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Ebayer used my photo w/o permission

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by GSE21tuner, Jun 29, 2007.

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    GSE21tuner Formerly rollatuner110. Representing AZLexus.club

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    Ebayer used my photo w/o permission

    http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TOYO...tegoryZ36475QQihZ006QQitemZ160130881699QQrdZ1
    I stumbled across this auction and guess what I saw? The last picture from the bottom looked very similar to one of my old photos I took. And I remember each one I have taken precisely. So I busted out the old photos and low and behold, the ebayer and cropped my photo, blown it up, and slapped his logo all over it. So I'm kind of perturbed about it. What can I do about it. I wrote him an email concerning him about it. Should I contact ebay and tell them about misuse of copyrighted material?
    Original photo:
    [IMG]
    http://www.cardomain.com/ride/334647/4
    GSE21tuner, Jun 29, 2007
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    e_andree E

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    Hes not misusing it.

    Copyrighted material...how so?

    You have no recourse here. The guy can be respectful of your request and take it down, or he can be a dick and continue to use it, knowing that you have no legal recourse against him.

    If you have legally registered your photos, theyre free for others to use. I know someone will come in here and claim that the sole action of you taking the photo yourself protects it, but theyre wrong.
    e_andree, Jun 29, 2007
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    SkyAce2004 New Member

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    SkyAce2004, Jun 29, 2007
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    its_ikon FIRST widebody

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    the image is water marked from ait, so they may have saved it from somewhere else. don't even worry about it, you can't get nothing out of it anyways.
    its_ikon, Jun 29, 2007
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    MovieSTAR i hurd u liek?

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    if he was selling a car i think you could tell ebay and they would take the listing down

    but it looks like hes just selling a part so they cant rly do anything dont worry about it though
    MovieSTAR, Jun 29, 2007
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    GSE21tuner Formerly rollatuner110. Representing AZLexus.club

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    I did research on copyright laws. I have something called intellectual property rights. From ebay's Notice of Claimed Infringement form,

    Copyright – listing content infringement
    4.1. Listing(s) uses unauthorized copy of copyrighted text
    4.2. Listing(s) uses unauthorized copy of copyrighted image
    4.3. Listing(s) uses unauthorized copy of copyrighted image and text

    I'm not trying to get anything out of this. Its all about the principal of the idea. I won't let this company get away with this. I want to set an example and a message to companies letting them know we have rights and we will defend them.
    GSE21tuner, Jun 30, 2007
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    e_andree E

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    Well, a big part of my college degree deals with copyright laws, and you have NO LEGAL RECOURSE here. Secondly, your images are not copyrighted. You have no rights here....you posted the images on the internet. Fair Use Act allows them to use them.

    It cant fall under copyright infringement since you didnt go through the process of copyrighting them legally, and even then, Im not too sure you can even copyright a photo...the law says that in order to copyright something, it has to have involved "tangible medium of expression"...a photograph of your car on a website falls within the limits of the "public domain".

    If you really wanted to pursue those that are using your pictures, and IF you have COPYRIGHTED your photos, youd have to take them court, and the court would have to prove that the use of your pictures doesnt fall within "Fair Use"....and I think that would be very hard to prove, even though they are using them for commercial purposes.


    (This is all part of intellectual property law and the Fair Use Act)

    http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

    Just because you take the picture, doesnt mean that you own the copyright in terms of someone else using them for monetary gain. When you put your picture on the internet, you are putting it out there for public use

    Another debate here: http://trdforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1102&page=2&highlight=familiar

    Registration with the Copyright Office is optional, but allows you to collect attorney's fees and statutory damages (a valuable right when actual damages are hard to prove) for any infringement that commences after the registration.

    You will have to register your copyrighted work, however, before you can file an infringement law suit."

    UNTIL you register your images to copyright, you have NO LEGAL RECOURSE. And any monetary gain that that company received BEFORE you registered to copyright your material, is NOT disputable.

    Yeah, he can copyright those pics, and then tell them that the images are copyrighted, and they'll have to take em down. But only because they are using them for financial gain.

