but copyright doesn't apply on the internet...

Meysha

still being picky Vicky
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Can others edit my Photos
Photos NOT OK to edit
I despise people who think they can get their own way, around the law, just by being a complete rude asshole.

Another real estate agent has stolen my photographs off an agent's page who actually paid for them. Now this second agent is using the photographs to try and sell the same house.

I sent him a letter advising him of the 'mistake' he had made and ask that he remove them from the few websites I found them on and any others because I hold the copyright and he's infringing on that. (Under Aussie law - don't get me confused with other country's laws. read all about australian copyright law here: www.copyright.org.au )

Anyway, nothing happened, so I sent the same letter as an email. He rang me and he said that they took the photos and they own them, then said it's not stealing anyway because they're on the internet, oh and they didn't have a copyright watermark on them. Then he had the balls to say I'm not a legit business and I must be a relative of the agents and am just trying to give him a hard time. Then he said just to sue him if it's against the law and that I can get stuffed and that I'll have to prove to him that they're my photos.

So after an afternoon of researching copyright laws and trying to get the photos removed from the websites from the providers I wrote him another email.

This one again, gives him a "get out of jail free card", by saying I understand mistakes happen, but if you fix it it's all good. and I also sent him the links to copyright law in australia.... and I attached some screenshots from lightroom and my archive folder etc showing some metadata and other info to prove they're mine.

let's see what happens now.

I wouldn't have cared really... and didn't... I've known this guy was using them for about a week now and it didn't bother me. But as soon as he questioned my businesses integrity and slammed me I seriously thought this guy is an asshole and deserves to be put in his place.

GRRRRRRRR :grumpy:

[/vent]

advice anyone?

oh and this is an incredibly well known business world wide so I'm thinking of advising the regional manager or someone like that about his unprofessional behaviour.
 
oh and this is an incredibly well known business world wide so I'm thinking of advising the regional manager or someone like that about his unprofessional behaviour.
Send a letter to the corporate office stating that due to this guy's incompetence you may be forced to take legal action against them.
 
copyrights are automatically in force at creation, without being asserted or declared: an author need not "register" or "apply for" a copyright. As soon as a work is "fixed", that is, written or recorded on some physical medium, its author is automatically entitled to all copyrights in the work and to any derivative works, unless and until the author explicitly disclaims them or until the copyright expires.

I am fairly sure this applies in australia
 
Threaten to contact his ISP...and have his web site shut down....or just go ahead and contact them anyway.
 
I agree with Mike. Contact his ISP, indicate that he has stolen your photo, and suggest that ISPs can be liable, if they have been given notice of copyright violation and have taken no action to rectify it.

I would also send a copy by registered mail of an invoice for use of the photo in question, backdated to the time you first spotted it on the net.
If the realtor is not independent, I would also send a copy to the head of the real estate office that he is associated with.

Then I would consider selling the invoice to a collection agency as a bad debt which would affect the guy's credit rating. (You might decide to tell him that, if there is no action.)

skieur
 
Is he hotlinking the photos from your client? If so, then have your client change the image on him. Make an image that says, "This image has been hotlinked without permission. Would you want to buy a house from such a person?" and then name it exactly the same filename of the one he hotlinked and have your client upload it. Of course, this means changing the name and link to the legit file so that it still works for your client.
 
:playball:Talking's over biatch!


Log every call and probably best to use registered mail from here on out. Sue him for the use of the photos already. I suppose it's about a day's work or whatever a stock agency charges for a web resolution shot. Anyway all the talking is done, you tried that and he said stuff you and suggested you sue him so....!

:popcorn:
 
I'm going to contact their head office here in Brisbane today to complain about it. Luckily it's just around the corner from me so I might even head in in person.

Does anyone know how to find out the ISP or where a website is hosted? I've found out who they registered the domain name with through a whois lookup. But I don't know how to contact where it's hosted.
 
I agree with most of what's been said. And it sounds like you're starting to take those steps. I would suggest the following steps (for clarification and summary of the above) ...

(1) Contact their head office.

(2) Contact their ISP.

(3) Send one more cease and desist letter (through registered mail) to them and their head office, putting the little cc line so each knows the other knows of this situation.

(4) Sue.

Terminate the above step progression should they actually comply.
 
Make sure to embedd copyright info into the photo.

I do this. But when they upload to the real estate site it strips the meta data and compresses the files again.
I only did 3 or so houses without watermarks on them about 3 months ago. It's just annoying how this guy believes he has a right to them.

Well I didn't hear anything back from my second letter today so I'm sending a letter to the head office this afternoon.

Thanks for the support guys. :)
 
Isx Make an image that says, "This image has been hotlinked without permission. Would you want to buy a house from such a person?" and then name it exactly the same filename of the one he hotlinked and have your client upload it. x

This is a good idea, but I'd rather use a HIGHLY obscene and offense photograph in place.

Anyways, I can track the ISP down if you provide the domain name.

Basically you do an NSLOOKUP on the domain name to get an IP address, then you run a WHOIS on the IP to find out who the IP block has been assigned to. The person who has been assigned the IP block is the organization who can shut down access to the server/website if they so desire, and more than likely have the server hosted in their facilities. If you do a WHOIS on their (the providers) domain you might find an abuse contact section, or if you visit the providers website find a way to contact abuse.

Tell the ISP that you are contacting lawyers currently and that you will begin legal pursuit if the content is not removed and that by hosting the content they are in part liable if they provide no action.

For your information and believe it or not, I work for an organization that provides web hosting and I happen to be in charge of handling abuse complaints and giving disciplinary action to customers. Also for your information, some ISP's could care less and will can your email. Others take abuse pretty seriously. At my organization we provide 24 hours for the client to remove content once we notify them, otherwise we disconnect their server(s) at the network level. (Then they call in wanting it back online, and we bring it online if, and only if they comply with our requests shortly thereafter.)
 

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