image theft & course of action

[candleman]

Lets just say (hypothetically) that a website steals your picture and uses it without permission.

What can actually be done?

The obvious steps are
1.Contact them and let them know their mistake and say offer them a price for use
2.Ask them to take it down

If all goes well they will say “sorry, here’s your money.". or "sorry, its now been removed”

If they respond with “no”, or “come and make me”. What is the best course of action to urge them to be a little more co-operative?
Is there a copyright office or international webmaster/super internet-intendant that can waggle a threatening stick at them?

If its Joe Soap down the road it’s easy to knockon his door or give them a call, even local copyright offices might give some help… or even get a lawyer if need be.
But! if its someone in some obscure country… is there a genuine course of action without spending $$$ on a lawyer?


(lets not get into watermarking )

[private]

me thinks you are out of luck if its a country that does not recognize the copy right laws of your country.

[OsmosisStudios]

Contact the websites host, explain that the website they are hosting is in violation of the international copyright act and show them that the photo is, indeed, yours. They have to react, by law.

[Jim Bryant]

Do you know of a website or blog that has published your photographs without your permission? If so, you should become familiar with the The Digital Millennium Copyright Act – DMCA. The DMCA criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures (commonly known as Digital Rights Management or DRM) that control access to copyrighted works and it also criminalizes the act of circumventing an access control, whether or not there is actual infringement of copyright itself. In addition, the DMCA heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet.

Under the DMCA, you have to provide WRITTEN notice to any offending service provider. I strongly suggest you hire a licensed attorney if you want to learn more about the DMCA or if you want advice on whether or not you can take advantage of DMCA protections. But for those who are interested, I have attached below a sample letter that my attorneys drafted with an eye toward compliance with the notice provisions in the DMCA. I have successfully used this letter several times. I make no warranty or representation that it will help you, but it may be a good starting place for you. To be sure, contact an attorney.
—
Dear (SERVICE PROVIDER):

Please consider this notice of Copyright infringement.

I am the photographer and the Copyright Owner of the photograph picturing (I attach a jpg of the image on my site and a jpg of a screen cap showing the image on the infringer’s site), which as of (date) was posted on the Web site hosted at (URL). I did not give permission for this photograph to be posted on the Web page described. Pursuant to the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, 17 U.S.C. §512(c), please consider this letter actual written notice that this infringing material is being stored and/or resides on a system controlled by you.

The email address of the website operator, who has illegally reprinted my content is xxxx@xxxxx.com.

I hereby request that you act expeditiously to remove or disable access to the photograph described.

As the Copyright holder who made this photograph, I have a good-faith belief that the use of the photograph at (URL) is not authorized by me or by any provision of the law. I also declare, under penalty of perjury, that I am the copyright owner and the information in this notification is accurate to the best of my knowledge.

My full contact information appears below. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you.

XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX

—

Be sure to include your full contact info including name, mailing address, phone number, fax (if you have one), and e-mail address.

PLEASE NOTE: This post is not an endorsement of the DMCA – it’s merely a recognition that under the current law, this is one of many tools available to photographers to protect against infringement.

[OsmosisStudios]

Jim: Your approach works great if both parties are in the US. In this case, however, the DMCA is useless as candleman is in NZ and, likely, the infringing/host are outside the US.

There's a reason most big hosting companies set up shop in tax havens.

[dannyrich]

We once received a letter similar in UK, our web designers used a picture of London that required a license.

They placed a standing charge for use so far or a price to purchase the picture for use on teh website.

As I recall the charge was higher than actually getting teh photo but either way they also had to cover legals.

[FrankLamont]

There isn't an international copyright law.

[Free]

It all depends on the country that the offending party is in (or the server hosting the photo)...

Basically copyright law is only applicable in the country where the theft has taken place. For example if I in Australia pinch your work in New Zealand I am charged under Australian copyright laws. Most countries have an agreement where they recognise other countries laws so you're sorted. Problem is (and the way most pirate web sites stay operational) is that not all countries have signed up. If the website is based in somewhere dodgey in the former USSR you can't do diddly squat

The chances are the server is based locally or in the US though, so you can threaten to take things further, but they know as well as you do that you won't be likely to pay for lawyers to chase it up.

Find out where the server is based (use whois.com) and then decide if it's even worth sending an email, if so send a nasty email and hope for the best, but don't hold your breath.

If nothing else, put on your website a post saying that your image is so good people are stealing it. The bad press might even help convince them to remove the photo.

Good luck

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by FriedChicken

There isn't an international copyright law.

There is not particular law fleshed out by the WTO, btu there are laws in place that allow for international disputes to take place using local law. Sadly, for the US at least, the WTO doesn't recognize the DMCA much further than "the US copyright law"

[freybear3]

if you didn't send the photo in to be copyrighted, then you are outta luck.

if you did have it copyrighted, then pursue legal action.

I am assuming you didn't have it copyrighted. All you can do is basically write the sites owner (whois) and ask them to take it off. If they refuse become more stern about it. But it is basically your word against theirs. Yes, you know your the owner of the photo, but how are you going to prove it to a judge and jury?

If you had it copyrighted, then you could give the thief a good swift kick in the @@@ and pursue legal action.

Good luck