Just thought I'd let you all know. Someone e-mailed me today to let me know that some of my images are being sold on ebay without my knowledge. Apparently downloaded form the web: (the woman in the bikini in the window is my image.)
http://cgi.ebay.com/Alternative-Glamour-an...6QQcmdZViewItem
So be careful!
Full Version: work stolen and on ebay!
If you go down to the bottom of the eBay listing for it, you can click "Report this item" and select "counterfeits and copyright violations" to report it.
Did that already, thanks gary.
No wonder he posted it... it is a really nice photo 
I hope it all works out for you.
I hope it all works out for you.
Ron,
I hope you can nail this _ _ _ hole, or at least scare him with a lawyers letter.
Frank Poole
I hope you can nail this _ _ _ hole, or at least scare him with a lawyers letter.
Frank Poole
I notice that the listing is still there. eBay have done JS.
Ronno:
Do keep us posted on this matter. I think many here are interested in the outcome.
Do keep us posted on this matter. I think many here are interested in the outcome.
QUOTE (padey @ Feb 7 2007, 03:15 PM)
I notice that the listing is still there. eBay have done JS.
They really don't have a good handle right now, for whatever reason.
Two weeks ago I informed them of suspected fraud. Someone was listing a bunch of high end photo and audio equipment in a 24 hour postiing, all using the exact same text with no reference to the item and saying that there was actually a 'buy it' price of 900 pounds sterling, below what it should go for, and to contact a yahoo.com email address to buy; all of this using a UK music shop's ID. The photos looked like they'd been scavanged from other eBay ads. Duh, is something wrong?
In two hours all of the listings disappeared and the music shop only had stuff like drumsticks listed, so I figured someone got the email. Four days later I get an email from eBay saying "Gee, we can't find that item number you gave us." I will not repeat my reply. I suspect they were on the ball in the UK because of recent 'bid-up fraud' articles in the Times.
eBay has multiple problems happinging at the moment and I'm sure that this image theft is low on their priority list, so it is a good idea to spread the word and put pressure on them from that front. Perhaps PDN would be interested? "eBay did not return our phone calls......".
You're not going to get anywhere being nice and e-mailing eBay. You have to hit them where it counts -- the legal department.
Google is the same way. Their attitude is that they're so big, we don't have to worry about copyright violations from individuals.
A couple of months ago, Google web site was displaying a picture stolen from one of my web sites. After getting zero satisfaction through e-mail, I found a sample DMCA letter on the internet, modified it to suit my situation, and sent it off certified mail to their legal department. A few days later, the offending web page was gone, and week later I got a paper letter back from their legal department stating it had been removed. I can send you the letter I sent to Google, if you'd like inspiration for your eBay problem.
eBay (and everyone else) is required by federal law to respond to DMCA complaints (valid or otherwise) by immediately removing the content, then giving the poster a chance to appeal the removal. It's not always fair, but for the infringed photographer it's useful.
In a separate Google-related incident: Another web site to watch out for is eCanadaNow.com. It appears to be a web site run by a college kid in small town Canada that scours news web sites for stories and then posts them as its own. This wouldn't be a problem, except that Google has decided that it's a reliable, trustworthy news source and frequently links to it directly from news.google.com.
Imagine my surprise one day when casually surfing Google news I saw one of my photos illustrating a piece of "eCanadaNow" wire copy. The image wasn't merely deep-linked from my web page -- it was actually downloaded, re-scaled and hosted on eCanadaNow's web server. They even left my watermark intact (duh!).
Since the DMCA doesn't apply in Canada, I sent the kid a bill. When he didn't respond to it in a month, I sent copyright complaints to his host, his host's provider, his registrar, and anyone else I could think of. I also called the number in his whois record, which happened to be a relative's home and explained to them what was going on, and I sent a copy of the outstanding bill to that relative's address.
Two weeks later -- a Canada Post money order arrives in my mailbox. Justice is served.
Google is the same way. Their attitude is that they're so big, we don't have to worry about copyright violations from individuals.
A couple of months ago, Google web site was displaying a picture stolen from one of my web sites. After getting zero satisfaction through e-mail, I found a sample DMCA letter on the internet, modified it to suit my situation, and sent it off certified mail to their legal department. A few days later, the offending web page was gone, and week later I got a paper letter back from their legal department stating it had been removed. I can send you the letter I sent to Google, if you'd like inspiration for your eBay problem.
eBay (and everyone else) is required by federal law to respond to DMCA complaints (valid or otherwise) by immediately removing the content, then giving the poster a chance to appeal the removal. It's not always fair, but for the infringed photographer it's useful.
In a separate Google-related incident: Another web site to watch out for is eCanadaNow.com. It appears to be a web site run by a college kid in small town Canada that scours news web sites for stories and then posts them as its own. This wouldn't be a problem, except that Google has decided that it's a reliable, trustworthy news source and frequently links to it directly from news.google.com.
Imagine my surprise one day when casually surfing Google news I saw one of my photos illustrating a piece of "eCanadaNow" wire copy. The image wasn't merely deep-linked from my web page -- it was actually downloaded, re-scaled and hosted on eCanadaNow's web server. They even left my watermark intact (duh!).
Since the DMCA doesn't apply in Canada, I sent the kid a bill. When he didn't respond to it in a month, I sent copyright complaints to his host, his host's provider, his registrar, and anyone else I could think of. I also called the number in his whois record, which happened to be a relative's home and explained to them what was going on, and I sent a copy of the outstanding bill to that relative's address.
Two weeks later -- a Canada Post money order arrives in my mailbox. Justice is served.
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