    Now, lets add some more from that site:

    So why register my copyright?
    For several reasons:

    First, you can't even start a law suit until you have registered your copyright in your work.
    Second, if someone copied from you before you registered your copyright, your remedies in court are more limited. You can still try to get a court order requiring them to stop copying. But if you want money damages, you have a more difficult path if your copyright wasn't registered beforehand. You can get your "actual damages" -- but it is often difficult to prove how many sales you would have had if the copying hadn't occurred.
    When someone copies from a work that has previously been registered with the copyright office, on the other hand, that person may have to pay up to $100,000 for each willful infringement, plus the copyright holder's attorney's fees. These "statutory damages" do not require proof of any actual losses, and they are not available if the copying took place before the copyright is registered.
    And one final reason for registering a copyright is that registration may well deter someone from copying in the first place.

    Until they are registered for copyrighting, the "borrower" is protected under the Fair Use Act. And watermarking them isnt protecting your images either.
    e_andree, Jun 30, 2007
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    italiancorolla Authorized Stinger Dealer

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    yep yep
    italiancorolla, Jun 30, 2007
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    GSE21tuner Formerly rollatuner110. Representing AZLexus.club

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    Well I don't want monetary compensation. I just want them to stop using my photo.
    GSE21tuner, Jun 30, 2007
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    laz Member

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    That is just part of your pic, not even the whole pic, just the front bumper. Believe me, not one but you would have noticed that.

    It is a waste of time if you ask me to even pursue this.

    X
    laz, Jun 30, 2007
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    e_andree E

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    And they wont

    Why do you want them to stop using your photo? You should be flattered
    e_andree, Jun 30, 2007
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    GSE21tuner Formerly rollatuner110. Representing AZLexus.club

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    Because they never asked me for my permission. How was I to know they were even using it. If I hadn't stumbled upon it, I would have never known. Its about the principle of the whole thing. If they would have asked me, then I probably would have agreed but they did nothing.
    There's no copyright on the Mona Lisa. What if someone took it, blew it up, and slapped their logo all over it? Would that be alright with you?
    Has anyone here had their photos used to sell some product without their knowing? You're just browsing one day and then you see your car plastered all over some cheap marketing scheme. How would you feel?
    GSE21tuner, Jun 30, 2007
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    TurismoDreamin ΓΡΗΓΟΡΟΣ ΟΔΗΓΟΣ

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    I dont think the guy cares because he knows ur not gonna do anything beyond asking him to remove the pictures (if he even complies to do so). But it's not like you sell your photos for profit so you're not at a loss. Things like this are a dime a dozen now-a-days. If you want to prevent it from happening in the future, post a notice before your pictures or watermark them...
    TurismoDreamin, Jun 30, 2007
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    GSE21tuner Formerly rollatuner110. Representing AZLexus.club

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    Yeah, I guess I can't really do anything but the company is based in City of Industry which is somewhat within my range. If I happen to be in the area in the future I will stop by and make a stink about it.
    GSE21tuner, Jun 30, 2007
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    laz Member

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    The Mona Lisa is an original priceless work of art. Is your bumper one of a kind?

    X
    laz, Jun 30, 2007
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    MovieSTAR i hurd u liek?

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    i saw the mona lisa at the louvre, you cant get within 10ft of it and its behind 4 inch thick bullet proof glass. and if you take a picture security takes your camera. i know from personal experience.


    im sure its the same with his bumper...
    MovieSTAR, Jun 30, 2007
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    01rollas New Member

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    i have they used my pictures of my car when i got my new set of 18's, didn't bother me, i was actually freaked out that my car had been used for the advertising of the wheel, the best part about it is that it added to the list of compliments. I say don't worry about it and just let it go, its nothing bad.
    01rollas, Jun 30, 2007
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    laz Member

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    You are funny.

    X
    laz, Jun 30, 2007
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    GSE21tuner Formerly rollatuner110. Representing AZLexus.club

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    LOL you're right. I'm going to let it go. BTW the bumper is for sale. LOL
    GSE21tuner, Jul 1, 2007
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    e_andree E

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    Stealing someone elses work of art or idea is a form of flattery. I dont see what the big deal is. So you have the bumper that they are selling....theyre showing their customers what they could have.

