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Stealing Photos for monetary gain... Right or Wrong?

4K views 59 replies 22 participants last post by  KyleT 
#1 ·
I've had my photos stolen a few times and didn't think much of it but when folks start stealing pictures for monetary gain, without consent from the original owner, is this considered something that is acceptable? I'd like to hear what everyone's thoughts are on this.

Take a look at this link (not my blog) showing an Ebay seller who's been steeling pictures to pose as his/her own to sell his/her goods. http://shrimpsider.wordpress.com/2012/04/29/shrimps-and-fish-usa-ebay-shop/

I don't really know how to feel for these folks who just think they can take other peoples work and pass it off as their own without even thinking.

Please do share your thoughts. Is this considered OK to do?

Nick
 
#3 ·
I haven't talked to E-bay... I should have, but I did talk to the seller first and he eventually took down my picture, so I left it at that. And now I'm seeing that it's not only me who's being robbed. It's just frustrating knowing that folks have the capacity to do this in a public market such as Ebay and expect it to be ok. :confused1:
 
#12 ·
Nail them to the Cross.
From what I've heard, the only thing I can do is issue a "Cease and disist" for them to remove your picture. There's more to it?

I see... well I cordially invite him to come on this thread and tell us why he think it's right to do what he does.

If you take someones picture of X item and pass it off as your own your not only stealing your lying.
I agree.
 
#17 ·
Only an ugly watermark across the entire picture would stop thieves (maybe not). I'm actually considering it now. :confused1:

Yep, apparently this guy doesn't take pictures of his own stock. He's been asked for pics on his new sale thread but he tells everyone to go to eBay for his pics. The pic of the orange sakuras look familiar too! Are those your orange sakuras nick haha?
I haven't seen that pic. The one I found out he stole was of my Tangerine Tigers.
 
#15 ·
Morally and ethically wrong, not to mention illegal. Unless created under contract that states otherwise, copyright belongs to the creator of the work, including photographs. If you can prove the photograph is yours, you shouldn't have too much of a problem getting it taken down. And yes, sadly, everyone probably should be putting copyright info on their photos because it is so easy to lift them in their electronic state.
 
#18 ·
#19 ·
It depends. This is a pretty gray area.

1. He is not selling your picture. He is just using it as a promotional tool

2. Anything posted on to the internet on a site open to the public starts to fall into "public domain" stuff. Kind of like how you can legally have your picture taken by someone that will use it and publish it without your consent when you are in public place because you can not "reasonably assume privacy". It's different but similar logic I think.

If it bothers you start putting ghost copyright images over your photos and send him a letter asking him to stop using them.

Just part of the new digital internet revolution we are going to have to get used to and readjust are conceptions I think.
 
#26 ·
Understood, but is this right to do? :icon_roll

Nick - I'll lend you my Cell ph camera and you'll never have to worry about this again. :hihi:

You pic & videos are your intellectual property and it is absolutely wrong for others to use without your permission.

There are appropriate levels of real world reaction to threse things. If the person is using the pics is a business competitor I'd be a bit aggressive in my defense. In that case I'd notify both the seller and Ebay.

If someone posted the same pic on another forum although equally wrong i think I might simple post and thank them for there appreciation of your pics them PM the person and request they give you credit for using your pics.
LOL

I'm sure if someone post something on ebay it's for monetary gain.

I've had that happen to me. I contacted ebay showing them proof of the original photo and ebay removed it from the auction. Took about a week but it's not too hard to get your pics off ebay
Why does one have to go out of his way to have all this done?
 
#20 · (Edited)
Nick - I'll lend you my Cell ph camera and you'll never have to worry about this again. :hihi:

Your pic & videos are your intellectual property and it is absolutely wrong for others to use without your permission.

There are appropriate levels of real world reaction to threse things. If the person is using the pics is a business competitor I'd be a bit aggressive in my defense. In that case I'd notify both the seller and Ebay.

If someone posted the same pic on another forum although equally wrong i think I might simple post and thank them for there appreciation of your pics them PM the person and request they give you credit for using your pics.
 
#21 ·
I've had that happen to me. I contacted ebay showing them proof of the original photo and ebay removed it from the auction. Took about a week but it's not too hard to get your pics off ebay

Oh, and stealing photos is wrong; monetary gain or not. As soon as you post them online they're copyrighted without having to say copyrighted, add a watermark or anything. Just make sure you keep the original in case you have to prove the photo is yours someday.
 
