And the advantages of registering our important photos with the US Copyright Office.
I realize that these subjects won’t be of interest to all of my readers and some readers may have different views than mine but that’s OK. But recent events have prompted me to address the issue in some detail. Be forewarned, this isn’t a short read.
The moment you push the shutter you own the copyright to that image and only you have the legal right to reproduce, modify, copy or publicly display it. Even if it’s the crappiest snapshot taken with a point and shoot camera in the history of photography the copyright is yours exclusively. And you don’t have to include a copyright symbol (©) or register your image with the US Copyright Office to have ownership of that image. It’s automatic (unless that image falls under the category of “work for hire).
Online image theft is rampant and it happens regularly to most serious and even novice photographers who post online, including me. Sometimes it’s done out of ignorance (though that’s no excuse) – folks think “others are doing it so why can’t I?”. But as we’ll soon see those folks may be taking a big legal and financial risk.
When my images are stolen and used on websites with little traffic and/or they’re not being used for commercial gain it often isn’t worth my time to aggressively pursue redress. If I see the infringement I often point out online and publicly that it was stolen and ask that it be taken down promptly. If it is, that’s the end of it. If it’s posted on social media I’ll often file a DMCA takedown request with Facebook or whatever other social media site it’s posted to. But if my stolen image is being used commercially for gain or profit or for political and/or religious purposes all bets are off. That’s where my IP (Intellectual Property) attorney enters the literal and proverbial picture if necessary.
Before we go any further I thought I should show readers an example from the past.
Several years ago a Florida plumber stole this image and used it in the online advertising for his business (“right click save” is disabled on my blog so folks have to go the extra mile to steal my images). I found the infringement using a reverse image search. He had someone photoshop pipe wrenches and other plumbing tools into the talons of the eagle and if I remember correctly he even had it painted on the sides of his service trucks.
And this plumber made another serious mistake. If an image thief removes or hides (often by cropping) your copyright notice to hide the infringement the photographer is entitled to additional damages and that’s exactly what he did. Like the notorious Watergate “Whitehouse plumbers” this guy wasn’t very smart. In the end after receiving a cease and desist letter and then a demand letter from my attorney the plumber coughed up a fair and reasonable settlement for stealing my image, removing my copyright and using the photo commercially.
But this particular image infringement was in the days before I registered my photos with the US Copyright Office. When images that haven’t been registered are stolen the photographer is only entitled to the “fair market value” of their work. But if the image has been registered with the US Copyright Office the owner of the copyright is also entitled to significant statutory damages. That could result in judgments up to $150,000, plus legal fees.
Several years ago I registered all of my saved images with the US Copyright Office. Not just the “good ones” but all of them. Truthfully it was a cumbersome and unpleasant task but I’m glad I persevered and got it done.
This is a screenshot of part of my online record of registrations at the Copyright Office (such registrations are a matter of public record). Most of these individual registrations represent thousands of images in that file (I’ve cropped out the registration numbers that were on the right to make the print larger and easier to read}. Notice that all of my images from 2011 are registered – that will become an important point in a few moments.
Ok, now (finally!) to my motivation for publishing a post on this subject – to warn readers of the truly serious potential legal and financial ramifications of any kind of image infringement, including “lifting” photos from the internet and posting them elsewhere without prior permission for seemingly innocuous purposes.
Regular readers will likely recognize this photo of an adult Red-tailed Hawk with a deformed bill that I posted three days ago (although it was taken on November 8, 2011) and it sure didn’t take long for someone to steal it. Within about 24 hours of publishing it one of my vigilant blog readers tagged me in a Facebook post of this image so I would see that it had been stolen. It was posted to the page of a well-known raptor conservation group by someone I’ll call “Jane”. Besides stealing my image Jane also cropped tightly on the bird to eliminate my copyright watermark at lower right (even though the infringed image has now been deleted I have the screenshots of the original post to prove it).
Jane may or may not have known that what she did was illegal, unethical and against Facebook guidelines but in this digital age I’m betting that she did (I’ll say it again, ignorance is no excuse). But I suspect that she didn’t know that cropping out my watermark made the infringement significantly more serious and I’m almost positive that she didn’t even consider the possibility that the image might be registered with the US Copyright Office (it is) which made her potential legal and financial culpability for image theft a very serious matter.