    And the Mona Lisa comparision doesnt hold any water.
    e_andree, Jul 1, 2007
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    SkyAce2004 New Member

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    So say I take a nice landscape photo, put my name on the bottom right of the image, shrink the file down to say... 1024pixels and the upload it for people to see. and them some douche canoe comes along, saves the photo, crops out my name from the bottom right, and makes 4x6 postcard prints and starts selling them for a profit.

    you mean to say, that is totally legal to do? something just doesnt sound right about that. someone comes along and steals something of mine for his own personal gain.

    how does that differentiate from someone breaking into my house, stealing my shit, and then turning around selling and selling the stolen goods. I bought expensive camera gear to make that piece of art. Just like you go to a store and buy expensive electronics. Just because its something you can physically touch makes it completly different? What person has the time/money to copyright every single image that person has ever made?

    It just sounds pretty messed up to me.
    SkyAce2004, Jul 1, 2007
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    GSE21tuner Formerly rollatuner110. Representing AZLexus.club

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    Exactly! It took resources to create a photo and someone just comes along and uses it as their own without giving you the credit? WTF
    GSE21tuner, Jul 2, 2007
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    TurismoDreamin ΓΡΗΓΟΡΟΣ ΟΔΗΓΟΣ

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    I'm almost 100% positive that there is something like an implied copyright, which is more like an automatic copyright how you don't actually have to register it n stuff as long as you can prove you were the original creator.

    I like your scenario you gave as an example but I had another one in mind as well. At Kinko's, they ask that you bring in consent from the owner if you were copying pictures, etc., to protect them from copyright infringement. Copying and altering elsewhere on the internet should be no different either.
    TurismoDreamin, Jul 2, 2007
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    e_andree E

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    A professional.

    If you want to be protected from someone else using your photo for monetary gain, your work has to be copyrighted.

    And your comparison to someone stealing your material goods to someone stealing your photos is a bad comparison, and is covered here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_Property

    Furthermore, due to the non-rivalrous nature of intellectual property, comparing the unauthorized use of intellectual property to the crime of theft presents its own unique problems. In common law, theft requires deprivation of the rightful owner of his or her rights to possess, use, or destroy property. Example: When Joe steals Jane's bicycle, Jane cannot use or have access to it. But since intellectual property, i.e., ideas, and various transcriptions into written words, audible sounds, or electronic media, are so easily reproduced, no such deprivation to the owner occurs. Example: When Joe makes a copy of the music Jane recorded, Jane is not denied access to her original copy. In this sense, many forms of intellectual property meet the non-rival test for public goods: the use of the good by one individual does not reduce the consumption of that good by others.

    No, an implied license is where all the circumstances suggest that the copyright owner expected their copyright material to be used in the way contemplated.
    So putting your image on the internet falls in this spectrum.....that you are putting it there for others to use if needed.


    All photographs you take now are automatically copyright, BUT.....In the United States there are legal advantages in registering your copyright and this can be done for batches of images at a time. Registration of your images enables you to claim damages in US courts for breach of copyright that exceed the actual financial loss.

    If your pics arent legally copyrighted, your shit out of luck.

    Copyright your stuff here:

    http://www.copyright.gov/forms/
    e_andree, Jul 2, 2007
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    SkyAce2004 New Member

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    well shit, im going to go start downloading music and use that excuse when i get busted. "the owner still has the original copy"

    i know it wont work, but its still a pretty messed up scenario.
    SkyAce2004, Jul 2, 2007
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    laz Member

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    People, he is not selling the damn photo, he is selling the bumper that is pictured on the photo.

    If anyone has any rights it would be the original manufacturer of the bumper, but even that is iffy.

    As an example it was a photo of the likeness of someone, and he was selling it saying give me money for this douche in the picture, then you may have a case. :rolleyes: :)

    The only way that you can even identify that it is your picture is because you see a tiny bit of your caliper, if not it would be like any other car, and even then, do you own the only set of those rims with painted calipers?

    Just let it go.

    X
    laz, Jul 2, 2007
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    SkyAce2004 New Member

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    we undserstand this, and the topic has veered off to the "selling someone elses photos" but im done discussing the topic.
    SkyAce2004, Jul 2, 2007
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    corollagtswife New XRS Owner :

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    Principle and people having it ... non existent. Sorry to break the news to you ... especially people on the internet.
    corollagtswife, Jul 2, 2007
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    GSE21tuner Formerly rollatuner110. Representing AZLexus.club

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    haha that's true. I've let it go already. My car no longer looks like that anymore anyways.
    GSE21tuner, Jul 2, 2007
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