Image theft, copyright infringement and other forms of unethical image use piss me off no matter who is victimized. This time it was me.
On March 3, 2012 I included this image in a blog post about a wonderful day of bird photography I had on Antelope Island. That post of course is still online and can be seen here.
Yesterday I received an email from someone who had been googling magpies online which brought her to Feathered Photography where she looked at some of my magpie images and noticed my copyright watermarks (both of them apparently, the older version with my initials and the newer one that included my name). Then during her search process she stumbled across the website of Earthfire Institute and noticed that they were using one of my magpie images and attributing the photograph to one Christopher Martin even though the photo had my copyright logo on it!
So “JD” notified me for which I am grateful. Here’s the link to the Earthfire Institute page that uses my photo and attributes it to another photographer. You can imagine my reaction when I opened it.
Folks often use my images online for various purposes. Sometimes they remove my copyright and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they give me photo credit in the image caption and sometimes they don’t. But doing either one is both unethical and illegal when they don’t get prior permission.
When I see it happen I typically send them a DMCA takedown notice and if they comply immediately I leave it at that (unless it’s being done for commercial purposes – when that happens I sometimes contact my IP attorney and let him handle it).
But this case is different. Seeing some other photographer given credit for my image got my dander up so I decided to go public with it. I needed the catharsis.
It could be an extremely sloppy error on the part of Earthfire Institute or deliberate theft by either EI or Christopher Martin. I don’t remember ever giving permission to EI to use that image but if I had I’d have insisted on proper credit. That photo sure as hell doesn’t belong to Christopher Martin.
Early next week I’ll send them a DMCA takedown notice and take it from there. At this point I don’t know for sure who is culpable, Christopher Martin or Earthfire Institute. Or both.
Ron
Notes:
- A bit of advice for photographers. It’s always wise to make a screenshot of the unethical use (which I have done). If you don’t and they remove the image you have no evidence that it was ever done.
- This happens more often than many might think. Here’s another outrageous example that happened to me but there have been many others..
I’m sorry this happened to you yet again! I cannot imagine how frustrating this must be. Go get him Ron! On the other hand, if you weren’t such a talented accomplished photographer, this would not be happening.
charlotte
Ron, what happened here and in other situations with your photos, is criminal. I hope that you can get to the bottom of this and get some satisfaction from the results. It is too bad that an honest person like you needs to deal with this.
Your magpie photos are spectacular [it is hard to find words to express the beauty].
Good luck on your endeavor. You have a lot of people cheering you on.
Thanks
Alice, I’d almost forgotten about this shot until JD notified me of the infringement. I guess the silver lining is that it’s been brought to my attention again.
Thank you. We are (finally) cooling down. Today we have a range of 4-17C (39-62F). Tomorrow? Who knows.
Ugh! Bad enough when individuals do it. But a non-profit? Someone’s not paying attention there. Sorry for this. Good luck with it.
Those are some of my thoughts too, Kath.
Wow! Surprising they kept the watermark in. Interesting also, the photographer credit is below your photo, but is within the frame of the other two photos.
Brett, I suspect the other two photos were actually taken by Christopher Martin. But who knows…
Hiss and spit. What a sad state of affairs on the first day I dip my toes back into the blogosphere. I will be interested in the outcome (and wonder how many of the other photos in the post they have attributed correctly.
Welcome back, EC. You’ve been missed.
Hey EC, glad you are back! BTW, how hot is it there?? Looking forward to some of your heat, warmth coming to the Northern Hemisphere.
Dick, EC responded to your comment. It’s at the top of the thread.
Sorry, I hit reply but have no control where my comment finally lands.
Sorry Ron, I guess you know your work is good when it is stealable!
I was amazed when I took a watercolor class at BYU a couple of years ago (I know me at BYU?) most of the class was young, adults 18-20, but for all our assignments they were copying exactly some photo reference or art work from Pintrest. I was surprised the class instructor did not say anything about the legalities and creating your own original work. I was taught through out my art classes you could use such images for reference but it can not look like the original. I use photos for reference of posture or how animals move or rests, but them make it my own, change the pose or angle. These students in the watercolor class were copying the exact image.
April, some years ago I took some of my classes to an exhibit at BYU. I was really and truly out of my element!
It sounds like your art instructor took a page out of the book of the woman who was the image thief in the link I provided at the end of my post. Makes me wonder if they were the same person – probably not but you never know…
No, she was not my instructor, but I did have a good chuckle at her copyright statement. She doesn’t want you stealing back your image!
Assholes!
On the positive side, that is one spectacular shot — I don’t think I’ve ever seen purple in a Magpie’s iridescence! Wow!
Thanks, Marty. I’m pretty happy with that shot too.