When I notified Jane that I had seen her infringement and wasn’t happy about it being used without permission or having my copyright watermark removed part of her response was “I like the watermarks that are very small and close to the birds tail so they cannot be cropped out”. Like it was somehow my fault that I hadn’t placed the watermark in a convenient place for her, which of course is irrelevant because even if she had included the watermark that still didn’t give her the right to use my image without prior permission. It still would have been image theft.
In the end I let this infringement slide because a few hours after I notified Jane that she had been caught the image was deleted, because I support the goals of this particular raptor conservation group where the image was posted and because the photo wasn’t being used for personal gain. I suspect Jane’s basically a good person and I hope she learned a valuable lesson.
But be careful out there folks. We never have the right to steal images belonging to someone else, removing copyright watermarks makes the infringement significantly more serious and you just never know if the image might have the additional layers of protection provided by copyright registration.
Typically I don’t pursue infringements aggressively unless they’re being used for commercial gain or for political or religious purposes but others out there aren’t so forgiving.
Ron
PS – Here are some related links that might be of interest to some readers:
- A more detailed summary of our rights and responsibilities regarding copyright law.
- The actual copyright law of the USA.
- The registration portal of the US Copyright office where you can begin the process of registering your images or other works. The process is complicated and laborious but for some of us it can be worth the time and frustration involved.
- There’s also the complication of the doctrine called “Fair Use” which is a limitation to copyright intended to balance the interests of copyright holders with the public interest. It’s extremely complicated and difficult to interpret so I didn’t address it here.
And I should mention that sharing LINKS to blog posts or images that are posted online is perfectly acceptable and most photographers (including me) and others appreciate when those links are shared because it increases traffic to the post or image.
NBC took one of my images with a copyright watermark off of a web site and published it on their website. How can you fight a big corporation like that with all of their lawyers? Not worth the time and effort. I will just consider it an honor that they thought so well of my photo.
I haven’t post much recently Ron, but I still read every post. I fully support any effort to protect art.
Anyone who knows your blog must realize the hard work you put in to edutain us (a made up word I use with my kids – educational entertain).
Thank you for the work you do Ron.
Tim
On reading these comments, I realize that taking only the crappy photos that I do has advantages…nobody steals mine…nobody wants them!!!
Hi Ron. Thank you so much for posting this information. I see pictures posted on Facebook every day without any attribution or “photographer unknown”. Usually after a quick search I can find the source of the photo and I call them out on it. Most of the time my efforts are ignored. Not only is stealing a photograph a copyright issue. It is also a matter of respect for the artist that took the photo or the painter that created the portrait. My favorite has always been the guest for dinner that says to the hostess, “What a delicious meal! You must have a wonderful stove!” How about having appreciation and respect for the skills and time of the person that created that meal? I would very much like to post the link to this blog to a well known ornithology group I belong to. Maybe it will open some eyes.Should I email you for permission?
You make an excellent point about respect for the artist, Sybby.
You or anyone else can post links to my blog posts anytime the urge to do so is felt. As far as I’m concerned the more folks who see them the better.
The other issue you have to confront when calling someone out is their righteous indignation (to the point of verbal violence) based in ignorance of the law. Basically, all the “yeah, but” arguments rooted in I’ve always done this and I’ll continue to do this. Of course, they won’t bother to read the law. For some reason or other, they don’t believe that the law pertains to them!
As an aside, you should read the comments I get about enforcing the Migratory Bird Treaty Act…but I digress.
I fight the same battles with my words. The most annoying incident was when my editor (my EDITOR) at one magazine took my stories, verbatim, and sold them in Japanese markets–where he was sure I wouldn’t look. Thankfully, another reporter who could read Japanese alerted me to the problem. I didn’t have the money to pursue it legally, but I made one helluva stink within the professional motorsports arena. Although it wasn’t much, I was ultimately paid for the article by the owner of the magazine who employed the editor. The weird thing is that the editor was a photographer who was fully conversant with copyright laws!! If I had been in charge, the editor would have been busted back to a freelancer, but I wasn’t in charge.
