{photo rip off story}
My dear friend Yvonne (thank you so much!) in Germany emailed me tonight with disturbing news: someone on eBay has taken my photo (below) and altered the colors and cropped it and is selling it as a print on wood, as their own work, over at eBay. I take photos of nature, dolls, animals, etc. as a hobby only, not to sell. What do you think of this?
Darling, huh?, originally uploaded by decor8.
Darling, huh?, originally uploaded by decor8.Here's the auction, see for yourself. I mean, what is wrong with people you know? If you take photos of Blythe dolls, you may want to check that auction because the person has a lot of other photos there that may or may not have been taken from the web.
(image from holly becker)
Comments
Amanda xx
PS. Has the parcel arrived yet?
Hopefully it will be in your PO Box by the end of this week. x
You've already contacted eBay, right?
LEGAL DISCLAIMER: We are not an authorized reseller, associate, dealer or representative of any of the designers, brands, or manufacturers that are offered in our auctions.
http://contact.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ReportItemMember&items=270329162763&seller=babyblue_72
The sad news is that if the photo was on Flickr, you’ve signed your rights away and the photo is now public domain. It’s still skeevy of people to try to make a buck off of it, but it’s not technically illegal. That’s why a lot of people use watermarks. A similar situation, by the way, happened with Virgin Mobile in Australia not that long ago. The company snagged a picture of someone’s vacation photos and used it as a billboard, and the person in the photo (who hadn’t given her permission for the photo to even be posted online) tried to sue, without any luck. I’ve had photos used without permission before, too, and it just stinks.
http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/reportproblem.html
all the best.
I get so angry when this kind of stuff happens..
It happened to me once.. a girl won an ipod in a magazine contest with a picture she took from my hi5..(with me in the picture!!!)
I was so mad.. and the magazine only said that it was not their problem ..
ARGH ARGH..
well, good luck with that..and happy monday :D
Bye,
Marianne
xoxo
Audrey
Personally, I agree that imitation can be a lovely form of flattery and if someone had loved the photo and printed it out to put on their bulletin board for inspiration that's one thing...but this by no means falls into that category. This is plagiarism pure and simple and then to top it off they are trying to make a buck off of it.
:( wish this hadn't happened to you.
some people are so tacky!
I hope that you report them Holly instead of letting it slide.
Good luck to you. I know this is disturbing news to wake up to.
Ha, they're probably getting excited at all the hits they're getting on their auction, when it's only coming from furious people on your blog! At least it doesn't have any bids, and I hope it gets removed!!
I had someone selling images of my artwork on totes. They didn't even bother removing the watermark!!
And yay for friends like Yvonne!
Blah. Sometimes "the internets" are not so cool. ;-)
I've had photos of mine used inappropriately too (aka sold against my will and such) and I know the feeling.
It's like being cheated :S
Jen Ramos
'Cards & Prints You'll Love...'
www.madebygirl.com
madebygirl.blogspot.com
No, that's definitely not true. All images on Flickr are 'all rights reserved' by default unless the owner of the account opts to use a creative commons license instead. This still doesn't remove copyright ownership - it just permits various uses of the images - all requiring attribution.
So you definitely have a case to put to Ebay. The person is breaking international copyright right law, plain and simple.
Ebay in the US is bound to comply with the digital millennium copyright act and will have a process for you to follow to have the item removed. Hope you get it sorted out!
totally kidding.
and it is definitely ILLEGAL here in germany, wether you use this picture commercial yourself or NOT.
i cannot tell you how i feel about all these stupid people out there stealing ideas, pictures and designs trying to make money with other peoples creativity!
at the moment this happens to me nearly every day, i'm so fed up with it.
you should report this to ebay, holly. and you should contact the seller and tell him to cancel this auction IMMEDIATELY!
xo
nic
and NO! all pictures uploaded at flickr are still licensed "all rights reserved" and copyrighted unless marked otherwise like:
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons
Attribution Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons
Attribution-NoDerivs Creative Commons
;o)
Ebay should remove it, eventually if you reported it.
I have been away at the Atlanta Gift show, Decor8 seems to be down, so I wandered over here to see what you've been up to, and found this post.
Which made me think of what happened to this designer at the Atlanta Show. Sharyn Sowell posted this on a licensing board, and gave everyone permission to share her story and name.
Orphan Works bill has been debated quite passionately, both for and against. Sharyn experience shows why it's bad for artists making a living off their creative endeavors.
This is a long post, Holly, as I am copying and pasting it, in it's entirety. Feel free to contact Sharyn, http://www.sharynsowell.com if you have questions.
It's long so you might feel it's better in a post rather than a comment, as it relates to your situation, and Orphans Works.
From Sharyn-
During the Atlanta Gift show this weekend I had an experience that made me reflect again on the devastating effect the Orphan Works Bill will have on us if it should pass without alteration.
One of my licensing partners told me to go down to the temporaries, where someone had work that looked to him something similar to mine but with a twist.
When I got there I was shocked to see my own images photocopied and used as wall art. My art was her booth. I won't bore you with all the details but suffice it to say she admitted she'd stolen my work.
"I didn't mean to hurt you," she said, "I just used your pictures is all."
