Someone using one of my photos in an ad without my permission

DougieB · Nov 16, 2015

I posted a few of my panoramas on Facebook and someone I know grabbed one and used it in an ad for his business.
I use one of my panoramas on my business page but not in ads for seminars. I know the person and like the person.
I was shocked to see my photo used by someone else. I emailed him and informed him the image as not licensed to him and to not use any of my images without making prior arrangements.

It is a skyline shot that has a business name on the side of the a building very prominently in the shot. I wouldn't even use it for a promotional photo. It's just a nice skyline panorama that I did.

thoughts?

SiBurning · Nov 16, 2015

Very easy to steal pictures these days. Or music.

If the person ceases & desists, not much more you can do except be upset about it. No reason to compound the loss by getting an ulcer. Much better to just feel flattered.

OTOH, if this continues...

Or maybe you can offer the use for a price.

dpm802 · Nov 16, 2015

Is the business name on the building HIS business? That may be why he chose it.

A simple written request on your part for him to Cease and Desist should be enough. Have it delivered by Certified/Registered U.S. Mail rather than an eMail, so you have documentation that he received it. Don't get lawyers involved if you don't have to. Nobody wins in a situation like that except the attorneys.

Contact the webmaster who designed the page in the first place, if you can figure out who that is. Both he and the business owner are responsible for the content of that page.

Read carefully through Facebook's privacy policies. Since you posted it on FB, they may have appropriated it for their own purposes, or they may have a clause that states that anything you upload is considered to be Public Domain unless you specifically keep it hidden and private.

DougieB · Nov 16, 2015

Interesting. It was not his business that was in the photo.
I will look into facebooks privacy policies.
i may take to ware marking the photos.
i really didn't think the photos were good enough for all this but...
the signage of the clothing store is very prominent
the ad was for a real estate investor seminar about the eviction process.
I have a neighbor who runs a department in that clothing store.
the prominence of the stores logo adds a layer of discomfort for me.

djh · Nov 16, 2015

Send him an invoice for the usage.

With details of the cost of usage up to date as well as an offer to licence the image for further use. Even if he takes it down now, he owes you.

Legion · Nov 17, 2015

Did you get a reply from him? He might be cool about it, and slip you a few bucks, or credit, or whatever you want.

Things become more complicated when the image was swiped off social media. Technically, depending on the laws where you live, by posting it on a website, the picture automatically becomes the property of the website. Facebook may work like that, I'm not sure. So if he did steal the image, he stole it off FB, because you "gave" it to them by posting.

It's a tricky business. That is why I don't often post images that I may want to use commercially on websites I don't control, and one of the reasons why my FB privacy settings are so strict.

But give him the chance to come around in a friendly way before you start invoicing him. :lol:

LogisticEarth · Nov 17, 2015

Instead of watermarking, look into putting your copyright in the metadata for the file. You can see some of this by right-clicking on the file, and going to the Details tab. There should be a value for Copyright and such. If you are using Adobe Lightroom or something similar, you can automatically tag yourself as the copyright creator of the photos. This is what a lot of professionals do, as watermarking is annoying and often ruins the image.

Second tip is to NOT use Facebook, Imgur, or similar sites to host your photos, at least not directly. I use Flickr, an alternative is 500px, and a few others. These websites are specialized to showing photos, and include copyright information and don't allow you to easily download the photo. There is no "save image to disk" option to third parties when it's hosted there. People can still use a screen-grab to get the image, but it will be lower resolution, and that extra step prevents like 95% of un-sanctioned use. The simple fact that an attempt to right-click->save image from Flickr yields an .html file rather than a .jpg is enough to make people think "oh, maybe I'm not supposed to be copying this".

So, in summary:
1) Put your copyright in the metadata
2) Use Flickr, 500px, or a similar site to share photos.

emwolf · Nov 17, 2015

LogisticEarth said:
The simple fact that an attempt to right-click->save image from Flickr yields an .html file rather than a .jpg is enough to make people think "oh, maybe I'm not supposed to be copying this".

+1

LogisticEarth · Nov 17, 2015

Legion said:
Technically, depending on the laws where you live, by posting it on a website, the picture automatically becomes the property of the website. Facebook may work like that, I'm not sure. So if he did steal the image, he stole it off FB, because you "gave" it to them by posting.

This is partially false. When you post an image to Facebook, you do not "give" the image to Facebook. I'm not full on all the details, but you don't release unlimited copyright to Facebook simply by posting there. What I believe you DO give, is a limited license for them to feature the image elsewhere on the site, in suggested posts, and potentially some marketing material, for Facebook specifically. You do NOT grant them the rights to transfer, sell, or otherwise take total control of the image. It's a limited license. So even if the guy grabbed it off FB, DougieB still holds the rights to the photo and can pursue legal action if someone else is using it without obtaining the use-rights.

Cash_Stronomer · Nov 17, 2015

Personally, I'd be just mostly flattered. I know it's not right to just use something that belongs to someone else, but at the same time, in today's world, it's just too easy to take anything from anyone, and we all should just expect these things are going to happen eventually as long as our lives and communications are on the inter webs.

sarimento1 · Nov 17, 2015

DougieB said:
I posted a few of my panoramas on Facebook and someone I know grabbed one and used it in an ad for his business.
I use one of my panoramas on my business page but not in ads for seminars. I know the person and like the person.
I was shocked to see my photo used by someone else. I emailed him and informed him the image as not licensed to him and to not use any of my images without making prior arrangements.

