How to Fight Back When Your Photo is Stolen—

[Bongo Shrimp]

(I posted this in the photography forum but am trying to let as many people as possible know so I'm posting it here as well. It's some pretty useful and important info)

 

I recently found that my photograph of a Pearlscale Butterfly fish was being used for retail sales on Getahugetank.com without my permission. It had been taken from my Flickr Portfolio. This happens from time to time and when it does, my lawyer or I contact the culprit to notify them that they are using my photo without permission and that they must stop using the photo without permission or pay for its use. Usually, people are polite, apologize and remove the photo from their site. But this is what happened with Getahugetank.com. In response to my lawyer’s call, the representative first said that he was not connected to the company and the people from that company were friends who were on vacation for the next few months with calls only being forwarded to him so he could not do anything about the photograph. When challenged on how orders for fish would be processed over the next months, he then said that he would provide information on how my attorney could go get these guys. When my lawyer laughed that he didn’t sound like a good friend, he said that he wasn’t taking the photo down from his site and that there was nothing she could do about it. He then hung up and within minutes called her back screaming that it was his picture, and the lawyer could “go do whatever you have to do but I’m not taking it down and you can even come to my house and kill my first born and I won’t take it down!” He then hung up again.

 

So here’s what my lawyer and I did. We filed a Digital Millennium Copyright Act Complaint with the appropriate web hosting company requesting the removal of the copyrighted material effective immediately. This is easy to do and does not require you to have a copyrighted photograph, only the true ownership of the photograph, although I do have a copyright. I used DMCA.com to guide me through the process. Within 4 days, I received a response from the Getahugetank.com ‘s representative stating, “I paid for the photo I dont [sic] think I am at fault but I took it down anyways...” When I went to verify that it had been removed, I found that it still was present on two pages of the website. So his representation that it had been removed from the website was false. Using DMCA.com, I resent the Complaint to the web hosting company and to him stating that my photograph was still on the site and listing the URL’s where the infringing content was located. About two days later, the content was fully removed from the site.

 

I understand that people use photographs for their own personal purposes all the time. Students need them for book reports. Nature lovers want a photograph for their room. I have no problem with that. But when a business takes a photograph for a business purpose without permission or compensation it is a misappropriation. It is wrong.

I was taught that when you do something wrong you apologize and take steps to correct your mistake. Apparently these are not the values at Getahugetank.com. So this is a company I would never do business with. Ask yourself: Is this a company you want to be dealing with if something goes wrong in your interaction? In any event, know that if someone takes your photograph and puts it on their website you can fight back and have it removed.

[VGT]

(I posted this in the photography forum but am trying to let as many people as possible know so I'm posting it here as well. It's some pretty useful and important info)

 

I recently found that my photograph of a Pearlscale Butterfly fish was being used for retail sales on Getahugetank.com without my permission. It had been taken from my Flickr Portfolio. This happens from time to time and when it does, my lawyer or I contact the culprit to notify them that they are using my photo without permission and that they must stop using the photo without permission or pay for its use. Usually, people are polite, apologize and remove the photo from their site. But this is what happened with Getahugetank.com. In response to my lawyer’s call, the representative first said that he was not connected to the company and the people from that company were friends who were on vacation for the next few months with calls only being forwarded to him so he could not do anything about the photograph. When challenged on how orders for fish would be processed over the next months, he then said that he would provide information on how my attorney could go get these guys. When my lawyer laughed that he didn’t sound like a good friend, he said that he wasn’t taking the photo down from his site and that there was nothing she could do about it. He then hung up and within minutes called her back screaming that it was his picture, and the lawyer could “go do whatever you have to do but I’m not taking it down and you can even come to my house and kill my first born and I won’t take it down!” He then hung up again.

 

So here’s what my lawyer and I did. We filed a Digital Millennium Copyright Act Complaint with the appropriate web hosting company requesting the removal of the copyrighted material effective immediately. This is easy to do and does not require you to have a copyrighted photograph, only the true ownership of the photograph, although I do have a copyright. I used DMCA.com to guide me through the process. Within 4 days, I received a response from the Getahugetank.com ‘s representative stating, “I paid for the photo I dont [sic] think I am at fault but I took it down anyways...” When I went to verify that it had been removed, I found that it still was present on two pages of the website. So his representation that it had been removed from the website was false. Using DMCA.com, I resent the Complaint to the web hosting company and to him stating that my photograph was still on the site and listing the URL’s where the infringing content was located. About two days later, the content was fully removed from the site.