I picked up a catalog before I confronted her, along with her name. I faced her with the truth and she readily admitted to "borrowing" but insisted she didn't know where she'd gotten them. "I really don't know, I can't remember, I have so many sources," she told me.
I insisted on taking samples of the images, which she didn't want to give me. I said if she didn't give them to me I'd call the police and make sure they took photos. I got the samples and stuck them in my briefcase. The quality was so horrible I was embarrassed at such a bad knock off! This woman thought that because she was showing my work on the opposite side of the country I would never know of the theft. If I had not been tipped off I'd have missed it.
I wonder... how many of us have our work sitting in someone's portfolio or showroom and we have not discovered it yet. If we do happen to find such blatant copyright infringement, what will we do if OWB takes effect, and our hands are tied? As soon as the new legislature is seated we need to start sharing our concerns and insisting that legislators listen and act to protect intellectual property.
Right now the law protects me but under OWB this thief could say she had no idea who owned the image and I'd have no recourse. Let's stay informed and make sure we follow the developments, insist on our voices being heard. Don't let this fall by the wayside because you've got battle fatigue.
I've been knocked off before but it's always been by big corporations. This time I faced the individual, looked her squarely in the eyes and was shocked to see that she had no shame at all, no denial, no guilt. It was very personal. I felt like I'd returned home to discover a burglar in the house. It shocked me how intense I felt about it.
I'll be calling my attorney in the morning. This was a good reminder for me, and I share it in the hopes that you'll keep this issue at the forefront. Especially if you have a new legislator this is a great time to make your voice heard. This weekend it was me, but next time you could be the victim.
Sharyn Sowell
This kind of thing is happening to a lot of people, unfortunately. One of my flickr contacts, a brilliant nature photographer in Iceland, found out (by accident) that a company in the UK was selling her art as posters. Another friend had some guy take all his photos of his native city (in Germany), put them on his photostream and say "I took these, I've been to this city". Really weird and really not cool.
No I am the copyright owner of the photo. I took the photo. I own the photo. And I'm not selling it or putting it on products, I simply take pictures of dolls for fun and post it on Flickr to share with other Blythe doll fans.
Holly
Dear Audrey,
Thank you for writing eBay in regard to this concern.
Thank you for taking the time to contact us with this information. I
understand how this situation could be of some concern.
I have reviewed the information that you provided regarding the use of
images or text in item number 270329162763, but at this point find that
I do not have enough evidence to show that the member has violated any
eBay rules.
Regrettably, we will only be able to take action if the owner of the
images or text writes to us. In some instances, sellers may have
obtained permission to use the material. Therefore, we often cannot
remove listings based on the representations of third parties whose
credentials we cannot verify.
We do understand the potential for further issues in this type of
situation. That is why, if you feel strongly about this issue, we
recommend that you contact the owner of the images or text, and
recommend that they contact us directly. Once we hear from them, we will
take appropriate action.
Also, if your friend owns the copyright to those images, she should
consider applying to our VeRO program.
More information can be found here:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/vero-rights-owner.html
We appreciate you taking the time to contact us with your concerns.
Thank you participating in the eBay community.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Skip
I work in a university library's video & computing department, and I have to give "the copyright speech" to our students & faculty pretty often. It's amazing how many people just don't get it. Just because it's easy to steal someone else's work doesn't mean it is ethical or legal to do so!
Hope Ebay will solve this soon!
jennifer, what giant balls someone has to rip of your print that you sell (on etsy) and attempt to also sell it on etsy as their own. that's so low.
Karen
You still own the rights to anything you have posted on Flickr...posting images on Flickr does not put them in the public domain.
here is where you go - just put the auction number in:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/replica-counterfeit.html
becky
Flickr is such a wonderful platform for sharing all our images and collections and hobbies, so it is sad that a few rotten apples have no decorum or shame.
I hope you can find a way to rectify the situ.
Thankfully, the majority of people out there are honest and sweet, just like Yvonne, who reported this matter to you.
Big hug Holly,
Tina
I am really sorry what happened to you, but unfortunately ebay is a great market for people like that.
It´s nearly anonymous and although they really try to block people that sell illegal or even stolen stuff, there will always be black sheep.
I read in your previous posts that you bought some furniture and I think a kitchen clock on ebay and everything worked out fine, thats great. As I am from Germany I have some sugestion for you. Next time you are looking for some vintage stuff you should look out in your newspaper for "Haushaltaufloesing" this is something like a garage sale, but most people give things away for free, nice stuff. As well I would recomend to visit "Flohmaerkte" (fleamarkets) where you can find all kind of great things sometimes expensive, but you have to negotiate.
(This is only in the summer.)
The great thing about it is that you can see what you buy (or get for free) and save a lot of shipping fees and as well get outside your four walls and meet new poeple. Isn't that great?
I hope I could help you out a little bit and get you even more excited to get back to Germany in May(?). Take care.
(:
I'll let you know what ebay says back to me.
Makes you wonder if there are people on the other side of the world doing the same thing with your work.
I had been in a similar story with my old brand name. A big and rich company took part of the name, later than me, registered it as an international trademark and that was it. Hard to prove for me, but true. At the end i´ve chosen another businessname. Tja...
Certainly report it. This person has stolen something that is your intellectual property.
Very sorry, hope you can get this taken care of!