Someone's using my image - what do I do?

[WhitePhantom]

Hi,

Not sure if I'm posting in the right place - apologies if I'm not.

I've just found one of my images, a photo I took myself, on someone else's website. There's no copyright notice on my own website - does that matter?

What should I do? Just email the other site and ask them to remove the photo? Or demand payment for its use??

(But I'm partly flattered that someone thinks my photo is nice enough to rob! )

Ta,
WP.

 

[Pixelcraft]

First option, if they don't then consider another action.

 

[Kieran]

Ask them nicely - if there was no license agreement around it the legal side of it is pretty loose.

 

[Sprouter]

Yeah just ask them to please stop using it, and sadly that is about all you can do unless you can prove it's yours and then take legal action lol i dont' think you want to go down that road.

 

[mneylon]

Ask them nicely - if there was no license agreement around it the legal side of it is pretty loose.

No it's not.

If you don't use an explicit license then it's copyright protected. Choosing a license opens it up to interpretation. The lack of a license gives you more protection.

 

[Sprouter]

No it's not.

If you don't use an explicit license then it's copyright protected. Choosing a license opens it up to interpretation. The lack of a license gives you more protection.

Really
How bazzar? How does that work? Anyone could then claim that such and such image is their own without proof?

 

[mneylon]

Err no.

I take a photograph and post it to Flickr or my website. I retain full copyright on that photo.

If someone comes along and uses that photo without my permission they are in breach of my copyright and I can easily prove that I own the rights, as I have the photo ...

What's confusing about that?

 

[Sprouter]

Err no.

I take a photograph and post it to Flickr or my website. I retain full copyright on that photo.

If someone comes along and uses that photo without my permission they are in breach of my copyright and I can easily prove that I own the rights, as I have the photo ...

What's confusing about that?

I understand how it can be proven if you posted it on flickr or another site that requires a login becuase there could be a date of when the photo was uploaded proving that you had the image first but what happens if I take a photo with my digital camera upload it to my site and then format my memory card from my camera? How can I prove in this instance that the photo is mine?

 

[mneylon]

How can the offender prove that they didn't take it from your site?

You, as the copyright holder, are in the right. They are in the wrong.

It's up to them to prove that they did not infringe your copyright

 

[Sprouter]

Yeah ok, so it's up to the person that stole the image prove it.
In the example I gave the person that stole the image would not be able to prove it and could give the excuse that he in fact formatted his digital camera meaning that the person (like the op of this thread) would not be able to have him stop using the image.

 

[Coyote1]

If you dont really have a problem with the site the photo is on

Why not ask for a credit and a link back to your site.
That way everybody wins!

 

[Byron]

I would tend to agree with Coyote, if there site has a high PR and is well developed, ask for a link back, you never know, you might get part time commissions from it?

If they refuse, ask for it to be removed nicely, and then firmly

 

[WhitePhantom]

Many thanks for the replies.

I sent them an email asking them to either remove the photo or pay for it, and got a reply saying

"Further to your email, we were not aware that the photograph was specifically belong to anyone. It was available on the open web and was not a file or royalty protected image therefore there is no charge associated with it.

We use different images of places continuously and only use images that are not protected."

Based on the replies here, I've composed a reply summarising the points made, and requesting that they either give me credit for the photo and a link to my site, or else remove the photo.

I also suggested the following to them:

"To ensure that images you use are not copyright-protected, you would need to either take the photos yourself (or commission someone to take the photos for you), get the original owner's permission to use their photo, or download photos from a royalty-free website."

Am I right in saying that?

Thanks!

 

[mneylon]

You're right - they're so wrong it's not even amusing

They're either totally clueless or chancers

 

[Jenie0109]

you didn't put any watermark on the images?

 

[mneylon]

you didn't put any watermark on the images?

They shouldn't have to