 

I understand that people use photographs for their own personal purposes all the time. Students need them for book reports. Nature lovers want a photograph for their room. I have no problem with that. But when a business takes a photograph for a business purpose without permission or compensation it is a misappropriation. It is wrong.

I was taught that when you do something wrong you apologize and take steps to correct your mistake. Apparently these are not the values at Getahugetank.com. So this is a company I would never do business with. Ask yourself: Is this a company you want to be dealing with if something goes wrong in your interaction? In any event, know that if someone takes your photograph and puts it on their website you can fight back and have it removed.

 

 

tl;dr

[Catbus]

i would be pretty rattled too, kudos to you

[Bongo Shrimp]

i would be pretty rattled too, kudos to you

 

Thanks! Hopefully as many people as possible will see this and learn that they can fight back!

[Bongo Shrimp]

 

tl;dr

 

 

Seriously your loss. Those who read it will understand.

[Bobyboy]

Good read and very informational.

[pheallox]

Seriously your loss. Those who read it will understand.

You are completely right about this. Awhile back a member named ninjafish and a sponsor (fraggle reef) both had there pics taken from this site, and used on a retail site and they went through hell to get them taken down.

 

So thank you for posting your experience for others to learn from.

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

Very good information to know!

 

We never use photographs that are not ours, period! There is a level not only of copyright but of sportsmanship and character, play right!

 

All of our photographs of our aquariums on our site are ours!

 

I posted here because one of my photographs was used twice on the internet without my consent! One of them was for general knowledge while the other was for business purposes.

 

This was before I started my business so I never contacted the user of for profit use of my photo, now I have reason to find his photo if I can remember where I saw it.

 

Thanks,

 

Mike Guerrero

[Singlefin]

 

tl;dr

 

= too long; didn't read.

 

I had to look that one up. Why would you even post that? Just to get your post count up? This was an informative post. I'm sure it will help others. If you don't have time to read the post, move along. Don't be a ######## and post disrespectful Stuff. Thanks Bongo.

[Salty_Snack]

Really??? Why is it so important to you that you would pay a lawyer to do this for you? Are you a professional photographer or at least sell pictures of yours for profit? Was it a registered copyright or not? If it was at least you could get statutory damages. If not then you would have to prove your damages in court which would amount to next to nothing for you unless you are a professional and even then it probably still isn't worth your time.

 

I don't post pictures that I intend to keep out of the public domain on the Internet for the same reason I keep my doors locked. It's good that there are effective means to have your property removed when it's being misused but once it's posted up on Flickr just assume its out of your hands.

[Bongo Shrimp]

Really??? Why is it so important to you that you would pay a lawyer to do this for you? Are you a professional photographer or at least sell pictures of yours for profit? Was it a registered copyright or not? If it was at least you could get statutory damages. If not then you would have to prove your damages in court which would amount to next to nothing for you unless you are a professional and even then it probably still isn't worth your time.

 

I don't post pictures that I intend to keep out of the public domain on the Internet for the same reason I keep my doors locked. It's good that there are effective means to have your property removed when it's being misused but once it's posted up on Flickr just assume its out of your hands.

 

You're so wrong.

 

First of all I did it because I could.

Second, by United States law if you took the picture, you automatically own all rights associated with it. I own the copyright for the picture. If you do not own the copyright you can have it removed using the law. The only thing you can't do is sue for damages. Owning a copyright allows you to do this.

 

What kind of argument are you even making? "why would you care?" lol. I'm sure everyone else understands. .

 

I'm posting from my phone right now but later I'll tell you all how to easily find you pics around the web.

[Bongo Shrimp]

I should mention that you absolutely do NOT need a lawyer to file a DMCA complaint.

[NanoTopia]

It's a shame we may have to watermark our photos one day. I feel it takes away from the photo's appeal in many cases. I have noticed that some web sites do not allow you to copy/save images off there site. Is this a function N-R could put in place? I guess it might not be possible since many images are linked. Well thanks for the post, I did read it all

[Jessy-Ray]

Wow man, that's such BS. That guy sounds a bit mentally deficient to be honest. Good on you for standing your ground and not letting this clearly unstable "gentleman" do whatever he wants.

