Vendor Stole My Photo

[PeaveyBassist]

Hey Jason, can I put those pictures on my Facebook page? I was going to just put them on there but figured I should ask. I dont want to start another lawsuit.

[speedminded]

Found where the photo came from. This was the only place I put it where it didn't have a watermark across the center.

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showpost.php?p=1244113&postcount=524

Prior to that I posted it under the name of my old website on bimmerforums but had a watermark across the center and it was cropped in a letterbox version that doesn't show the wall above the car...so it's obvious the photo they have was taken from r3vlimited.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=997056

[speedminded]

Out of the many posts, this one attract my attention. I believe it is possible for anyone to

Reporteddd...buh bye.

[chirswisry]

Hello

Out of the many posts, this one attract my attention. I believe it is possible for anyone to

[speedminded]

serious question here

what about google image search would that not be an act of infringement. or would it only be if they had advertisements on the search page? where is the line drawn?

Depends on the country. German courts ruled that Google images is infringing upon copyright.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2008/10/german-court-google-image-thumbnails-infringe-on-copyright.ars

According to US courts though Google Image falls under fair use: "a doctrine in United States copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders, such as for commentary, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching or scholarship."

Google still takes the Digital Millenium Copyright Act serious and you may have an image removed from their search results at any time.

http://www.google.com/dmca.html

[Dominic49]

serious question here

what about google image search would that not be an act of infringement. or would it only be if they had advertisements on the search page? where is the line drawn?

[Wh33lhop]

you don't "register" for copyright, it's automatic as soon as you create the work.

Read further, after a response I figured that out and rescinded the comment.

[speedminded]

you don't "register" for copyright, it's automatic as soon as you create the work.

I've had stuff stolen on the internet before, it sucks to see others benefit from your own hard work. using lawyers isn't ideal but sometimes you have no choice.

Correct. Intellectual property is copyright material the moment it is created. Only statutory damages can be awarded but registering the image allows for punitive damages as well.

[nando]

I feel for you, but your methods seem like they are approaching blackmail. It sounds like (correct me if I'm wrong) you're basically saying "pay me or I'll register for copyright and sue you" simply because you are in a position to do so. If you already had the image copyrighted, it would probably come off a little differently.

That said, I'd be pretty fucking pissed too. And since when is a 2002 an E21?

you don't "register" for copyright, it's automatic as soon as you create the work.

I've had stuff stolen on the internet before, it sucks to see others benefit from your own hard work. using lawyers isn't ideal but sometimes you have no choice.

[speedminded]

I'm not sure if it was mentioned already; but, how did you discover that the photo was being used?

I saw it 3 days after their new website went live. It's in the letter.

[Fidhle007]

I'm not sure if it was mentioned already; but, how did you discover that the photo was being used?

He looked at the website.

[machined]

I'm not sure if it was mentioned already; but, how did you discover that the photo was being used?

[speedminded]

Serious question about this (since you seem to want to continue this thread)- but what good do you expect this to do for you? A notary can't "notarize said copyright infringement as evidence" AFAIK, their main function in most of the US is to "notarize" a person's signature- all that does is affirm that the signature on a document was indeed made by the person named on the document.



Like I said, I'm VERY interested to see how this turns out for you.

It's a legal time and date stamp. Also proves I did not simply create a screen capture then photoshop my own pictures on there because I knew they would change the pics upon receiving the letter.

My only other choice would be mail them to myself and not open it. The USPS stamp works as a legal date stamp BUT that still doesn't prove that is indeed what was on the website at that time.

A notary public is a legal witness. He printed it, stamped it, signed it, and wrote a simple statement saying printed on "such and such" date under his signature. That proves without a doubt what is on the paper is exactly what was on the website at that moment.

[Rigmaster]

A notary public at the UPS Store screen captured, printed, and notarized the said copyright infringement as evidence; including the images, the source, and the file directory that contained the image. I included copies of this in the packet I mailed them.

Serious question about this (since you seem to want to continue this thread)- but what good do you expect this to do for you? A notary can't "notarize said copyright infringement as evidence" AFAIK, their main function in most of the US is to "notarize" a person's signature- all that does is affirm that the signature on a document was indeed made by the person named on the document.



Like I said, I'm VERY interested to see how this turns out for you.

[speedminded]

Then why are you on the interwebz when you should be preparing legal papers?


I'm serious. I understand that you're pissed off, but you've got to have a sliver of common sense here- you're not going to get anything out of those dickwads, you don't have much of a claim. The only people who have anything to gain by you filing a lawsuit against them is the lawyers on both sides- they get paid regardless.

But I REALLY REALLY hope you do follow through with something- and you MUST post updates if you do.

I answered that in the original post. I want the owners of the other images found.

I'm not pissed lol! I stated in the letter I was pleased they like my photo enough to use it, I just want to be reimbursed for my time on it.