It is a skyline shot that has a business name on the side of the a building very prominently in the shot. I wouldn't even use it for a promotional photo. It's just a nice skyline panorama that I did.

thoughts?

Dougie, this has happened to me many times.

You have a couple options.
One, you can file a complaint under the Digital Rights Management Act (or something like that) with the website that hosts this guy's site and ask that the photo be taken down.
You will have to be able to provide some sort of proof that the shot is yours and you will have to provide your name, contact details and 'affidavit' that what you say is true.

Second option, is to contact the fellow. Since this is someone that you know and like, this might be the preferred route.
Then see what he says.
You might be surprised with the result!

Let us know how it goes!

We would be interested to see the photo and the illegal use, if you care to post.

Good luck!

DougieB · Nov 18, 2015

Thank you everyone for the suggestions. I did email the person in question. I have not heard back... I did see a new post and he seems to be using someone else's photo. I really anticipate he will not use my photo again and will not acknowledge using it next time I see him. If so... Water under the bridge.

I do use Lightroom and do copyright the photos in the meta data. Thanks for that suggestion though. I did think about invoicing him but thought it would be counterproductive.

I do use Flickr. I recently joined and am enjoying it.

I can't seem to be able to upload from an iPad no matter how much I try. I downloaded tapatalk app thinking it may help... But no...

Here is a link to the Flickr photo... If it works

https://flic.kr/p/zop6B8

August West · Nov 18, 2015

Posted by request and with permission of the author. DougieB.

BSAGuy · Nov 19, 2015

Good strategy. Might at least get him to stop.

djh said:
Send him an invoice for the usage.

With details of the cost of usage up to date as well as an offer to licence the image for further use. Even if he takes it down now, he owes you.

sarimento1 · Nov 19, 2015

DougieB said:
Thank you everyone for the suggestions. I did email the person in question. I have not heard back... I did see a new post and he seems to be using someone else's photo. I really anticipate he will not use my photo again and will not acknowledge using it next time I see him. If so... Water under the bridge.

the good news is that he probably won't be contacting you in the future!!

nice pano, btw.

MarkM10431 · Nov 19, 2015

LogisticEarth said:
Instead of watermarking, look into putting your copyright in the metadata for the file. You can see some of this by right-clicking on the file, and going to the Details tab. There should be a value for Copyright and such. If you are using Adobe Lightroom or something similar, you can automatically tag yourself as the copyright creator of the photos. This is what a lot of professionals do, as watermarking is annoying and often ruins the image.

Second tip is to NOT use Facebook, Imgur, or similar sites to host your photos, at least not directly. I use Flickr, an alternative is 500px, and a few others. These websites are specialized to showing photos, and include copyright information and don't allow you to easily download the photo. There is no "save image to disk" option to third parties when it's hosted there. People can still use a screen-grab to get the image, but it will be lower resolution, and that extra step prevents like 95% of un-sanctioned use. The simple fact that an attempt to right-click->save image from Flickr yields an .html file rather than a .jpg is enough to make people think "oh, maybe I'm not supposed to be copying this".

So, in summary:
1) Put your copyright in the metadata
2) Use Flickr, 500px, or a similar site to share photos.

I watermark and put my copyright into the meta. sadly it's simple to strip meta. that said, OP I recall seeing a discussion on Nikonians with your exact problem. IIRC, facebook does havd a PD clause, or, more specificlly it becomes Facebooks to use. you CAN complain to facebook, and the domain owner of the webpage. you are treeading in very murky and expensive legal waters.

grim · Nov 25, 2015

A DMCA take down notice is not going to stop anyone from doing it again. He can just put it up somewhere else.

Putting copyright info in the EXIF does nothing. It can be stripped or ignored

True recourse is to register it with the copyright office. If you don't care enough to register it, you cannot take formal action to sue for reinbursement. Just saying that you own the copyright means little w/out registering it.

sarimento1 · Nov 25, 2015

grim said:
A DMCA take down notice is not going to stop anyone from doing it again. He can just put it up somewhere else.

Putting copyright info in the EXIF does nothing. It can be stripped or ignored

True recourse is to register it with the copyright office. If you don't care enough to register it, you cannot take formal action to sue for reinbursement. Just saying that you own the copyright means little w/out registering it.

^this is true.

best action, is to register early, before it is copied.

registration serves as sort of 'proof of title', for action in small claims court.

without proof of title, the court process is quagmire.

with registration, the process is a slam dunk.

i've been through it both ways (with and without copyright registration) and can attest.

guzziknight · Dec 3, 2015

I put a large watermark that goes completely across the image. Also, any image I post to FB is very low res. It's very hard to remove that way. If someone wants to use it, they need to contact me.

This topic comes up a lot. The only true way to keep your images from being stolen is to not post them. For me, since I no longer do photography for a living, it's not that big of a deal, but only you can decide how important it is to you.

natenaaron · Dec 11, 2015

"Once submitted, any posts, images, or content become the property of Badger & Blade."

This is on the bottom of every page on B&B. It is why I only post snaps and inconsequential stuff. People give no thought to taking and using as their own.

The first time someone used something without permission I was pretty darn flattered. The second time I was mad. The owner of the site did not remove the image so I went to the webmaster and it was gone instantly. The webmaster has a lot more to lose.

Search

Someone using one of my photos in an ad without my permission

DougieB

SiBurning

dpm802

DougieB

djh

Legion

LogisticEarth

emwolf

LogisticEarth

Cash_Stronomer

sarimento1

DougieB

August West

BSAGuy

sarimento1

MarkM10431

grim

sarimento1

guzziknight

natenaaron

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