Addict Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 I am finding a lot of image theft, unpaid use, copyright infringement, etc of my images. It happens when a company copies one of my published images off the internet and pastes it on their website, advertising, magazine or whatever. By doing an image search of my most sold images thru google images I can find a lot of thefts. Alamy has had poor luck getting me paid for these and I am not sure they have much interest in tracking them down for payment. I haven't heard much back from them after I listed numerous unpaid uses. These are images that are only sold thru alamy . I don't think they can do much about it. Both Alamy and myself are losing money. I am not sure if I will chase many of them down. Quite a few are in Russia and China. How do you chase those guys down? How are you dealing with this problem? Hoping to hear from others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Crean Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Unfortunately the Russia/China guys are unreachable so I write them off. Others I use Image Rights for and they have had mixed success. If you're in the UK and so is the infringer it's easy to DIY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 deleted L Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reciprocity Images Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Glad I now have over 300,000 images registered seeing they lowered the amount you can register for each submission down to 750 photos at a cost of $55.00 Hi Linda- I noticed the rate hike on my last registration, but did not notice the 750 photo limit! Do you have a link or can direct me to where you have seen that? It is becoming less and less feasible to continue registering all images. Best, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylineboy Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 i didnt know there was a limit, i have just registered my first batch. uk photographer - is it worth doing more, even if not USA based? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addict Posted July 19, 2014 Author Share Posted July 19, 2014 Can you tell me about a few of your infringements, how much work it was to collect and what your awards were? Is it all really worth it. I am assuming they must be a rare photos or something astounding? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariaJ Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 I find hundreds a week.Thank God for imagerights.com and good lawyers around the world! Almay doesn't chase after infringers. NOT THEIR JOB! Most contributors are here on a non-exclusive basis anyway..meaning photogs probably have them with other agents or licensing the photos on their own. If you don't have the copyrights registered with the USCO before the infringement,a lawyer in the USA won't even take you on a contingency basis. Overseas infringers in the UK,Italy,France and Germany honor USA copyrights but certain countries you won't see big payouts like the US courts can grant.I've collected from all. Glad I now have over 300,000 images registered seeing they lowered the amount you can register for each submission down to 750 photos at a cost of $55.00 L I'm new to this and haven't registered any images but want to. I checked out the Canadian copyright registration ( http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/eng/h_wr02281.html ) and from what I can tell, it costs $50 to register a single piece, and they don't even want to see a copy of it, just the title. That price seems exorbitant to me, with my meager collection of around 500, that would be $25,000! And I don't see how they can properly register an image by title alone. The USCO application and fees seems much more reasonable, but is it only available to American citizens? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYCat Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 You don't have to be an American to register with USCO and I used to be able to do thousands at once as a collection of photos. Not sure what is happening now with the new fee and possible limit on the number of images. Perhaps Linda will have more to say. I make jpegs, 72 resolution, 70 quality, sRGB 400 pixels on long side and with file name only with copyright info included. They take quite a bit of time to make in Lightroom but then they are in a folder that is made into a zip file. The way it has been in the past is that you can upload as many as possible within a time limit. Before I got my 24MP camera I could do about three thousand images for $35. With the new camera I had to split the uploads. Paulette Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheila Smart Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Can you tell me about a few of your infringements, how much work it was to collect and what your awards were? Is it all really worth it. I am assuming they must be a rare photos or something astounding? You would be amazed at what type of images infringers will take. Without wishing to bore the regular forum members, I have one particular image (which, thankfully, I registered with the US Copyright Office almost three years ago) which has earned me a motza (and my US IP lawyer too!). It was a "snap" I took at a friend's swimming pool. It is definitely worth registering images but the problem is which ones? If I start to find particular images being infringed in the US, then I will register the image with the USCO. I cannot claim damages on pre-registration infringements but down the track, and if the image was post registration, then I am able to claim damages of up to $150,000 if wilful use can be proved. What I found when I watched Carolyn Wright's (Photoattorney) video on infringements is that you can claim damages even if the image is not registered if you can prove that the infringer actually removed your watermark. Damages can be claimed under DMCA legislation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addict Posted July 21, 2014 Author Share Posted July 21, 2014 I think what's happening with me is the infringer is doing a copy from the internet and then placing it on their commercial website. Since some are now on