Copyright theft... Help please..

[Peter O'Connor]

Hi all,
My mate is having trouble at the moment with someone using his images and all He asked was a credit, She refused and refuses to take down the images also...
They are on Her facebook business page so being used as promotional material...
Where does he go now??
Is there a company that handles copyright theft?
Does He invoice her so it's a legal matter...
I don't know why she was so adament not to credit the images but she's being a proper madam about the whole matter..
He's a good photographer but not equipped to handle this properly or professionally..

Any steadfast routes He should take?

Thanks.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

I have had similar issues in the past, with unauthorized image use on the Web.

In the case you outline, I would go straight to Facebook, and tell them that they have a user that is using copyright images, and has not responded to requests to credit them or remove them.

Given their sensitivity to such issues, and their terms and conditions, I suspect they'll move very quickly to sort the issue.

Here are their terms around copyright:

Protecting Other People's Rights

• We respect other people's rights, and expect you to do the same.
• You will not post content or take any action on Facebook that infringes or violates someone else's rights or otherwise violates the law.
• We can remove any content or information you post on Facebook if we believe that it violates this Statement.
• We will provide you with tools to help you protect your intellectual property rights. To learn more, visit our How to Report Claims of Intellectual Property Infringement page.
• If we remove your content for infringing someone else's copyright, and you believe we removed it by mistake, we will provide you with an opportunity to appeal.
• If you repeatedly infringe other people's intellectual property rights, we will disable your account when appropriate.
• You will not use our copyrights or trademarks (including Facebook, the Facebook and F Logos, FB, Face, Poke, Wall and 32665), or any confusingly similar marks, without our written permission.
• If you collect information from users, you will: obtain their consent, make it clear you (and not Facebook) are the one collecting their information, and post a privacy policy explaining what information you collect and how you will use it.
• You will not post anyone's identification documents or sensitive financial information on Facebook.
• You will not tag users or send email invitations to non-users without their consent.

They add in their Q&A

Q - What will happen if I infringe someone else's copyrights?

A - If you infringe a third party's copyright(s), we will remove the reported content. We will also terminate repeat infringers when appropriate.

https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms

 

[Brian Moore]

tell them that they have a user that is using copyright images,

Chris...Do you know if must one proactively copyright one's images in order to receive such protection? In other words, when I post an image to Facebook (or any place else, for that matter) I don't put any kind of copyright statement on or adjacent to the image. Is copyright implied or does one need to state that the image is protected by copyright?

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Implied I believe - you can demonstrate ownership with the original image file if required at a later date.

Just because something may be on the web, doesn't mean that you've given others copyright to use your images without credit/payment.

 

[Peter O'Connor]

Thanks for that Chris.
I'd like to see if there is a possibility of getting some payment for my friend before He takes the route of facebook removal.

Would it be an intellectual propery lawyer is needed.

If the images are removed, no-one wins.

She'll lose the opportunity of having great shots of her dance show and He doesn't gain any credit or cash...

It's hardly a case for the high courts but who do photographers turn to officially in a situation like this.?

 

[Kev Pugh]

Peter

You may try looking here for info

Design and Artists Copyright Society, it may offer some insdight to what you/your mate can do

Design and Artists Copyright Society

 

[Peter O'Connor]

Nice one Kev,
That looks like the kind of info I'm after..
I'll look at it now...
It is for a friend!! not one of those 'my friend has a boil on his ****, what should he do' scenarios

It's just given me the impetus to wise up on the situation.

impotus, impetus, impatus? Impetus... yep. right first time,, looks kinds weird... wierd... wired

 

[Darren Bradley]

Wow. Like most people, I've also caught people stealing my photos in the past. But so far, in every case, they've immediately taken then down when I called them on it and apologized (usually with some excuse about how they didn't know...). But someone who refuses to take them down? Never seen that before! Seems like contacting Facebook and/or an attorney is the way to go.

 

[Brian Moore]

Implied I believe - you can demonstrate ownership with the original image file if required at a later date.

With film that's easy. If you have the neg, chances are you took the picture. But what about digital pics? Is there a way to identify that a digital picture was originally yours if someone has grabbed it off the web?

 

[Glen Roberts]

But what about digital pics? Is there a way to identify that a digital picture was originally yours if someone has grabbed it off the web?

When I post any of my shots on the web I leave the exif data in tact and when opened my name is on the file.

I don't know how to do a screen grab to show but here it is copied from one of my shots and pasted.

Second line from bottom Artist = Me!!!.

EXIF IFD0

Camera Make = Canon
Camera Model = Canon EOS 450D
Picture Orientation = normal (1)
X-Resolution = 3/100 ===> 0.03
Y-Resolution = 300/1 ===> 300
X/Y-Resolution Unit = inch (2)
Software / Firmware Version = Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows
Last Modified Date/Time = 2012:01:24 14:49:37
Artist = Glen Roberts aka Shaggy
Y/Cb/Cr Positioning (Subsampling) = centered / center of pixel array (1)

 

[Brian Moore]

Thanks Glen. (Or Shaggy). Doesn't the exif data go with an image copied off the web? And if so, it would seem that exif data might be subject to manipulation in post theft processing. Does that make sense?

(How did you get your name in there? Is it through a menu item or when you register the camera for warranty purposes or something?)

 

[Kev Pugh]

I have a comment added to my images in camera with my name and Copyright 2012, a menu option on Niks. also update Metadata in Bridge, when I remember that is

 

[Brian Moore]

I have a comment added to my images in camera with my name and Copyright 2012, a menu option on Niks. also update Metadata in Bridge

Thanks Kev. My question would be,...is that information secure if someone wants to rip you off? Put another way,...if push came to shove and you had to prove an image was yours, are these kinds of data secure enough to prove anything? (Mind,...if somebody ripped off one of my digitized film shots I'd say here's my neg,...where's yours? Is there an equally strong level of proof for digital images?)

 

[Kev Pugh]

I was once told that if, in the UK, you burned all your images to CD/DVD (right only) with all EXIF and Metadata, sealed it in a envelope/package then posted it to yourself registered and recorded delivery, and left it sealed, some form of tamper seal would be necessary then this could be used as proof of ownership. How true this is I have no idea, it was passed on to me by a friend who was a graphic designer a few years back.

Seems a little long winded but if hackers can get into the U.S. government mainframe then EXIF has no chance

 

[Brian Moore]

Thanks Kev. Perhaps the real protection is in posting low resolution images?

 

[Glen Roberts]

Thanks Glen. (Or Shaggy). Doesn't the exif data go with an image copied off the web? And if so, it would seem that exif data might be subject to manipulation in post theft processing. Does that make sense?

(How did you get your name in there? Is it through a menu item or when you register the camera for warranty purposes or something?)

Like Kev said, if someone wanted to they can probably find a way to manipulate it, after all it's only a few letters on a screen so to speak.

As for how I got it on there. I used the EOS Utility software that came with the camera, there is a way to program your name into the metadata.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

If the crims have the low res jpeg from the web, and you have the full res jpeg or RAW from the camera, then you're going to be able to show who had the original image.

 

[Brian Moore]

Thanks Glen.

 

[Hamish Gill]

Nobody can manipulate the data on the originals on your computer ... I can strip files of all meta data but that has no impact on the original file elsewhere!
Taking a digital photo and having it on your computer is enough to hold the copywrite ... And in fact if someone takes the exact same photo as yours with a different camera, as long as you can prove you took yours first theirs would also be copywrite infringement!