Image Theft

Image theft is an ongoing problem for photo websites and ours are no different.

We are proactive and carry out regular checks using image Search Engines and other methods to see who is using our photos without our written permission and payment.

To date we have successfully pursued many offenders and had the images removed. In some cases their websites have been removed by web hosts when the website owner has not properly responded.

The worst offenders are owners of guest houses and cottages. Sometimes their websites are poor quality home made affairs, but more often than not they are good websites and the image theft has been purposely carried out by removing our copyright marks. Sometimes the websites have been made by "professional" web designers who have ripped off their clients by stealing our photos to use in their websites and charging for them.

Another problem is Facebook users. Some take no notice of copyright notes and post images on their pages or groups. Other users then think they are free and take them for their business websites. Contacting Facebook users gets a mixed responses ranging from, none, to apologetic or abusive.  Now we do not bother contacting them and file formal copyright complaints immediately.

Fortunately Facebook remove images when a properly written complaint is filed using their on-line form. Recently someone posted over 100 of our photos on Facebook pages - these were removed within hours of a copyright complaint being filed.

Current (known) value of photos stolen by local businesses and individuals - £7695

Excuses

When challenged we have received all manner of wild excuses - most are blatant lies but some are made through ignorance - here are a few:

Excuse - My husband took these photos. (Guest House owner)
Comment - Yes he did, but not with a camera - he stole 10 from our website!
Result - Website removed.

Excuse - The guy who deals with our website is on holiday - I'll get him to take them off when he returns. (Cottage owner).
Comment - It was very a long holiday so we contacted the web host instead.
Result - Website removed by web host until the offender removed our photos.

Excuse - There are some slight differences between the photos on our site and yours. (Travel website owner)
Comment - Yes - because you cloned out items to make them look different.
Result - Photos removed.

Excuse - Sorry, we'll pay for the photos, we might have some more business for you, we're buying more cottages - what rate would you give us  if we bought a lot of photos?
Comment - What bare faced cheek - first they steal our photos, then when they're caught they ask for a discount to buy them !!
Result - Needless to say they never had any intention of paying and we never had any intention of giving a discount and accepting their payment. The photos were removed.

Excuse - I had my website designed by a "professional web designer" it's not my responsibility. (Guest House owner)
Comment - Sorry - it is very much your responsibility. You employed them and you own the website - it is up to you to make sure it is legal and does not use other peoples copyrighted work.
Result - Photos removed.

Excuse - Sorry, I didn't know they were copyrighted. (Coach company owner)
Comment - Is that why you cropped the copyright marks out of the photos?
Result - Photos removed.

Excuse - Apologies for the "inadvertent use of copyrighted material". (Travel website owner)
Comment - He "inadvertently" didn't see the 2 copyright notices on every page of our site, the copyright mark and watermark on the photos he cropped out !
Result - Photos removed.

Excuse - Sorry - the photo was already "doctored" when it was sent to us. (Tourist website owner)
Comment - Some website owners seem to think they don't need to check where photos sent to them originate !
Result - Photo removed.

Excuse - Our website was done by a previous designer not our current designer. (What does the current designer do ? !)
Comment - We asked who the "previous" designer  was so that we could contact them - needless to say we didn't get a reply !
Result - Photos removed.

Excuse - "I can't remember how or why I ended up with your image on my page."
Comment - One of the best excuses yet - loss of memory!
Result - Website removed by web host - then it was reloaded elsewhere - photo was removed again by the owner this time.

These are just a few and there will be more in the future no doubt.

Action Taken

We contact the owners immediately by e-mail and sometimes by telephone as well. In the early days we used to adopt a more lenient approach in our initial e-mails, but this just led to more work and time wasting. So now we threaten legal action straight away if the photos are not removed in a set period and we always follow up.

Sometimes the offenders have the cheek to take offence at the threat of legal action - too bad because it isn't an idle threat.

Here is the sequence of events from finding an offending website:

1) Save copies of all the website pages and photos to a folder with the website name.

2) List the URL's and names of the photos on the offending website and the pages on our website(s) that they were stolen from.

3) Carry out a domain whois check and record the ownership details, web host and server names.

4) Send the website owner an e-mail in formal terms advising them that our photos are being used on their website illegally and that they have 5 working days to remove them or legal action will be commenced. The photos are listed in the e-mail together with the pages they were stolen from.

5) Reply to any responses from the website owner swiftly heading off any denials of responsibility by them.

6) If the photos are not removed in five working days, we write to the web host requesting that the offending content or the entire website be removed or they may become involved in any legal action.

7) If the images are not removed, we will commence legal action by issuing a summons via the county court (assuming the offender is in the UK, which they always are). We will seek to recover the cost of the photos used at the rate of £35 per photo plus all our abortive time and legal costs.

Results

To date, apart from a couple of "dead" websites that disappeared anyway, we have a 100% success rate in getting our photos removed from other peoples websites when we have found them in use illegally.