eBay Seller selling images from Flickr

[EddieB]

Following on from this above, I would draw attention to a letter published in the current (May 2013) issue of Railway Magazine from Paul Chancellor of Colour-Rail regarding copyright and permission to sell on auction sites.  He writes that Colour-Rail are "currently pursuing three 'top-rated' sellers via the trading standards laws for consistent breach of copyright".

[BrushVeteran]

You may of noticed that my 'Brush Veteran' flickr site is suspended (by me) at present. I was becoming increasingly aware, and being made aware through viewers on my site, that there was an individual in the Rochdale area selling my images on ebay. Also about twenty years ago I helped the Class 20 loco association with their fundraising by allowing them to make some copies and prints of selected images for resale on their sales stand. Before this I had a short similar arrangement with Model Image Slides but curtailed this due to non return of material. I suppose I was more naive in those days and always happy to help people who thought my material was special although I knew the quality was not up to the Colour-Rail standard with most images originally taken by a Kodak Instamatic 200 camera. Consequently some of this material has appeared in books without my permission. I can prove they are my images but not where the copies were obtained from. I can't really prove that the images have been downloaded from my site as they were not watermarked.

 

I was always more than happy for people to download my images for their own use or through a fundraising project (preferably by courtesy of a request) providing they weren't making money out of me for themselves as an individual. If requested I could also always provide a better quality scan. I have download images that interest me but have never offered these for sale but did put an odd few on my site, with permission, to enhance what I already had.

 

I am in a position now where I feel that to reinstate my flickr site I am going to have to watermark every image and resubmit them, unless there is an easier way. I have also found that a couple of the 'big boys' who specialise in selling good quality duplicates also have some of my images, probably unknowingly, for sale in their catalagues and these more than likely have come through the sources mentioned above.

 

To me Copyright is quite a complex subject and as both of the above organisations Modern Image Slides and the CTLS no longer sell duplicate images then who actually is at fault if an image appears on ebay. Like many others on here I have no wish to cramp anyone's style, providing the relative criteria is met, but also I feel that my images should not be being sold now by people or organisations unconnected with these two mentioned. But then there is also the problem of what ebay is all about ....................selling secondhand, pre-owned, redundant.call it what you like material! I even know that some of the copies out there are copies of copies of copies of copies!! I even have unwanted slides to sell but I do make damn sure that I state on the advert that the image does not have copyright and the name of the photographer and copyright holder if known.  As you normally have to put a scan up of what you are selling am I even technically correct in doing this now? Fortunately I don't sell very much on ebay but it does have its uses for collectors and the genuine enthusiast for research purposes.

 

I don't want to start an embargo on my material being re-produced as I know that the early diesel era is poorly covered in some areas on the likes of Ian Allan, Heljan Strathwood, Traction Magazine, Railways Illustrated etc. have always played 'fair' with their intentions and acknowledged the photographer/image owner. What we want is a level playing field to be established where Copyright law is clear and concise and can be verified back to the Copyright holder/originator each time an item is sold, something like a certificate of origin. I feel just because an image is 'copied' then people feel that the copy is a free spirit whereby on the contrary it is still bound by Copyright of the image. I think that realistically watermarking is the only real answer. 

 

A bit of a minefield!

[DaveF]

I have found that from time to time one or two (at least) of my images on flickr (and previously fotopic) have strayed and been used on other web sites without my permission.  I've found that a quick e mail usually deals with it.

 

So far I've not found anyone actually selling my images, though I do check the e bay image sales from time to time.

 

As far as I am aware any images of mine being used on the web or in print at the moment are all with my permission.

 

While working on Dad's black and white images recently I've found that copies are in the hands of a number of people and organisations, but I know that he did give friends copies of his prints, as many of us do.  As most of them are now dead I'm not surprised they have been passed on. It's nice to know where they are but I'm not too bothered.

 

I get very annoyed when people intentionally breach copyright for their gain, and might pursue the matter if anyone did try to sell my material.  I'm not too worried if someone likes an images and keeps a copy for themselves, or for a model they are making.  But if they ask me first I'll happily send them a decent copy by e mail.

 

David

[Andy Y]

HI Grahame,

 

I fully understand that awkward position and the action you've taken.

 

If it helps on the watermarking process it may be worth downloading Irfanview as it can do batch resizing and watermarking (set up so you can create a lo-res watermarked copy) to give results like this that are worthless to the abusers to at least minimise the time spent on that task.

 

 

 

[BrushVeteran]

HI Grahame,

 

I fully understand that awkward position and the action you've taken.

 

If it helps on the watermarking process it may be worth downloading Irfanview as it can do batch resizing and watermarking (set up so you can create a lo-res watermarked copy) to give results like this that are worthless to the abusers to at least minimise the time spent on that task.

 

IMG_3976.JPG

Thanks for your advice Andy. I use Irfanview to downsize my images for RM Web so I'll have a play.

 

Cheers

 

Grahame

[raymw]

Unfortunately, if you put anything on the web, you can kiss any copyrights goodbye, unless you can afford the time and money to persue the thief. The USA copyright system is a bit more straightforward, if your image has been registered, then generally you will win, but if it is not registered you won't. Of course, in some places (parts of Asia) there is no concept of copyright. Fwiw, an aquaintance of mine used this - http://tineye.com/ a few years back, recovered a few thousand pounds from a publisher who, iirc had bought an image from a third party who had cropped off the original copyright mark.

 

Adding a copyright mark will not deter a determined thief, most are trivial to remove. In the UK, adding a copyright mark proves nothing, maybe just shows you care.  If you host images on your own web site, then there are things you can do to prevent easy copying, but not on the public fora or places like Flickr (some of them use your images for other purposes too). This forum actually has a 'save' button when you view an image . 

 

Best wishes,

Ray