Internet has helped. Many folks. Including photographers. To display the work they have done. It really feels good when a wide audience appreciates your hard work, skill and patience. It helped thieves too. To steal people's work. And use it for commercial gain. I heard of a few, but ignored them as stray incidents; but as the days are passing by, I see such violations are rampant and something needs to be done. First, celebrated wildlife photographer Vijay Cavale's photographs were stolen by a resort he happened to be a guest. Birds Lagoon, has not only slupred Vijay's entire website to make their own gallery, but also they removed the copyright statement and replaced with their logo. After a lot of efforts he could convience them to remove the images from their website. The next victim (among them I know) is Suyog, whose work was stolen by a cheating ad agency who calls themselves as Workaholiks. And they happily used his images in billboards, newspaper ads, and billed the clients. Efforts are going on from Suyog's side to resolve the issue, but I guess they aren't someone with whom polite negotiation will be effective.
When we are at it: Using someone's work without permission is of 2 types. Fair use (example would be to forward an image of Anna Kurnikova to a buddy who wouldn't have seen it otherwise) and copyright violation. Copyright infringement is of two types, innocent and deliberate. You see a photograph, unclaimed, you use it for commercial gain. Innocent! When the actual owner claims the work, you have to pay a 'fair' licensing fee (settled by court). But deliberate violation attracts damages too. And the owner can get an injunction immediately to stop the usage.
Now the legal B.S. is out of the way, I guess there are two ways to deal with such an issue. First, drag them to court. They can simply claim innocent infringement, send you a cheque of 5000/_ and dilute the entire issue. So you take the second step, publicize the incident too. A threat to damage their goodwill and credebility sometimes are more effective than a lawsuit running in stealth mode. A precedent should act as a good deterrant.
Finally, I am hoping to open a "Hall of Shame" website (with help of the other photographer communities I participate in), where such incidents go down the permanent records of these offenders.
When we are at it: Using someone's work without permission is of 2 types. Fair use (example would be to forward an image of Anna Kurnikova to a buddy who wouldn't have seen it otherwise) and copyright violation. Copyright infringement is of two types, innocent and deliberate. You see a photograph, unclaimed, you use it for commercial gain. Innocent! When the actual owner claims the work, you have to pay a 'fair' licensing fee (settled by court). But deliberate violation attracts damages too. And the owner can get an injunction immediately to stop the usage.
Now the legal B.S. is out of the way, I guess there are two ways to deal with such an issue. First, drag them to court. They can simply claim innocent infringement, send you a cheque of 5000/_ and dilute the entire issue. So you take the second step, publicize the incident too. A threat to damage their goodwill and credebility sometimes are more effective than a lawsuit running in stealth mode. A precedent should act as a good deterrant.
Finally, I am hoping to open a "Hall of Shame" website (with help of the other photographer communities I participate in), where such incidents go down the permanent records of these offenders.
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