Copyright Infringement
So I’m watching the news yesterday evening, when one of my pictures appears on the screen behind the news anchors. I’m shocked, but went to investigate further. After pulling some screen captures off the broadcast and comparing with my photo, there’s no doubt they swiped it.
Now, I don’t really know what to think about the whole situation. I certainly was not contacted for permission to use this photo. Had I been, I would have had no problems with granting them the right to display it. But the simple fact that they just used it like it was their own is starting to perturb me.
This has got me thinking a lot about digital imaging, copyright infringement and the internet in general. When I take a photo with my camera, I own it. It’s mine to do what I please with. I can load it on my computer, edit it, send it to friends, etc. But, once I upload it onto the internet into the public domain, it becomes a whole different ballgame. Sure, flickr and other sites I upload to have terms of service and copyright postings, but what good does that really do? The world just doesn’t consider digital theft as actual theft. If they can see it on the internet, they think they are entitled to it. How far do you actually think that flickr (Yahoo!) would go to fight for my rights as an artist in a situation like this? I’m sure they would dig out a clause in their TOS that stated something about how I was at my own risk by posting images to the internet. I have this and many other images posted on my website and my “about page” clearly states: “All photos on this website are © 2006-2008, Nathan Culpepper. All use and reproduction rights to digital and print media are reserved. These photographs are available in their original digital format for use in digital publications. Please contact me for further information.” But who is left to enforce this? You guessed it, only me.
Where does this leave the digital photographer in today’s world? It would seem they need an army of attorneys at the ready to handle problems like this. I can’t speak for all photographers, but I know that I don’t make enough extra money from my photography hobby to finance a single attorney, much less an army of them. I’m just a tiny blip on the photography radar. Small time photographer from small town Mississippi – I can’t imagine what some of the big names in photography have to deal with regarding copyright infringement. No one is out there hunting for my images being stolen. Had I not been watching the news, I never would have seen or known about this. I guess that’s what they were counting on.
As for dealing with this situation, I haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet. Maybe I’ll email them and ask when I can expect my compensation check, or better yet, I’ll ask them when I can expect my benefits to start since, by using my photo, they have implied that I am their staff photographer.
If you like this story or have a similar experience or advice, please let me know.
Tags: wtok, newscenter, channel 11, copyright, infringement, copyright infringement, photography, digital photography, internet, media, corporate media, artists rights, photographers rights, theft, stealing, photo theft, photo, image, picture
Due to the nature of my comments, I decided to email them to you.
Hi! Sorry about your sad experience. I would ping them an email but I wouldn’t let this eat your lunch (at most, a little breakfast.) I think it happens A LOT out there.
I would first suggest that you include a copyright on the photograph itself (you can easily do that as a brush in Photoshop.)
You may also want to add a digital mark to all your displayed pictures (you can do so through Digimark.) This allow you to track the use of each photograph on the net. If it is used, you’ll know.
Sorry I cannot be of much more help on the subject. I wish I could!
Hi Nathan,
I’m the CEO of a company working on exactly this problem – photo theft. We started up to empower photographers online to better share, protect, and make money from their photos. Would love to chat with you more about what we’re doing, how we can help you, and how we can do this better.
Andrew