regarding Copyright Claims:

Copyright Claims

1. If the Complaining Party would like to submit a copyright claim for material on which you hold a bona fide copyright, Go Daddy requests that the Complaining Party substantiate such claim by providing Go Daddy with the following information via email to CopyrightClaims@godaddy.com. The words "Copyright Claim" should appear in the subject line. A copyright claim can also be submitted by mail to: Copyright Agent, Go Daddy, 14455 N. Hayden Road, Suite 219, Scottsdale, AZ 85260

To be considered effective, a notification of a claimed copyright infringement must be provided to Go Daddy and must include the following information:

An electronic signature of the copyright owner, or a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive copyright that has allegedly been infringed.
Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works on that site.
Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit Go Daddy to locate the material.
Information reasonably sufficient to permit Go Daddy to contact the Complaining Party, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the Complaining Party may be contacted.
A statement that the Complaining Party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the Complaining Party is the owner, or is authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
2. For Copyright Claims, upon receipt of appropriate notification from the Complaining Party, pursuant to Section 1 of Copyright Claims above, Go Daddy will remove or disable access to the material that is claimed to be infringing.

Repeat Infringers
It is Go Daddy's policy to provide for the termination, in appropriate circumstances, of Go Daddy customers and account holders who repeatedly violate this policy or are repeat infringers of copyrighted works, trademarks or any other intellectual property.
​

Here is the beautiful thing: If you have to file a second time, because he steals more photos, Go-Daddy will terminate his account.

To file the DMCA complaint, e-mail the following (with the indicated information detailed in {brackets} replaced with YOUR relevant information) to the photos stolen and his website to: CopyrightClaims@godaddy.com. Use the words "Copyright Claim" as the subject.

Re: Copyright Claim

To GoDaddy:

I am the copyright owner of the photo content and images being infringed at the following URLs:

Stolen Text & Photo Content located on: http://www.{his website link showing stolen photo here}
Copyright Protected Text & Photo taken from: http://www.{website link showing original photo he took here}

Stolen Text & Photo Content located on: http://www.http://www.{his website link showing stolen photo here}
Copyright Protected Text & Photo taken from: http://www.{website link showing original photo he took here}

{etc... repeat to list more photos. You can also attach copies of the specific photos taken}

This letter is official notification under the provisions of Section 512(c) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("œDMCA") to effect removal of the above-reported infringements. I request that you immediately issue a cancellation message as specified in RFC 1036 for the specified postings and prevent the infringer, who is identified by its web address, from posting the infringing materials to your servers in the future. Please be advised that law requires you, as a service provider, to "œexpeditiously remove or disable access to" the infringing materials upon receiving this notice. Noncompliance may result in a loss of immunity for liability under the DMCA.

I have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of here is not authorized by me, the copyright holder, or the law. The information provided here is accurate to the best of my knowledge. I swear under penalty of perjury that I am the copyright holder.

Please send me at the address noted below a prompt response indicating the actions you have taken to resolve this matter.

Sincerely,
/s/ {Your full name here}
Email: {Your eMail address here}
Phone: {Your phone number here}
Address: {Your mailing address here}​

This is all you need to do. GoDaddy is very prompt at resolving copyright issues and his site should be SHUT DOWN within a day or so of you filing this e-mail.

Please feel free to e-mail or PM me directly if we can be of further assistance answering related questions...

Richard

 

[ReefWaters]

The photos are under his gallery link and then "Members Tanks." So at a minimum he is insinuating that the owners of these tanks are in some way a "member" of his site or services.

He also has RC linked under "Resources." Not sure if RC gives blanket permission for anyone to link to the site or not. Especially under the guise of a business.

I completely agree. This is Shady Shady Shady and misleading to his potential, or current, customers.

I'm not sure I would hire a lawyer or anything but I would definitely suggest that at a minimum everyone who he stole a photo from, as well as RC, report him to GoDaddy.

 

[Lightsluvr]

Prediction

Prediction

If the site owner is smart, I suspect the photos will disappear soon.

If anyone cares, they might save screen shots while you can.

LL

 

[Volcano1]

Yep, that a Pic of Tom's Tank for sure.