[buddythelion]

Copy/Saving images is a good preventative, but many computers have a snippit tool so that gets around that. But a preventative is better than none at all, I agree.

[Builder Anthony]

I use photos but i ask.It kind of sucks though because i have to look around for odd stuff and once you find it if you cant get in touch with the picture owner you cant use it so sometimes nice pictures are lost for noone to see again.......which is a waste.I dont think people get mad about showing there tanks.In a way a picture is like that.I really dont see what the big deal is its just nonsense to me.I could personally care less if someone uses any of my photos.I would feel bad though if i found a unknown zoa and someone took my picture and named it though.lolthis is also the stuff that scares me because people get all crazy over things.

[VGT]

= too long; didn't read.

 

I had to look that one up. Why would you even post that? Just to get your post count up? This was an informative post. I'm sure it will help others. If you don't have time to read the post, move along. Don't be a ######## and post disrespectful Stuff. Thanks Bongo.

 

I should ask you the same question for this post.

 

Hiring a lawyer? That's got to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard. He wasn't losing any money, and didn't gain anything through the process. Don't want them being stolen? Watermark your ####.

[gottaGOpoop]

I should ask you the same question for this post.

 

Hiring a lawyer? That's got to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard. He wasn't losing any money, and didn't gain anything through the process. Don't want them being stolen? Watermark your ####.

Agreed. Next time you have $ to blow, and time to spare. Ask me for my paypal email

[Bongo Shrimp]

I should ask you the same question for this post.

 

Hiring a lawyer? That's got to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard. He wasn't losing any money, and didn't gain anything through the process. Don't want them being stolen? Watermark your ####.

 

 

Agreed. Next time you have $ to blow, and time to spare. Ask me for my paypal email

 

1. It doesn't hurt to have a lawyer in the family.

 

2. It's my right to do this and yours as well.

 

3. Again, a lawyer isn't necessary.

 

4. I own the copyright for this image and can sue for damages. For this a lawyer is necessary.

[Newlinta]

IMO...this isn't really about money at all and the OP did the right thing.

 

I've had the same thing happen with a seller using my pics to sell their birds.

They were "profiting" from the use of my pic.

I contacted them and they did remove the pics.

If they had asked,I would have

said sure,go ahead and use them...just credit me for the photo.

 

This is about misrepresentation and dishonesty. If a business states a photo is a "representation"

and not a photo of the actual item for sale,as well as credits the photo...that's one thing.

If they are using my pic of a beautiful/healthy specimen and selling something else,that's another thing altogether.

 

To me,that's lazy and dishonest and I try very hard not to do business with people like that.

If you can't take the time/effort to represent your business in an upstanding way, you don't deserve

My business and likely don't sell a product I'd be satisfied with anyway.

 

Just my $.02

[MrAnderson]

BAWWWWWW!!

 

did you know that making an alt to circumvent a ban (and you just a a baby widdle timeout) is a nono?

[Bongo Shrimp]

IMO...this isn't really about money at all and the OP did the right thing.

 

I've had the same thing happen with a seller using my pics to sell their birds.

They were "profiting" from the use of my pic.

I contacted them and they did remove the pics.

If they had asked,I would have

said sure,go ahead and use them...just credit me for the photo.

 

This is about misrepresentation and dishonesty. If a business states a photo is a "representation"

and not a photo of the actual item for sale,as well as credits the photo...that's one thing.

If they are using my pic of a beautiful/healthy specimen and selling something else,that's another thing altogether.

 

To me,that's lazy and dishonest and I try very hard not to do business with people like that.

If you can't take the time/effort to represent your business in an upstanding way, you don't deserve

My business and likely don't sell a product I'd be satisfied with anyway.

 

Just my $.02

 

This.

 

If you don't want to act against people who use your photos without your permission, don't. In fact the rest of us don't care. This is for people who do care and want to act against it in a very affordable way without even needing a copyright.

[wombat]

Good for you. This is something that Aquacon and Marine Gardens do too, among others. I won't shed a tear if and when these websites and their thieving owners go out of business. Folks like you keep these people in check, even if it is just a little bit.

 

 

tl;dr

 

too short and stupid; ignored. Please take your trolling idiocy to other BBs so adults can talk.

[Bongo Shrimp]

I know the trolls are annoying but lets try to keep this thread from getting closed. It has some really good info in it.

[Singlefin]

It's cool to steal from someone if they don't know they are getting robbed?