I am so sorry for you, thankfully you have the money to go after these “crooks.” I am probably adding to the problem since I shoot for personal enjoyment, I can’t afford to go after those that would use my images. However, one lesson I’ve learned is to take an image of the suspected use of ones image in case a letter or a phone call doesn’t solve the problem. What makes me angry is the dishonesty or ignorance that seems to run rampart. I am glad you are fighting toe good fight!
Thanks for the support, Dick.
Unbelievable! I’ve found that certain purportedly organizational pages often feature images with no credit to the photographer. When I see these, I comment loudly and in ALL CAPS that the photographer needs to be credited. Sometimes they do that but often they don’t. Some have begun stating “photographer unknown”. IMO, if they don’t know who took the photo it should not be posted at all. In the earlier case, that was egregious!
At Hawks Aloft, photographers are attracted to our nonreleasable educational raptors and frequently photograph them. Sometimes we then find notecards and images that clearly feature one of our birds, with no mention that it was a captive bird and no mention of our organization. We work really hard to credit everyone involved when a photo is posted.
So sorry this happened to you again. Be vigilant!
Gail
Gail, above and beyond the ethical issues of not giving credit I strongly believe it’s also unethical to not disclose “captive” when your bird is exactly that.
And I agree with you – posting someone else’s photo and stating “photographer unknown” is bullshit. And unethical at a minimum.
Agreed! Ethical photographers would never do that.
I hope EI will do the legal work on your behalf as it seems this guy CM (if that’s his real name) submitted multiple photos and snuck a stolen one in there. Sorry to hear this, but based on the quality of your work, it’s very possible this can happen again.
Thanks, Elmer. It happens often I’m afraid.
Not cool at all!! Sorry to hear this Ron. I hope that you find some justice and satisfaction at the end of this particular journey.
Thank you, Zaph.
This should be an interesting story. I wonder if you will get the truth from the perpetrator. Please let us know what you find out. And thanks to JD for being so alert.
Lyle, I really appreciated JD letting me know. I’d like to give her credit publicly by using her fuil name but she might not appreciate that.
Nothing raises my blood pressure faster than theft of my work, so I completely understand how it makes you feel. Every couple months I reverse image search only on my top selling work and 99% of the time find people using images to benefit their company. If I checked more often, I’d probably be miserable all the time, so I avoid doing it more often and dread every time I do check. I immediately do screen shots and make PDF’s of all infractions, attach them to an email, along with an invoice for the licensing fee. Although I get paid, 9 out of 10 times, it’s those people who ignore, argue and even threaten me, that I REALLY want to nail. Unfortunately, we still don’t have a method to sue in small claims court for copyright infringement. If and when that day ever comes, I’ll be collecting frequent flyer miles in court. Nothing gets me more worked up than a large, successful business, that feels they can use someone else’s work to benefit their business, without paying for it. They would never tolerate theft of their product, yet feel no shame in stealing for someone else. I encourage anyone who finds their work being used without payment or authorization, to pursue the culprit. Theft should never be tolerated or shrugged off. I hope you get satisfaction from your magpie pursuit.
I use reverse image searches too, Everett. It can be time consuming but worth it.
I’d suggest trying to find an IP attorney who will take cases on consignment.
I have a few connections with attorneys in large IP firms and the suggestion I’ve gotten in the past has been (1) get permission from an attorney friend in one of these large and scarey firms to use her/his name as your counsel (2) based on the cost of legal representation, when you have been robbbed of your intellectual property right, price your invoice accordingly and cc your attorney on the email. (3) contact the thieving company in writing – email will do – and ask for the name of their attorney/s, stating that you need to tell your attorney so that an invoice and demand letter can be sent. (4) tell the perpetrator/s that you intend to post on professional blogs and in social media what happened and the results. (5) post widely on your social media who did what to you and when and what came of it.
It’s on the principle of shoot a few; word will get around.
Martha, I’ve used an IP attorney who’s willing to take cases on consignment if he thinks they’re strong cases. He takes a sizeable chunk out of any settlement but I’m fine with that. I’m not trying to get rich with my images and it forcefully makes my point. For me it’s largely a matter of principle and what’s right.
Yeah, we agree, Ron, but in San Francisco attorneys play with their razors out all the time.
🙂
I must be missing something here, because unless you are charging tens of thousands of dollars for an online license, how can you utilize a lawyer and our court system?
A couple years ago, I had an attorney using one of my images on his business site. At that time, I was only asking $65.00 for the online use of that image on one page. He refused to pay and we went back and forth for almost two months, until I’d had enough and listed my course of action and gave him a 3 day deadline to pay. It included reporting them to the bar, social media disclosure and a story in the local newspaper. The real kicker of the entire correspondence was, his law firm wanted to represent me to pursue all my open infringements, suggesting I was leaving a great deal of money on the table. Imagine that! They spent who knows how much “lawyer time” to avoid paying me $65.00 for their theft, but wanted to sue everyone else who was doing exactly the same thing that they were doing!!!
