Vanwall Man Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 An image of mine is being used without permission on a blog in the US. I was going to report this to google using the below form, https://support.google.com/legal/contact/lr_dmca?product=blogger In the form it says the following - "Courts have found that you must consider copyright defenses, limitations or exceptions before sending a notice. In one case involving online content, a company paid more than $100,000 in costs and attorneys fees after targeting content protected by the U.S. fair use doctrine. Its a science/educational blog, his profile has 8 million views so it must get a fair bit of traffic. Am I ok to go ahead with sending the notice? I don't think I'm allowed to link to the blog here am I? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiskerke Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Have you tried sending them an invoice? wim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Quist Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 If you are sure the image derives from a sale from Alamy you should report this use to Members Services instead.... Otherwise I agree with Wim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanwall Man Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 I contacted MS first to check and I know the image was taken from where the alamy sale was used. They responded that they couldn't do anything. I sent an email over 24 hours ago asking him to take it down and haven't had a response yet, but I can see he has been active since. Perhaps I was wrong to contact him like that, should I now wait a few days before I send an invoice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Quist Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 I contacted MS first to check and I know the image was taken from where the alamy sale was used. They responded that they couldn't do anything. I sent an email over 24 hours ago asking him to take it down and haven't had a response yet, but I can see he has been active since. Perhaps I was wrong to contact him like that, should I now wait a few days before I send an invoice? Quite agree with Philippe. Unfortunately blogs can be difficult to deal with in certain regions, but the US should not be one of these, I think. I know some will ask you if you have registered your copyright for the photo? You could send a bill for three times your normal fee for this use, which seems to be the normal fee if the photographer has to hunt down the illegal and unpaid use. Best, of course, before you request the image to be taken down. Niels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert M Estall Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 The blogger wont know if the copyright is registered or not in the US so keep him in the dark as far as that is concerned. In the US as everywhere, there are blatant rip-off merchants, but there are also many who have heard tales of very expensive copyright actions. It's certainly worth pushing at the door; it may be open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotoDogue Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 A year or two ago I had an image grabbed from a high traffic site. Although the original use was licensed through Alamy, and the client only used a 1/4 screen size image, they unfortunately kept high res images in a public folder where apparently bloggers knew how to locate it. I sent an invoice to one reasonably well known publication, here in the US, who had used the image twice, at nearly a full screen as well as a quarter screen on their main page, where it was credited to Getty. They paid within 30 days, about 10 times what Alamy charged the original client. However, the bloggers resisted - indicating they'd send payment in a few days and or remove the image from their site - but that didn't happen. So I filed a DMCA notice through Wordpress where the blogs were hosted, providing links to high res files on both Alamy and my personal website to indicate the image was, indeed, mine. WordPress removed the images from their servers within 24 hours. fD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 The notice is a frightener for US consumption. If you're in the UK, forget about it. It doesn't apply here and you can't be pursued for it. Go ahead and send the form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustydingo Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 The notice is a frightener for US consumption. If you're in the UK, forget about it. It doesn't apply here and you can't be pursued for it. Go ahead and send the form. However, copyright infringement does still apply in the UK, and you can still be pursued through the US courts for copyright infringement even if you live in the UK . . . so if you are sent a DMCA notice, simply forgeting about it may not be the smartest of moves . . . dd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 I meant that the OP could forget about the threat of being sued for a false claim because the reproduction was covered by fair use. We don't have fair use and the equivalent, fair dealing, is much narrower. I understand that DMCA notices only apply to ISPs and hosters. There's no 'safe harbour' for actual infringers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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