#22 ·
Ok so this brings up an interesting question for me personally, while back I had compiled a thread on this forum all the photos I used in it were pulled from google images. I later got a message from a individual that rather took me aback saying that I used their photos without permission which in all honesty had never crossed my mind! all I was doing was hunting down images on a public search engine for reference, was I truly wrong on doing so? I was not doing it for any gain etc.

That being said the internet is a public domain in general and just because it is tossed on the internet does not mean to me its automatically copyrighted, thats like saying anyone who right clicks an image and hits "apply to desktop" that makes them a thief?

As to this though using someone elsesb photos for gain is not right, not to mention misleading as thats not the actual product!

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2
 
#24 ·
Wrong. http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html


Unless you explicitly post it as public domain, post it to Wikipedia or something that requires you give up rights, your image is automatically yours and copyrighted, with or without a (c) symbol, unless you say this is for the public domain.
 
#23 ·
On one hand, it is unprofessional at best. I like to know what I am buying before I buy it. I'm a student, so funds are sorta precious at the moment. That's why when I find a good seller/store/shrimp dealer, I stick to them. They're misrepresenting their goods if they use someone else's pictures. It's stealing someone else's work at worst because someone had to buy a camera, take the time and effort to get the picture, find hosting and upload it. Getting shrimp to pose isn't always easy either.

And you can get decent - not AWESOME - but decent pictures even with a cheesy digital camera. I'm slowly learning that turning the ISO up is helping a lot. Granted, it figures my batteries died today and I loaned out the charger. D'OH! This is with a 40 dollar cheesy sony camera, too.

On the other, intent isn't magic. I save pictures to ooo and aah at. But I keep them there or share them with a friend. There's no profit making and someone might even go to the source. All one has to do is ask nicely or even put up credit to use a picture.

I mean, I love seeing people's shrimp pictures here. They make me smile and it's my goal one day to get into bee shrimps (omg so cute and 100% less likely to murder you than Africanized bees!).
 
#38 ·
This is one reason I rarely post images on the net. I've got a few here on TPT and 3 maybe four on FaceBook (still fail to see the value of that site). I follow a couple of strict rules. First and foremost, if you paid me to do a shoot it will never be put on the net by me. Second, if I give a photo of mine away as a gift it will never be posted by me. There may be variations, and there have been one or two, but the one that has all the post done to it is archived and won't see the light of day unless you ask for it again. I've got a sunset shot here that was a gift to a friend. It's not a bad shot. But the one I sent was so much better.
 
#40 ·
So if I post/link to someone else's picture of a shrimp, fish, plants, or anything for that matter; then is it wrong to do so? Should I or we all stop doing that?

To the OP's question...I think it is wrong to use other people's picture for monetary gain or advertisement without their consent.
 
#41 ·
I post others pics on here sometimes when someone asks me, what can a nice TB look like or something but I always credit it back to the OP if I can or at least mention when I saw the photo. There is no gain, just answering a question with a photo. 99% of people wouldn't care. I doubt speedie would even care if I was on a forum and someone asked what a shadow panda was and I posted a pic saying, here a pic speedie took of his. If I start selling shadow pandas, I should take photos of my own not use his.
 
#52 ·
Not only is it wrong to the image owner, but it is wrong to the customers as well. Pictures of shrimp should be pictures of your stock, not some beefed up glamour model picture found on the internet.

A watermark would do the trick, but it would ruin the beauty of your pictures Speedie!
 
#54 ·
Well, honestly. If I can try something before I buy it or see a picture, I'm more inclined to pay for it. I do not think posting an image forfeits your right to it in the public. Someone shouldn't lose the ability to go "Hey! That's not okay for you to use!" because they posted pictures of their merchandise.

Nor should people have to worry about posting fun shrimp pictures. I love them and they make me smile (Which is great when I look at them and try to tune out some guy on the phone telling me I should die of AIDS because he can't get internet. :|).

But the thing of it is, you don't NEED to steal pictures if you want to sell stuff. You can still get decent pictures with a digital or mid-range camera. The people in the photography forum could probably offer tips. I know adjusting the ISO upwards helps with digital aquatic photography.

Still, if you're a serious merchant, a good camera may be a worthwhile investment (And you can earn bonus points with friends/family taking pictures for them!).
 
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