Yet another stolen photo. Uggh

**Dranoweb** · 15th August 13, 10:04 AM

This might be a little out of keeping with the last post - but I can lend some experience on how to chase up who is using your photos online.

google has a wonderful new feature.

if you go to www.google.com
then click "images"
then drag and drop your image onto the search bar ...
google will do a graphical search, and show matches.

It's a nice way to harass plagiarists, no matter where they try to hide their content.

(edit) if you REALLY have troubles, send a nice email equiry to them, tracing the origin of an email is easier than you may think.

**Canuck** · 15th August 13, 10:15 AM

I have asked the vendor to remove the photos, this is the response
leather Baba
2 hours ago

there must be some misunderstanding to you let it clear please. And secondly do you have any kind of proof for your claim???

Unfortunately, these chaps are salespeople running a business from their bedroom, they are told to get on the internet and sell a product having no clue what they are selling.

**Dranoweb** · 15th August 13, 10:39 AM

Always watermark your images - especially if you are popular.
I can assist with suitable software and methods if you need.

you could always tell them that MD5 checksum of the image they used matches yours.
they can't argue with that and may get a little scared.

**Canuck** · 15th August 13, 10:45 AM

Originally Posted by Dranoweb

Always watermark your images - especially if you are popular.
I can assist with suitable software and methods if you need.

you could always tell them that MD5 checksum of the image they used matches yours.
they can't argue with that and may get a little scared.

The images were and are watermarked...they still overcome that

**Dranoweb** · 15th August 13, 10:52 AM

I have some possible options for you, depending on how negatively this may be affecting your business. Might be worth throwing me a PM at some stage.

**RockyR** · 15th August 13, 11:14 AM

Originally Posted by Tartan Tess

Perhaps they haven't made one of their own yet and are waiting for the first order...

That is a PERFECTLY reasonable explanation. My point, however, is that it's not their photo to use.

In such an instance (not having made one yet), if they HAVE to use a photo of someone else's product as a sample, why wouldn't they then state "photo owned by XXX" or "Photo courtesy of XXXX" or "photo for example purpose only"?

**SorenMacTavish** · 15th August 13, 11:27 AM

Originally Posted by RockyR

That is a PERFECTLY reasonable explanation. My point, however, is that it's not their photo to use.

In such an instance (not having made one yet), if they HAVE to use a photo of someone else's product as a sample, why wouldn't they then state "photo owned by XXX" or "Photo courtesy of XXXX" or "photo for example purpose only"?

EXACTLY Rocky. At least give credit to the original if you are going to steal the image for crying out loud.

**RockyR** · 15th August 13, 11:35 AM

The real problem is there's nothing you can realistically do about it legally (since most of the theft is coming from overseas where our laws don't apply), so all you can do is appeal to the company / person's sense of honor / integrity to take it down. The problem is, often the company / individual doesn't care, so they leave the stolen picture up.

I've seen DOZENS of examples where someone has stolen photos, many of which are reported here on Xmarks. Most of the time the general response is something akin to, "Our web guy put those up without my knowledge" or "We didn't steal them... prove that the picture is yours". Occasionally, the company DOES step up and do the right thing and take the photo(s) down. In my estimation, that's probably the case 20% to 30% of the time at most. The majority of the time, they just ignore requests to take photos down, which speaks squarely to their character.