Everet, my IP attorney is willing to take cases on a contingency basis when he thinks they’re strong cases. Typically they never actually make it to a courtroom.
Although the Creative Commons license I permit my images on Flickr to be used “as is” for non-commercial purposes with attribution, many users advise me of their intent and ask for permission even though they technically do not need to do this. Using the Google photo search tool can uncover abuses. One such was an advertisement for a tropical fish dealer in the United Arab Republic. It had two of my photos of a Great Blue Heron consuming an exotic Nicaraguan cichlid (Jaguar Guapote) and it was overwritten with Arabic script. I altered the link to my photo here (substitute a period for the “_dot_”): . Screenshot of the hijacked advertisement is here:
Tried to remove the reference to the links. It was not active but you have a very smart spam filter!
When they steal images and use them commercially like that it really pisses me off, Ken. A plumber in Florida stole one of my Bald Eagle photos and plastered it all over his website and the sides of his service trucks. I got my IP attorney involved with that one and the plumber paid a price for his theft.
But they always ask for a nondisclosure agreement (pre-Trump if you can believe it…) so I can’t say any more than that about it.
I certainly agree with Ron and with the feelings commenters expressed. I just want to suggest to everybody to not forget to stop for a sec and drink in that photo! Glorious bird, stellar photographer, miracle-making Nature! Thanks for all you do, Ron, to inspire us every day and create this little community of (non-theiving) appreciators!
Thanks for appreciating the image, Doreen. I like it a lot too. When I processed that image years ago my PS skills weren’t very good. I should go back and process it again to see if I can bring out more detail in the blacks of the head, neck and back. I’ll bet I can…
This is just appalling, Ron. To think that somebody would steal the fruits of your labor makes me sick. Go get ’em!
Thanks, Diane.
Audacity combined with stupidity. It is one thing to use a copyrighted image without permission and claim it as your own, but then to go ahead and publish the image under your name with the copyright showing is down right stupid. I applaud you for filing a legal challenge against the site and Mr. Martin. I can feel your anger. Whether you steal someone’s car or their copyrighted image – theft is theft and the thief should be punished. Thanks for sharing this Ron – very informative and educational.
Everett Sanborn, Prescott AZ
Everett, I haven’t “filed a legal challenge” in this case. At this point I don’t even know for sure who is culpable. And it’s even remotely possible that it’s just a stupid error.
I don’t have to imagine how you feel. The bright red when I put my cursor over the link to the Earthfire Institute says it all! Ironic that the Institute is likely stupid about the matter, as Jo Ann says. It’s an article about animal intelligence… apparently humans aren’t animals after all!
It’ll be interesting to see who is culpable, Nancy. It could be an extremely sloppy error on the part of Earthfire Institute or deliberate theft by either EI or Christopher Martin.
Nothing pisses me off more than image theft. So many assholes out there looking for attention any way they can.
“So many assholes out there”
Yup, anal sphincters galore.
Bas…..! 🙁 Sending the notice as well as publicizing it is a GREAT idea tho some of these thieves couldn’t care less about being publicly “outed”! Not only to get whatever idiot can’t read/question a copyright and the jerk who is getting credit. The sense of entitlement still amazes me. GEEZ! (being civil there)
“The sense of entitlement still amazes me”
Me too, Judy.
I can imagine how you feel! It takes nerve to do that …both for ‘Christopher Martin’ and ‘Earthfire Institute’. I have a hard time understanding why no-one questioned your watermark before publishing the photo. This is one of the reasons I stopped using Pinterest…I do a lot of needlework and was blown away when I saw designer’s patterns posted for everyone to use. It is another person’s livelihood that is being given away. I’ve heard the phrase ‘there’s nothing new under the sun’ when people are questioned but somewhere ethics and common sense has to come into play. I hope you get an explanation but satisfaction with the outcome.
Kathy, folks on Pinterest are the worst abusers I know of. Dozens of them use one of my Burrowing Owl images, not to mention many other images of mine.
You go get them, Ron!! Disgusting action. Ethics & Morality seem to have vanished these days. It’s all about “Me” and there is no limit on how it’s obtained!!! What ever happened to someone’s conscience???
“What ever happened to someone’s conscience?”
I dunno, Jo Ann. I know I wouldn’t be able to sleep…
Ron, I just finished viewing the website that “committed the crime” & was going to make a comment – it is so blatant they have to be stupid!! However, I stooped because I felt I shouldn’t write anything until you’ve taken your action. Just know we will be very willing to do whatever it takes to support you!! I’m very angry so I can imagine how you feel!!