Stealing images from the web
- Thread starter IPT
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TotalVapor
In Memoriam
There has been a huge debate over this for years and so far no private person has won a court case (that I know or heard of) for copyright laws on the internet.
Unless you expressly state your images are copyrighted and you have them posted on the internet they are free game. If you post to photobucket or other free sites to include but not limited to forums then they are free game.
There was a case in the late 1990's where a person posted their photos on the internet and expected them to be copyrighted. Since they posted in a open free forum that was not the case. You give up your copyright once you post them was the ruling. HOWEVER, it was ruled that although the copyright was lost the right to royalties were not. If I remember right the ruling was against Real Networks and/or PeopleSoft, out of Santa Monica, CA.
In layman terms, anyone can use your photos but if they use your photos for profit they have to pay for them. It is a bit tricky to prove they were in fact your photos to begin with and you were the person behind the camera. If another person uses your photos for educational purposes all copyright / royalties are lost so long as you were notified and the original photographer. The shady part is they just have to tell the photographer they are using their photos for educational purposes, they do not have to get their permission.
I know this will start something of a flame or people quoting the law about copyright but until you live it, start the court process and get a judgment those "laws" do not apply.
For everyone one law against something like this there are 3 more against that one law. Giving all that information, is it really worth your time, or energy over a photo? If you do not want it used then do not post it except on your own personal website within your own domain that you own.
The only legal course you can take is ask them to take it down, if they refuse good luck!
Unless you expressly state your images are copyrighted and you have them posted on the internet they are free game. If you post to photobucket or other free sites to include but not limited to forums then they are free game.
There was a case in the late 1990's where a person posted their photos on the internet and expected them to be copyrighted. Since they posted in a open free forum that was not the case. You give up your copyright once you post them was the ruling. HOWEVER, it was ruled that although the copyright was lost the right to royalties were not. If I remember right the ruling was against Real Networks and/or PeopleSoft, out of Santa Monica, CA.
In layman terms, anyone can use your photos but if they use your photos for profit they have to pay for them. It is a bit tricky to prove they were in fact your photos to begin with and you were the person behind the camera. If another person uses your photos for educational purposes all copyright / royalties are lost so long as you were notified and the original photographer. The shady part is they just have to tell the photographer they are using their photos for educational purposes, they do not have to get their permission.
I know this will start something of a flame or people quoting the law about copyright but until you live it, start the court process and get a judgment those "laws" do not apply.
For everyone one law against something like this there are 3 more against that one law. Giving all that information, is it really worth your time, or energy over a photo? If you do not want it used then do not post it except on your own personal website within your own domain that you own.
The only legal course you can take is ask them to take it down, if they refuse good luck!
There is a ton of miss-information in that. Posting it on the Internet does not nullify your copyright. Photobucket (and every other hosting site) has terms and conditions that you must agree to before you create your account; i.e. you specifically granted them permission to use your images.
I'm a the technology committee chair for the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA)as well as the board liaison between NANPA and the Picture Licensing Universal System (http://useplus.org), I do have an inkling what I'm talking about. Don't blindly assume that what you hear online. There are THOUSANDS of lawsuits over this stuff each year.
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