Image Stolen - Now What?
Sometimes, for whatever reason, artists find their work being used without permission. Recently this happened to a collaborative work I did with Helen McLean. Let me share with you how we handled it.
Randy posted this journal entry and I noticed that there was a picture of me on the invitation. “that’s odd” I thought.
Not knowing how it got there, my first stop was to check with Helen, who I had collaborated with on the image to find out if she had given permission for it’s use. I also asked Randy who had posted the journal, if he knew anything.
We all drew a blank but Randy very helpfully put us in touch with the organizer of the event.
Before we did anything else we thought about how this might have happened. The organizer was most probably provided with the image and had no idea we owned it. In fact, even the person who supplied it may have been unaware it was covered by copyright. We also realized that had we been asked, we almost certainly would have given permission for it’s use with a credit and link.
With all this in mind, we sent a polite email which presumed innocence and provided the appropriate evidence of ownership.
Hello David,
I’m writing to you regarding an image which appears on your site http://www.definitelysuperior.com/exhibitions.html and on your invitations. I have attached a screen shot of the site where it is shown and a copy of the invitation.
This image is of me, as taken by photographer Helen McLean. We have conjoined rights to the image and neither of us remembers giving permission for it to be used in this manner. I realize you may not have known this when it was published and used on your invitations. I have attached the full sized version (with an appropriate watermark and minus any post processing) to this email to verify I own the source copy.
Helen and I are happy for the image to be used if we are credited as photographer and model with a link to “http://www.redbubble.com/search/helenjocollab”. Otherwise, I am requesting that it be taken down and that the invitation be changed to remove it so that any more printed do not use this image.
Thank you very much for your assistance with this, and I look forward to your reply at your earliest convenience.
Jo O’Brien & Helen McLean
What Happened Next?
We got a lovely email back apologizing for the use of the image, explaining how it had come to appear on the site and with a promise to update the site to include a credit and link to our work. It had been an honest mistake that they were more than happy to correct.
What did we learn?
- You don’t need to be angry and demanding to work things out
- People can genuinely be unaware they are infringing copyright
- People can actually be reasonable, rational and helpful
- A negative can become a positive with the right attitude
Our image with a link to our other work is now out there on the internet, reaching a niche market and gaining exposure for our work.
Jeff Burns
Beautifully done Jo great explanation and get the point.
Thanks. This is great info
Yuri Lev
Thank you for this valuable resource
Adrian Carmody
More often than not, the person using the image may not be aware of what they have done wrong. You handled that bloody brilliantly
Marion Chapman
My husband alwasy says “assume good intent” and this is what you did. It’s a great attitude to have to all endeavours in life. (Just wish i remembered this in those damned heated moments.)
Natalie Perkins
A+
You need to be the internet’s godmother!
jumpy
good outcome Jo but honestly if they are not aware of copyright infringment then they shouldnt be running a website like that… at the top of the page it announces
“DEFINITELY SUPERIOR ART GALLERY CELEBRATES 20 YEARS ENGAGING THE ARTS”, surley in 20 years they would have heard of copyrights!!
How many of the other images on the site are Stolen
Jo O'Brien
replied
Yep, I get that. But I can also understand how if someone hands you an image and says “you can use that one” as an organizer you’d assume it was all cool until told otherwise
Helen McLean
I’d like to jump in and say that Jo had her head screwed on properly throughout the whole process. I on the other hand, needed a bucket of water thrown over me.
In response to jumpy: I totally agree.
Darren Stones
Too many people deliberately play the “ignorance card” these days.
A good result, Jo.
HenkStolk
I so agree. I read this tip in a Dan heller book as well.
best to stay releax and honored instead of bringing in the big guns
Midori Furze
Well done, jo!!
Awesome!!!
jumpy
i know, and i think you handled the situation in the right way… now it links to RB so we all win :P but its still only luck that spotted it. People need to be educated… they are lucky your a nice gal and didnt sue their asses
BigFatRobot
nicely done! a great example, which i will be using (if that’s ok:) )
Eduardo Gómez ...
yep, people have to learn to ask permission for use of an image, even my models sometimes ask me it they could put an image or two in his/her webpage
so, it’s only about education
Paul Vanzella
well done Jo – yes, too many people prefer to rant and rave first.. nicely handled!
Amanda Cole
great resolving Jo!! thanks for sharing!
Azzurra
awesome haha thank you
Karen Cook
Thanks for sharing this with us all… You handled it very professionally, with the outcome suiting all parties involved, as you and Helen may now get exposure as a result of them crediting you! Wonderful…
aphoto4you
Jo question for you…..how come your image was stolen if you use protection here on RB? can they stil get image if there is clear coating over it????????
Jo O'Brien
replied
As you’ll see in the FAQ Is My Art Safe as yet, the only 100% fool proof way to protect your images from a determined theif is to never show them publicly.
D. AMO
One of my froggies was able to hop onto a web page…...............fortunately i owe the guy one so it was OK, but it has brought up the FACT that it is POSSIBLE and able to be done…
Biker
Nicely handled Jo. I had a similar experience. One of my pin-up drawings was used as a basis for a pin, y’know the type? An enameled metal badge. Whoever used it cropped off the head and added another instead but it was still my basic design. I wrote a similar email to yours to the guy whose website it was, including a small version of my drawing. He played the “ignorance card” as Darren says above. Long story short: He sent me the pin as well as some other pin-up based pins as compensation which I was pleased about (I collect them) but ya gotta watch these types, it’s to easy to get ripped off and the ‘ripper-offer’ just plead ignorance when confronted. Sadly there’s not a lot one can do about it, it’s the nature of the Internet.
