What do you do when you find your photo on another companies website?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by dM, CEO on February 28, 2010 at 1:15pm

Melissa,

You did exactly the right thing. The photo should be removed by the person who stole it. Normally, you should ask the violator (if you can get in touch with her by email, phone or whatever) to remove the photo, and give them no more than a day to do so.

If that doesn't work, do exactly what you did -- contact the site hosting company and ask them to disable the site until the stolen copyrighted material has been removed. The reason I suggest asking the person to remove it first is because usually, the hosting company will not take action against their customer unless you have first tried to resolve the issue with the customer. I'm not sure whether that will be required here, but it's often the case.

But you did the right thing to stand up for yourself. I saw those photos at your site earlier this month and I thought they were so lovely!

I posted about this issue in a post called: "Help! Someone's Copying Me!" It might be helpful in assisting you in sorting through the emotions you are feeling right now.

I am sending Bubble Love to you!

dM

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Permalink Reply by IBN Member MelissaAnderson-Stowe on February 28, 2010 at 1:55pm

Thank you Donna Maria!

I did ask the violator to remove the photo also. Have yet to hear from them, probably won't. The photo is still up. I'm checking every so often. I'm giving them until tomorrow. Then I'll do as you suggested and contact the host company again. Thank you so much for your support, and "BUBBLE LOVE" back at ya! Smiles!

Melissa

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Permalink Reply by Melissa Vines on February 28, 2010 at 1:16pm

That isn't right...I'm sorry. They are really cute though. I hope you get it resolved soon.

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Permalink Reply by IBN Member MelissaAnderson-Stowe on February 28, 2010 at 1:56pm

Thank you soooooo much Melissa! I appreciate your support!

"Bubble Love" to ya!

Melissa

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Permalink Reply by Kim Hinnenkamp on March 1, 2010 at 10:32am

Melissa,

I am SO sorry this happened to you, I hope it is resolved quickly and the photo is taken down. Ok that being said I do have a question. How can you stop this from happening short of copywriting/trademarking all of your items, names and pics?

If the photos aren't copywrited isn't it giving the person free reign to your items?

Thanks for any advice,
Kim

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Permalink Reply by IBN Member MelissaAnderson-Stowe on March 1, 2010 at 10:55am

Hi Kim,

Yes, the photo is now down. Shew....

As far as the information & photos on my website... all are copyrighted to me and my company. It states this on my front page at the bottom below the tab bar and on my policy page. I have a call into my website host/designer to see if we can install a program to keep anyone from just right clicking my photos and using them for what ever they want. It's just a shame I have to do this.

So it's hard. I quess we all just have to be a police woman and make sure content isn't stolen. Unfortunately I think this happens quite I a bit. I just happened to find out about it by chance.

Melissa

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Permalink Reply by Kim Hinnenkamp on March 1, 2010 at 1:18pm

I'm glad to hear the photos were down and I must say that was pretty ballsy of the person that took the photos since they were all copywrited to your company! I have a friend who is a photographer that puts her logo across the photo. It's a shame you have to do that though, but there are alot of people out there that will just click and paste without thinking.

I have some photos on my website that I haven't taken, but they are through the website Vistaprint. So I know they are ok to use.

I hope this doesn't happen to you again and again I am glad they are down.

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Permalink Reply by Katherine Corkill on March 1, 2010 at 1:28pm

you hold the copyright to all of your original content including photos. It is not necessary to officially have them copyrighted or Trademarked. Images and Trademarked names used for years in commerce can contest anyone who comes in at a later date claiming right to it or tries to steal it.

Your are protected under the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act)

And when in doubt the other way of wanting to use something you have seen posted on the internet, always best to ask the author or owner of such before just helping yourself to something that may or may not fall under "fair use" doctrine. Misunderstanding how this actually applies can get one in trouble with the copyright holder.

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Permalink Reply by IBN Member MelissaAnderson-Stowe on March 1, 2010 at 6:19pm

Hi Katherine,

Thank you so much for the information. I really appreciate your info.!

Melissa

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Permalink Reply by Kim Hinnenkamp on March 1, 2010 at 6:43pm

There are also websites where you can buy a right to use the photo. The photographers put their photos on a website with a price attached and they get paid for you to use the picture. Keeps you out of trouble.

Kim

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Permalink Reply by Bryan Martin on March 1, 2010 at 3:31pm

Let me first say, I know the network likes for people to have their pictures posted, but I had to order a new chord for my camera and it hasn't arrived, so my apologies on still not having a pic. With that said here's my two cents on disabling right clicks. (with a java script everyone can feel free to use at the end of my post)

There is no way to keep your images 100% protected from being stolen on the internet. Where there is a will there is a way. You can gain some protection by adding a disable right click script to your pages; however, the Opera browser totally ignores ALL disable right click scripts and a person can also use a screen grabber and image editor to steal your pictures. There are even ways of getting all browsers to totally ignore all java scripts. It is unfortunate, but it's the nature of the internet.

*** EDIT ***
In my original post I posted a java script for disabling the right click feature on websites, that would have worked to keep your average lay person from being able to right click and save your pictures on almost all browsers (except opera). It turns out you can not post code here on the board (probably because it would interfere with how this page is rendered.) So for those of you who are comfortable with editing your own web pages, I am giving a link to a java script which disables right clicks. You just copy and paste the code and place it under the body tag of your page. http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex9/noright.htm

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Permalink Reply by IBN Member MelissaAnderson-Stowe on March 1, 2010 at 6:17pm

Thank you Bryan. Have a wonderful week!

Melissa

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