Re: picture copying - what is the best way to deal with it?
- From: "Amanda Angelika" <manic_mandy@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 05 Nov 2005 16:50:26 GMT
In news:MPG.1dd6a7aacc543153989bbf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
Rob Morley <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxx> typed:
> In article <Sb0bf.1231$Lw5.334@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
> mike@xxxxxxxxxxx says...
>> Sid yonder.co.uk wrote:
>>> people are copying my pictures for their own ebay listings (quite a
>>> large number)
>>
>> Apart from hurt feelings, does it really matter?
>>
> Buyers like to see "homemade" pictures of items they're bidding on -
> it's an indication of the condition of the item, and that the seller
> actually has it to sell. Some scammers like to lift them as they are
> more credible than stock pictures. Some sellers put considerable
> effort into the presentation of their listings to increase their
> chances of obtaining a good price - why should another seller be
> allowed to benefit from this?
The main problem apart from being against ebay's rules it's copyright
infringement, particularly when used in a commercial situation (e.g. another
eBay listing or on any other ecommerce or auction site)
Problem is though apart from getting p'ed off and writing an email or letter
to the person who has used your image asking them to stop using it, and
reporting it to eBay, there isn't much you can do in pursuance of
compensation or royalty fees, unless of course you are dealing with some big
organisation, because for the most part Copyright law comes under civil law
so it isn't financially practical to pursue minor copyright offences. Which
in most cases apart from giving one the moral high ground means copyright
law is of little use in enforcing your rights.
It could of course be argued that is how it should be because you don't
really want copyright laws that are so strict that they interfere with
freedom of expression and speech and destroy creativity because everything
within popular culture is to some degree or another recycled or derived from
other things.
The other aspect of copyright law is that it gives the creator certain
rights IOW as the creator it is up to you what you allow people to do with
your images and art work.
Of course the problem with that is unless you specifically ask permission to
use something there is no way for an individual to know whether he/she is
allowed to use something and what kind of response the copyright owner is
likely to give. That's if you know who owns the copyright of course, and
could possibly get in touch with them.
What further complicates this is that a lot of imagery is in the public
domain in any case, and of course with catalogue imagery a person may assume
rightly or wrongly that the images are intended to sell a product and the
manufacturer would not object to their use, since the resale and second-hand
value of an item doesn't financially impinge on the value of the new item or
of current models and may in fact be an advantage to the original
seller/manufacturer and since copyright claims are perused on the basis of
financial issues, obviously most people would assume the use of catalogue
imagery is "fair use" because if anything it advantages the original seller/
manufacturer and certainly does no harm to their reputation, and it would be
difficult to demonstrate in a court of law that actual financial losses were
incurred because someone used an image out of your catalogue, particularly
since the possible alternative a really bad amateur photo of the product
might well do untold damage to their reputation.
So obviously in many cases people often assume they can use most images they
find on the Internet because regardless of copyright law if such actions
have no negative affect on the person who owns the copyright of the image,
and if you are not financially hurting someone it would be difficult to
regard it as morally or ethically wrong.
Of course it's a different matter if you are stealing images from your
business rivals, and in that case you can see why people get upset about it.
However if you sell a unique item on eBay and someone buys it and then
attempts to resell it using your images whilst it may be annoying to some
people on principle and it is technically copyright infringement (if done
without permission) you can understand why people would think there is
nothing wrong in that given that the original seller has no further use for
the images apart for documentation and given the way copyright law works
there is practically no risk of serious repercussions other than perhaps
from eBay or the auction or ecommerce site you are selling on who may
enforce copyright issues more stringently.
Generally one should ask permission if you want to use someone else's
photographs. Saying that I have once or twice used images of items I have
bought on eBay and sold elsewhere without asking permission, mainly because
it seems pointless to ask permission and they probably wouldn't notice in
any case ;) Saying that on the very few occasions I have done this (and I
mean few) I usually alter the original in Photoshop (it's surprising what
one can do in Photoshop) and have only used 3rd party images to supplement
my own, since it can be useful for potential buyers to see images in
different lighting conditions and contexts. In saying that though I do have
some qualms about using other peoples images because I wouldn't really like
it done to myself on one level (it would be polite if people asked
permission) but I don't think it would bother me *that* much if it was
something I had sold in any case and on another level it would flatter my
artistic ego that someone thought my pictures were good enough :) So there
doesn't seem any point in being selfish and greedy about it, when it
demonstrates my boundless creative talent ;), the invoice is in the post LOL
;)
--
Amanda
.
- References:
- Re: picture copying - what is the best way to deal with it?
- From: Mike Redrobe
- Re: picture copying - what is the best way to deal with it?
- From: Rob Morley
- Re: picture copying - what is the best way to deal with it?
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