someone is using my photo for advertising!

Even if it's watermarked, it's stealing if they use it without permission. I get very cranky about that sort of thing.
 
I'm with Doug. Stealing is stealing. Whether it's your car out of your garage or your photo on the web, the person is a thief. They are making money off of something that's yours without your permission. There is nothing okay about it.

If they do not respond to your request to remove the image (or compensate you for using it), try to find out who hosts their website. Service providers who knowingly (and they will know after you tell them) host content that breaks copyright law become jointly liable for it. So the service providers take the issue very seriously.
 
kingfisher62 said:
Interesting thoughts people!

Just curious! Out of everyone who posted here ,how many do watermark their photos?
If so what program do you use to do that?
I know in our community here at RC we all love to share and show off photos of our 6tanks,fish ,inverts and coral but I do not recall seeing more tha n a couple of watermarked pics.
Click to expand...

I do, but I do it in an inconspicuous way that it doesn't remove the emotion from the picture. Some photogs slap a huge white watermark in the middle of their photos that it starts to look stupid. My watermarks are hidden somewhere in the photo.. so if someone steals it, they will think there is no watermark, but if you look closely, there is one in the middle ;)

Use Photoshop or LR to put watermark.

In addition, my EXIF data also has copyright info, but this matters very little because the EXIF can be stripped easily.

Professional photogs take these kind of issues very seriously. A lot of us do this for a living and it's like someone coming to your store and pocketing some merchandise.
 
i dont think a water mark would have changed very much here. all they did was use one polyp from his picture. so unless he watermarked every single polyp they still could have done what the did and just crop the image lol.
 
Don't waste your time with email for this, just pick up the phone and call Christine... I've done a lot of business with her and am here to tell you she's a very easy going person that will take you more seriously if you give her the courtesy of a polite phone call.

Personally I've had this happen to me over the years, and in every case where I found out I very politely confronted the owner of the company that was using my artwork without permission, provided them with a verifiabledated copy of the image in question, then propposed it be handled in a professional business manner that is amenable to both parties. keep in mind that 95% of the time this happens, it's not the company itself doing it, but a web developer somewhere that needs a particular image, and Google Images is the first place they will search. I know, because I'm a web developer! I'm also a pro-photographer and graphic artist, so I'm very well versed on copyright issues and hate it when it happens to me, which means that I don't play those games!

-Tim
 
i dont think a water mark would have changed very much here. all they did was use one polyp from his picture. so unless he watermarked every single polyp they still could have done what the did and just crop the image lol.
Click to expand...

It makes a huge difference. If someone crops out a watermark of an image they don't own and then use the image, the court comes down much harder on them.

From the legal perspective, watermark hijacking is one of the worst kinds of infringement you can possibly engage in.

First, there would be almost no fair use argument that could be reasonably made. Removing a watermark shows a great deal of bad faith and can greatly harm the potential market for a work. Even if other elements of the use were fair, that would be two major strikes against it in any such argument.

However, the biggest problem would be that, in the U.S. under the DMCA, hijacking a watermark would constitute removal of Copyright Management Information (CMI) and such infringements can accrue significant damages, even if the work is not registered. This makes it a very practical infringement to sue for.

In short, anyone who would engage in this behavior is setting themselves up for a very bad day in court, in addition to the simple fact that the copying and reposting of the image is by itself an infringement.
Click to expand...

From here: http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2010/03/09/image-watermark-hijacking/
 
i dont think he is going to take this to court "Umm, fish?" lol. it would probably be way too expensive.
Click to expand...

Right, but it's a heck of a lot more potent threat to take to the thief and their internet host, even if you don't ever actually intend to take it all the way to court. You want the people who stole from you to worry about whether you are crazy enough to take it to court and just how easy it would be for you to win (and get damages) if you did.

There really are several issues involved. The photographer is certainly in the right, but how much protection can the photographers enforce over their copyright and for what price? It's normally very cheap (free) to get someone to stop using your photo. You ask them to stop. If they don't, you ask their internet host to make them stop. The hosts I've dealt with have been really good about helping me out.

Farther than that, it starts costing a lot more money, so whether you are willing to keep after them beyond that depends on how mad you are about the theft and probably where they are located physically (it's a heck of a lot easier to sue someone that lives near you).
 
As far as cropping out; I thought about that when I was adding mine. I didn't want it to be matte. So I just plucked a pixel from the photo, and then went one or two shades lighter. I DIDN'T use a pixel of the focal point, but of the area I intended to PLACE the watermark. Very important so it was more like an actual watermark.
Positioning it in the photo had to be done just so however. I didn't want it to cover the photo necessarily, yet I wanted to place it to negate the possibility of cropping out. So I would make my name REALLY big, but transparent as possible while still remaining visible. I placed it so that about 1/4 to 1/3 of it covered the item in the photo. The 1/3 or 1/4 had to be placed on the item though. But that was okay since it had the transparency.
There was no way they could crop it out basically, but it didn't take away from the focal point. It takes awhile but it's worth it. :-)
 
xtm said:
I think you're missing the point.

The reason you want them to remove your photo is because it was taken without your permission, period. Think about it: you are basically degrading your work by accepting a freebie from them as compensation for using your photo w/o permission.

So, just politely ask them to please take it off and don't expect to even get any freebies. No matter how simple the photo is, it IS still your work, and you should value it.

JMO
Click to expand...

+1 Our work may not the "the best" but it does not mean people have the right to steal pictures.
 
wow, isnt a photograph artistically licensed when it is taken therefor no need for a copyright?
Click to expand...

A photograph is copyrighted as soon as you press the shutter button. End of story. If you _register_ the copyright with the copyright office then you get more umph in court, but the copyright is the copyright.
 
Seems to me that if Reef2Go isn't going to use pictures of THEIR coral in THEIR advetizements that they are hiding something. If they did it once, how many other pictures are not of their stock? Do you really want to buy items based on a picture that isn't of what you're buying.
 
That's too bad, going on 3 weeks? Even if they didn't personally crop and use the photo and their web designer did, that at least warrants some response. I wonder how they respond to issues with orders then? Crossed off my list of places to shop, that's for sure.

kingfisher62 said:
Makes ya wonder, doesn't it !

Still no response.

I Called yesterday and left a voice mail!
Click to expand...
 
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