 

[Lightsluvr]

Reply

Reply

Here is the text of a reply e-mail I received from the site owner:

----- Original Message -----

--- On Thu, 1/7/10, George xxxxxx <Lightsluvr@xxxx.net> wrote:
From: George xxxxxx <Lightsluvr@xxxx.net>
Subject: website photos
To: gacustomaquariums@yahoo.com
Date: Thursday, January 7, 2010, 2:34 PM


Some of your website photos look very familiar... you say they are "member photos"... May I ask, members of what?

George Adkins

Reply:

From: bobby Taylor
To: George xxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2010 5.50 PM
Subject: Re: website photos


Sorry, for the confusion. I had a friend/college kid create a website. i told him to just put up some example tanks. this is what he did. the site isnt even hooked up with google or any real advertising, so i doubt anyone has ever seen the pics. i will have him work on it immediately. i would remove it but i have no idea how to do it. i have been informed and doing my best to remove


LL

 

[montipora80]

Wow thats just wrong he is taking the pics as if you guys and others have used him to get yours tanks looking as great as they do.

 

[jlaudiofreak]

replay bobby Taylor
To: George xxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2010 5.50 PM
Subject: Re: website photos


Sorry, for the confusion. I had a friend/college kid create a website. i told him to just put up some example tanks. this is what he did. the site isnt even hooked up with google or any real advertising, so i doubt anyone has ever seen the pics. i will have him work on it immediately. i would remove it but i have no idea how to do it. i have been informed and doing my best to remove


LL[/QUOTE]

He is spaming all over craigslist with his ad for aquarium maintance. Thats how I found his ad and website

 

[prop-frags]

I had a friend/college kid create a website.

Oh that's it.
Throw the "kid" under the bus.

 

[anguswu]

Wow, my old tank also have a picture in his page.
I live in Taiwan. I am sure he did not build my tank. lol

 

[spleify]

Wow what a shady character.

 

[elijaher]

It's not a good business at all for him. If cosumer ask more about a tank that they saw. He most likely will not know much about it. That will hurt him anyway.

 

[Fitchguy]

I know how this looks, and I recognize all of the tanks as well. Biut playing devils advocate, since when are our photos, posted on a public sight copyrighted? THe paparazzi photos get every where in seconds when there is a wardrobe malfunction or something. Especially the Super Bowl one. It says all the times that all parts of the broadcast are Property of the NFL but there were pictures everywhere in seconds! I figure if you post a picture on a public site for all to see then you give up any rights to that picture. Just my opinion...but the owner did say all he wanted was examples of Reef Tanks! Personally I would have taken it as a compliment and not thought anything of it. I would think the only ones who may have a chance to fight it is the Reef Central moderators and I am surprised they have not responded to any of this?

One last thing, look at all thousands of Avatars people use on this site...many are artwork done by others, fish/corals from google images, etc. How many people have the rights to those pictures! Just saying we post pictures for all to look at and get mad when a business shows off our tanks...Come on the guy who wants everyone to claim fraud has A Warner Bros. Copyrighted Symbol as an AVATAR!!! LOL

 

[strout]

I will leave the politics to ya'll, but those are some nice looking tanks who ever they belong to, I like the one with the oval framing around it.

 

[jlaudiofreak]

Guys
All this thread was intended for was for the owners of the tanks to be aware that there pictures where being used on someones commercial site . I have talked to Bobby the owner for about 45 mins tonight and it was a good talk and he seem like an ok guy but we agree to disagree at the end. I also dont agree with people from here other then the tank owners emailing him hate mail.

 

[tangfish]

Has anyone called him? You can also call the state AG and/or Commerce Department to see about getting his business license pulled for false advertising using pictures he claims are from his past work.

 

[tangfish]

Well if it was my tank, I would be upset as well. Not only that he is misrepresenting his business which is a crime in every state. Nice guy or not. Its a crime to mislead customers of work he claims to have done.

 

[Lightsluvr]

Guys
All this thread was intended for was for the owners of the tanks to be aware that there pictures where being used on someones commercial site . I also dont agree with people from here other then the tank owners emailing him hate mail.

I sent him an e-mail to inquire about the "members" comment on his thread. I posted his reply on here. Very civil.

Is it "hate mail" to demand that a photo of your tank be removed from his commercial website?

Hopefully the guy is sufficiently embarrassed to pull the webiste until he can get legitimate photos up there. If I was in his shoes, I would have done it days ago.

JMO

LL