Anyway, great outcome in your case. Well done!
Biker
TimChuma
The bands I go to see already know they are allowed to use my photos on their Myspace and for promotion. Have to be a bit more careful with the burlesque performance photos though.
Les Booth
Jo …
KUDOS for ‘not assuming the worst’. Your end result was mostly due – not to you being just a ‘nice lady’, but to using your head and not causing an uncessary ruckus. The initial contact with the source of a copyright violation does not – in fact ‘should not!’ – be confrontational.
Old adage, “More flies are caught with honey than with vinegar”, shows there is wisdom in a soft approach. To those who want to ‘blast the violator’, remember, if you come out like gangbusters, in the initial contact, you’ve ‘shot your wad’ and have no other recourse.
You’re not going to have much luck trying to be soft and gentle after you’ve already ‘nuked’ the offending party.
If, though, after the offending party has been contacted and you either get no reaction, little reaction, or all the way to an, “I don’t care and you can just get screwed” reaction – then you can begin to ratchet up the pressure.
There are plenty of avenues to pursue if the offending party is not cooperative. The way Jo approached her incident, allowed her access to the full range of options, had she needed them.
As to the likelihood this was not an accidental miscue, well … as was pointed out, since the offender markets themselves as a legacy business, it’s really inconceivable they would be so ignorant of copyright and digital rights. Even if they were given the material with an ‘it’s OK to use’ blessing, they are still complicit as part of the error for not double-checking to be sure of right-to-use issuance. Another words of wisdom: “Ignorance is no excuse for breaking of the law.” Such cases of so called, ‘ignorance’ are really cases of feigning ignorance for the sake of trying to save some money.
So, yes, most of us in the business know this. Thus, being aware of this should make us better at dealing with the offenders in a more peaceable manner. President Teddy Roosevelt’s well publicized notion, “Walk softly and carry a big stick,”, actually points out the manner in which we all need to conduct our business. Give the benefit of the doubt; seek negotiation first. Yet, at the same time having full knowledge of the law and your rights of execution, in the unfortunate event you will need to use them arises.
As to an online image being ‘protected’... The only sure-fire protection method of artwork online, is to not put the artwork online! Thus, the rest of it is take your chances. There are a number of methods for cutting down on the chance of your work being stolen online.
Thank you Jo for a helpful write-up and a great example of smart, savvy business dealings. We all need more of these!
eDIGImag
Nick Milton
well handled jo, proffesional as always.
velveteagle
Thanks Jo.. good read and nice to know people like you can be an example of what a real pro is like.. Bravo..
Michael Eyssens
Well done Jo, of course don’t forget that it is a compliment to both yourself and Helen for the marvelous work you create that they want to use this image in the first place.
Alateia
its good to keep an eye out, i often do random checks and found just the other day a feature image in some advertising. The image was from one of the photographers that frequent the shoots that i stage for the Shooters Gallery. Naturally, handled delicately the person that had taken a fancy to it ‘just honest to god, didnt know’!
They obliged in removing it and happily awaiting the High Res version format to be provided with an Image Release from the Author of the Image to be used in the same context but with all due credits with a better quality image and an improved relation and a better understanding of the protocol in this situation.
So, yay! and as you say, lemons to lemonaide and enhanced opportunity.
Boadicea
This whole approach translates into all areas of life as well. If we approach all potential conflict with an openness to negotiation who knows how much aggro could be avoided
Alateia
Amen to that! touchez Boadicea!!
Samantha Van S...
yes, it is a weird feeling.
The more I get ’”out” there, people tell me they love my images and quite often proudly say they have an image I’ve created on their screen saver or desktop. That makes me feel weird!
It’s meant (*and is) a compliment. Then I wonder how many people use the image and I never know (well, I almost never think about it as much as possible!)
Gary Strader
“To Err is human, to Forgive divine”, Used without permission…
Stephen Colquitt
Hey well done and well handled. Smooth moves girls
Nicholas Kremer
I am so glad I can favourite journal posts :) This may come in handy as I have found photography around the net to! I think it’s a great non-offensive approach!
Andrea Ward
Thank you so much for this post!! As a photographer I am uncomfortable with the idea that people can just take your images and use them. I always wondered what I would do if I was in a similar situation as this. Thank you for some insight.
~Andrea Ward
Marilyn Brown
Jo your wisdom far out weighs your years!!!
ablyth
I hate to say, but my very, very first complaint after joining RB, was the lack of watermarks, and that you cannot set them on the original displayed image. I’m quite concerned, as I fully intend to make most of my new images available for only Rights Managed sale, which means exclusivity. I need to guarantee exclusivity, and the buyer needs to be the only one with the image. Anything else, I see as deliberate theft.
John Nelson
I have within the last week that one image I took in 2006 has been cropped and used on a poster/leaflet campaign by a recognised trust to save a building. I am unsure who provided them with the image as I have never given it general release into the public domain and it has never been for sale. I am unsure as to how I can get the deserved photo credit for this image that has been distributed but will use your post to compile my own letter to them asking for future credit on this image and see what comes of it.
Kim Davitt
great work and wonderful diplomacy
bluewhite
Thank you for sharing this story. It is a good lesson for all. So glad it worked out so well.