I used to own a web site for my photography, however since getting a load of trouble online from some people took that initial hobby site of mine down, although I was still going to use many of the images from that site for professional purposes this year.
All of the images on display bore a watermark and copyright notice 2006.
The reason I took the site down was because I found on the net another individual using my images on a particular web site forum, for religious hatred and discriminatory messages.
Goodness knows what attracted him to my landscape images, anyway, he was photoshopping them and adding captions to spread his vile message.
I complained to the forum web site owner who lives in Somerset and told him in no uncertain terms that the use of my images on his web site forum constituted copyright and image theft, to remove them immediately or further action would be taken. Thankfully, after a bit of hard talk communication going backwards and forwards, about a week later the images were removed.
Now six months or so later, I find the same person has again displayed the very same images on his forum web site, 43 in total. All images clearly display my old web site name and copyright notice as part of my watermark on each one.
I signed up to this forum to complain directly again to the owner, via messages placed in the very same thread, notifying him curtly and to the point, without emotion, that again said image use was a violation of my copyright of the images and to remove them all immediately.
True to form, the owner not only allowed this time the images to remain in place but replied to me with a message publically, essentially saying that I could stick my complaint up my ****.
One or two troublemakers then proceeded to repost my images in their own replies, photoshopping them etc.
My account was then banned and later that day, I found that the thread in question no longer appeared in the public section it was in hereto before.
So, signing in again with a proxy server, under another name, I find he hasn't removed my images at all, but has instead simply moved the thread containing 43 of my photographs into a private section of his hosted web site forum. More comments again had been made and my collection in that genre of landscape photographs, was now appearing no less than 3 times altogether in the thread, with various people adding jabs to what no doubt they considered a most entertaining exercise telling me that it was posted there under US Fair Use policies.
Ok, so I do a bit of research, I now have this forum owners age, his full name, address and telephone number and without a shadow of doubt all the details are fully correct.
I'm wondering what action I can take next? Do I invoice him directly for using all 43 of my photographs without permission and if so, what is considered a fair charge for this unlawful use of my images? Too, do I charge him more based on the fact that each image is now appearing at least 3 times in the thread in question? (Could be more now)
It's just the principle of this that gets right up my nose. Lots of hardwork, money and time went into gaining those images and although not considered professional images at the time, they were nevertheless clearly watermarked as being copyrighted and make up an important part of my journey into photography.
Does the fact that I had to close my old website down reflect at all on the figure of damages that I want to be getting out of this guy?
What are the normal steps to be taken in this process? Has anyone been in a similar situation and can advise me?
What kind of figure do I set for charging per unauthorised image use?
Any assistance or help would be appreciated, I simply cannot stand by and allow people like this to damage my business and reputation.
Apologies if I didn't write this out as clearly as I might have done, just so annoyed.
Many thanks in advance.
Mark
All of the images on display bore a watermark and copyright notice 2006.
The reason I took the site down was because I found on the net another individual using my images on a particular web site forum, for religious hatred and discriminatory messages.
Goodness knows what attracted him to my landscape images, anyway, he was photoshopping them and adding captions to spread his vile message.
I complained to the forum web site owner who lives in Somerset and told him in no uncertain terms that the use of my images on his web site forum constituted copyright and image theft, to remove them immediately or further action would be taken. Thankfully, after a bit of hard talk communication going backwards and forwards, about a week later the images were removed.
Now six months or so later, I find the same person has again displayed the very same images on his forum web site, 43 in total. All images clearly display my old web site name and copyright notice as part of my watermark on each one.
I signed up to this forum to complain directly again to the owner, via messages placed in the very same thread, notifying him curtly and to the point, without emotion, that again said image use was a violation of my copyright of the images and to remove them all immediately.
True to form, the owner not only allowed this time the images to remain in place but replied to me with a message publically, essentially saying that I could stick my complaint up my ****.
One or two troublemakers then proceeded to repost my images in their own replies, photoshopping them etc.
My account was then banned and later that day, I found that the thread in question no longer appeared in the public section it was in hereto before.
So, signing in again with a proxy server, under another name, I find he hasn't removed my images at all, but has instead simply moved the thread containing 43 of my photographs into a private section of his hosted web site forum. More comments again had been made and my collection in that genre of landscape photographs, was now appearing no less than 3 times altogether in the thread, with various people adding jabs to what no doubt they considered a most entertaining exercise telling me that it was posted there under US Fair Use policies.
Ok, so I do a bit of research, I now have this forum owners age, his full name, address and telephone number and without a shadow of doubt all the details are fully correct.
I'm wondering what action I can take next? Do I invoice him directly for using all 43 of my photographs without permission and if so, what is considered a fair charge for this unlawful use of my images? Too, do I charge him more based on the fact that each image is now appearing at least 3 times in the thread in question? (Could be more now)
It's just the principle of this that gets right up my nose. Lots of hardwork, money and time went into gaining those images and although not considered professional images at the time, they were nevertheless clearly watermarked as being copyrighted and make up an important part of my journey into photography.
Does the fact that I had to close my old website down reflect at all on the figure of damages that I want to be getting out of this guy?
What are the normal steps to be taken in this process? Has anyone been in a similar situation and can advise me?
What kind of figure do I set for charging per unauthorised image use?
Any assistance or help would be appreciated, I simply cannot stand by and allow people like this to damage my business and reputation.
Apologies if I didn't write this out as clearly as I might have done, just so annoyed.
Many thanks in advance.
Mark