a number of websites in china I suppose they are easy to find. One shot of my mother in hospital is now showing up on hospital websites in canada and maybe others. I kind of hate to go after hospitals that work to save lives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addict Posted July 24, 2014 Author Share Posted July 24, 2014 Thanks for the info on the lawyer. When I get time I am going to chase this down. Will register some with copyright office Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosemary Hawkins Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 I don't know what's happening with the rule changes at the copyright office, but my last two uploads there were listed at "Pending" and "Case Summary: Upload Deposit is not allowed" even though I submitted them as "unpublished photographs" (and far less than 750) either as jpegs or tiffs, zipped in winzip, as I have done in the past. I paid by credit card, got an email confirmation, completed my "case" and now can't get in to correct whatever the problem is. I wonder how high-tech the copyright office really is. I've emailed them to ask what the problem is, but it's a pretty frustrating situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 I don't know what's happening with the rule changes at the copyright office, but my last two uploads there were listed at "Pending" and "Case Summary: Upload Deposit is not allowed" even though I submitted them as "unpublished photographs" (and far less than 750) either as jpegs or tiffs, zipped in winzip, as I have done in the past. I paid by credit card, got an email confirmation, completed my "case" and now can't get in to correct whatever the problem is. I wonder how high-tech the copyright office really is. I've emailed them to ask what the problem is, but it's a pretty frustrating situation. It goes into 'Completed' status when they've mailed your certificate.Can take up to 6 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheila Smart Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 It took four months from go to woe with just one image in the submission. Hate to think how long it would take for a submission of 100 images! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda Posted August 24, 2014 Share Posted August 24, 2014 I have appx 300,000 images registered with the USCO and now that they've capped it at 750 per submission @ $55 I'm glad I started decades ago.I am now submitting a new batch appx every 28 days. They do take awhile to send the certificate. L Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosemary Hawkins Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Thanks, Linda and Sheila for the copyright office explanation. They did send me a couple of emails some time later explaining that "completed" meant sending the certificate. I try to register everything, but $55 is quite a price hike, it makes me want to wait longer, which holds me back in doing anything with the images unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reciprocity Images Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 I have appx 300,000 images registered with the USCO and now that they've capped it at 750 per submission @ $55 I'm glad I started decades ago.I am now submitting a new batch appx every 28 days. Hi Linda- I have heard this 750 number mentioned multiple times; Where are you finding this info? Can you give a link on USCO website? I think maybe you are misunderstanding the new regulations, unless I have missed something? At least for UNPUBLISHED photos I think the number is still unlimited. For PUBLISHED: The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress is amending its final regulations concerning group registration of published photographs to limit to 750 the number of photographs that may be identified on continuation sheets submitted with a single application form and filing fee. The regulation continues to place no limit on the number of photographs that may be included in a single group registration when the applicant elects not to use continuation sheets and instead identifies the date of publication for each photograph on the deposited image and the applicant meets the other regulatory requirements for group registration of published photographs. The regulation also clarifies that the date of publication for each photograph may be identified in a text file on the CD-ROM or DVD that contains the photographic images or on a list that accompanies the deposit and provides the publication date for each image. So I have been submitting my registrations for already published images with a XLS list of filenames and publication dates when necessary. Otherwise, best is of course to always register before publication whenever practical (not always is). You have the option to submit the published dates in various ways: Either (1) on each deposited image, (2) in a text file on the CD-ROM or DVD that contains the deposited photographic images, (3) on a list that accompanies the deposit and provides the publication date for each image, or (4) on the continuation sheet provided by the Copyright Office. So from what I had understood is that the only way the 750 image limit applies is when using the continuation sheets provided by the copyright office (#4 above). -Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariaJ Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 Another case of a photographer's stock photo being lifted by a company to use in their advertising. And they had the audacity to get a lawyer after the photographer who called them on it. http://jodieotte.com/2014/09/stealing-photos-equine-land-conservation-resource/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NomadTravellers Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Hello, I've read your suggestions and found them useful. I opened a new topic about copyright registration. Maybe any of you is able to answer some of my questions? http://discussion.alamy.com/index.php?/topic/5290-registering-us-copyrights-with-a-low-cost-budget-group-registration-published-unpublished-year-one-time/ Thank you, Davide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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