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Website Picture Copyright
I found through a Google search of 3d models a picture from my old website is being used by another company without my permission. Any recourse? A quick letter saying I am flattered but… or should a simple Cease and Desist letter?
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13 Replies
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Or, some money in your direction (or my direction, if that’s easier)?
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I spoke with a surveyor a few months ago who had downloaded a scenic picture of an old fence from a freebie picture website and put it on his website. A little while later he got a letter and was sued. He ended up settling for a large fee (several thousand dollars). He didn’t realize he had did anything wrong. That may or may not be the case with your situation. The folks that sued him were slimebags who bait and wait then slam them with a lawsuit. I would call them and talk to them, that discussion should tell you which way to go. And remember, aint nothin for free next time you see a cool pic on the innerweb.
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It’s very fishy that a modeling firm wouldn’t have a pic of their own model. Are they in NC? If so David Tuttle would probably be a good contact.
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There is software that will allow someone to view and download the image to their computer to view and not allow it to be printed or placed into another creation until they pay the vendor.
I’ve downloaded a number of deeds from County Clerk sites this way.
If I ever find what it is, will post my findings.
Another way is to embed an image that will not be seen on your website and cover your model when downloaded to another address.
I’ve seen it, I just can’t do it myself, gonna have to find yourself a “ghost”, “hacker”, “spoof” or other “wizard” to do the magic.
My youngest son will search the dark web for these tricks.
Many of this stuff can also be found on Youtube.
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Presumably (hopefully) it’s free, as long as you are not using it for commercial gain?
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That happened to me with a competing surveying-related website. I complained to the hosting company, since most include rules against copyright infringement in their hosting agreements. The website was temporarily offline… when it returned, the copyrighted material had been removed. I can only assume that the host shut them down until they fixed it.
Your friendly, virtual neighborhood Webmaster -
I have had this happen twice now. One time they were linking from a URL I controlled, so, I changed it to a very unflattering image. At least I enjoyed it.
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Copy/paste of an image is one thing. Hot linking is somewhat different as the image is not stored on the second web site, and I don’t know the legal ramifications.
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In the US, not unless it fits the Fair Use doctrine. People upload/scrape pictures and documents and everything on the web and then say it’s “free” or has a permissive license, but sometimes someone does have a copyright and it’s not under a permissive license.
I’m just one of those evil GIS people. Bwah-hah-hah! Seriously, I do coordinate systems and transformations at Esri. -
Wikipedia discusses a landmark copyright case that says linking is not copying.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_10,_Inc._v._Amazon.com,_Inc.
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That’s like someone stealing your favorite garden gnome. How do pirates get away with it? Almost every type of productive software is available (cracked) on hundreds of torrents and FTP sites. Even “subscription” software is hacked. ????
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I sometimes wonder how much of that subscription stuff that shows up in a search is the real thing hacked, and how much is pure malware, or perhaps some is real with malware riding along, and some of the links may just be leading you through ads with no product at the end. I haven’t tried enough of it to answer those questions.
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Yes, that’s true, but you are taking a huge risk with that stuff. They get away with it either because they are really good at keeping their own identity a secret, or because the true developer doesn’t go after them. Case in point: Microsoft. They didn’t do much pirate enforcement for many years because the piracy actually added to their market share. I don’t know what their policy is today, though.
As for stealing online images and using them as your own, that’s just wrong, but it’s hard to police. You can add protections to your site to deter would-be thieves, but if they really want it, they’ll find a way. For example, if you are viewing an image on a website and you decide you want to steal it, but then realize that the website has disabled your right-click ability, you could just grab a screenshot and then crop out the stuff around it. For the most part, I really don’t mind if people share my comics and stuff like that, as long as they include attribution and a link back to the source. Of course, I prefer they get permission up front, but that’s rare these days. I include the copyright information and website URL in the image itself, but people will still crop it out. There’s only so much you can do.
Your friendly, virtual neighborhood Webmaster
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