tobinphoto

<p><b><i>destinationwild DOT com Response #1:</i></b></p>

<p>Thanks for letting me know about the photo we will remove it immediately.</p>

<p><b><i>My Response:</i></b></p>

<p>Thanks for removing the material.</p>

<p>I don't intend to preach, but using copyrighted material is very risky business. I would consider removing all illegal content from your site, because you will eventually get caught, especially as your site becomes more popular and better indexed.</p>

<p>Not everyone will request cease and desist. In addition to charging fair market value for usage, copyright holders may be entitled to $100,000 in punitive damages plus legal fees.</p>

<p>The best source for public domain imagery is government agencies. Fishing and hunting sites would probably trade photos for a link. Even with them, you should obtain written permission. Artists and agencies that depend on images sales for a livelihood are likely to take legal action.</p>

<p>I know that you've invested a considerable amount of time in creating your web site. However, it will be easier to change now, and you are taking a huge risk if you wait until someone else catches you.</p>

<p><b><i>destinationwild DOT com Response #2:</i></b></p>

<p>We take the images from free sites, so it might be that your photo is floating around the internet somewhere besides your site, again I apologize we do not intentionally remove photos that are copyrighted but it happens from time to time so we will remove them at every request. We did not know the image was protected and to the best of my knowledge no other image on the site is protected. Thanks again.</p>

<p><b><i>Summarization:</i></b></p>

<p>I feel destinationwild's statements, "We take the images from free sites" and "we do not intentionally remove photos that are copyrighted" are an outright lie. I traced some of the other images used on the site to the original copyright holders using Google Image Search, which is probably the same method used to illegally acquire the images.</p>

<p>Although I feel it's too late for me to take legal action, I intend to contact the stock agencies and artists from which the images were lifted and urge them to seek legal action as a group. It's likely that all images on the offending web site are being used without permission. This individual appears to believe image theft is a winning game if the only repercussion is a cease and desist notice. If this mentality is allowed to propagate, this type of abuse <u>will</u> be a winning game.</p>

<p>I feel that $100 should be the absolute minimum for one-time, minor editorial usage of an image, and that's low. Don't sell for less, no matter how much they admire your images. Rates for editorial (non-advertising) web usage appears to range somewhere between $100 and $350 per year. Some, including me, charge a relatively low flat rate for perpetual editorial usage on small business, charity and personal web sites. Any other usage is priced according to industry standards.</p>

<p>Although I would hesitate to do this, the only simple and consistent method I know for setting flat rates is to charge according to image size. For example, you might charge $100 for a 500 x 750-pixel image, $200 for a 1800 x 1200 pixel image (4 x 6 inches at 300 dpi), and so forth. Although I don't like the idea of royalty-free images, you can look at what agencies are charging for these images, which are priced according to size. If you do price according to image size, I would recommend not pricing too low, and I would not offer royalty-free rights (unless the image was substandard in quality and content). Although royalty-free and broad coverage licenses make images affordable to those who cannot pay for good professional photography, I believe movement in that direction hurts the industry, especially if quality images are offered.</p>

<p>You should make a standard license to accompany all images that are sold. In this license, you could include press run, usage type and usage period limitations. Try to keep your pricing aligned with that of the industry, because it's exceedingly difficult to make photography a worthwhile endeavor. Too many people are charging far too little for images. I'm sure you're aware that the oldest stroke in the industry begins with, "You have the most wonderful pictures!". If they really think they're great, they will gladly pay fair market value. Anyone allowing publication of their images for little or nothing has a serious ego problem, and publishing for "exposure" is rarely worthwhile, if ever. Believe me. It just doesn't work, and you are the sucker when it's all over.</p>

<p>I will not write a contract for less than $100, and although it's tough, one should consider declining on larger contracts if the offer is significantly lower than industry standards. Consider the amount of time and money you spend, just getting your images in front of potential buyers. Then consider the time required to correspond and write contracts. If the squeeze is too tight, it's just not worth it. You will work yourself to death and get nothing from it.</p>

<p>Although you will find better information elsewhere, you can visit my <a href="http://www.tobinphoto.com/stock.htm" target="_blank">stock photography</a> page for licensing information and a few links to pricing resources.</p>

<p>With image theft running rampant on the web, I would like to start

a thread focused on copyright abuse and offenders. This may help

photographers with tracking-down and dealing with common copyright

infringements.</p>

<p>I occasionally find images that were lifted from my web site in

both print and on the Internet. I know there are various precautions

that one can implement to reduce image theft, but I would prefer to

save that for another thread.</p>

<p>Most recently, I found one of my images used as a graphic

component on a web site. I contacted the webmaster with the following

message:</p>

<p>"You are illegally using at least one of our images on your web

site. Please refer to the ____ photo on your URL, _______. In

addition to violating U.S. copyright law, unauthorized usage is

unfair to the photographer and those who pay for images.</p>

<p>Our business is selling photos. We charge $____ per image for web

use under the terms provided in our <a

href="http://www.tobinphoto.com/stock/license_sample_web.pdf"

target="_blank">Basic Web Usage License</a>. Payment can be made at

______. Upon full payment, a license will be issued. Please see our

<a href="http://www.tobinphoto.com/stock.htm"><b>stock

photography</b></a> page for more information.</p>

<p>Sincerely, John Tobin"</p>

<p>I chose not to threaten, and unless you've decided exactly what

you can and will do, empty threats seem unreasonable and

unprofessional. However, if one were interested in pursuing legal

action, initial contact such as mine might be a bad idea, because the

most reliable evidence (the offending web page) can be deleted or

changed immediately.</p>

<p>The offending site is <b>destinationwild DOT com</b> (recommend

not posting direct links to offenders sites, because it will only

help them). The site appears to have used many images from many

photographers, probably without permission.</p>

<p>Also see the recent <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-

fetch-msg?msg_id=00Bksq">copyright infringement thread</a> on

Photo.Net regarding a specific case. There is some research advice

there, but other than the initial post, no actual experience. In this

thread, I hope to list offenders and share actual experiences in

discovering and pursuing copyright infringements. I am also

considering legal action for future infringements, because if one

expects only "cease and desist" notification for copyright abuse,

image theft would be a far better option than buying.</p>

<p>I expect the offender in my case will remove the image and not

respond to my message. I will post any further experience.</p>