Sorry to be late. I crawled into my hermit cave yesterday.
WOW Sybby! I think I know what site you’re talking about 😉 One of the reasons I’m not on FB, but there are many more. That site just lost one exceptional expert over this issue!
I think we are all fortunate that, despite the risks of your photos being misappropriated, that you are still willing to share your exceptional images. Perhaps everyone in similar circumstances should put a similar notice as the one at the bottom of your page, instead placing it in big red bold letters at the top, although there are plenty of people out there who would still steal with varying degrees of criminality.
BTW, certainly the best Bald Eagle photo I have seen. Thanks for posting it, if not for the most happiest of reasons.
I appreciate your comment very much, Lyle. Truth be told I share my images largely for self-serving reasons and one of them is the positive feedback my images sometimes get (there’s certainly no denying that). But another one is the simple fact that I love to teach and help to spread an environmental message. There are others. Thank you.
You probably realize this, but some of your readers may not. The US Copyright Office makes a clear distinction between published and unpublished work when registering images for copyright. They can not be registered together in the same group. Previously published images can be registered in a group, but they have to be grouped by year of first publication. From what I understand, posting to the web is now considered “publication” in some cases … the same as being printed in a book or magazine. It depends on how and where and with what intent the image was posted. The process of registering your copyright is much easier than it once was, but all of the rules must be followed in order to have the full protection afforded by law for your work.
https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-register.html
Yes, Brian – that distinction between published and unpublished works is one of the reasons it’s such a complicated process to register them.
Well written post Ron and I see your point,have been thinking about this for a while – My conclusion is not to go down this route of US Copyright Office, it will not really help. My images have been stolen so many times,people who steal will do it anyway, social media like Facebook and Twitter will only pull down the image in question but not the source of theft. So it just goes on and on. And then a lot of theft happens offline which no copyright body can control. I focus on creativity and positive feedback, NatGeo published my media several times and often my Twitter, Facebook and YouTube supporters do the flagging for me which is great.
Thanks, Chris. Registering our images certainly isn’t for everyone but for me I’m glad I did it.
Sigh.
Yet another reason to not be proud of our species.
And I am so glad you went to all the work of registering your images. And sorry that it was necessary.
I’m also glad and sorry, EC. But having it done gives me some measure of peace of mind. And some options to fall back on if I really need to.
Thanks Ron! This is valuable and useful information. I now have a new homework assignment. I appreciate you posting the lessons learned and how to mitigate things!
Good! Thanks, Ed.
I guess that is how I decided I was becoming a decent wildlife photographer when I found 3 of my images taken. One by a young girl using one of my images for a fund raiser for my own organization, without my permission…… still in a quandary how to deal with that. The other 2 were originaly posted on an online photography forum I belong to. Several people had their images stolen and prints were being sold by someone claiming the photography was theirs. The site was notified by several lawyers and individuals and is no longer on line. I have not posted photos on the forum since. I need to start putting a watermark on my photos. When I do post photos it is in a poorer jpg format. I have not done a Google reverse image search I guess I will look into it. For me it was a bit surprising when I saw the photos and it hit me “Hey, that is my photo!”
April, if photos posted to that photography forum were being printed it sounds like they must have posted high res versions of them. Keeping them at low res prevents decent prints of any size from being made from them.
I only posted low res so they would have been crappy prints.
Shesh, what a crazy coincidence I just got contacted by a local organization for permission to use some of my photos.
QUESTION: When you register your image with the Copyright office, do your images already have the copyright symbol and your name or is it without the copyright info??? Thank you for your most informative post. You have so many wonderful images, I bet a lot of people would want them,
Susan, they’re without the copyright watermark but all of my images have my copyright in the exif data imbedded in the image. That’s done automatically if you’ve set your camera settings up that way.
Thank you for your quick response.It must be quite a lengthy job to submit all of your images.
It was complicated and tedious, Susan. You can register them in batches but it still isn’t easy.
I keep coming back to that spectacular eagle image. Please tell me it is on a wall in your house. 🙂
Yeah, it is, Marty. Not in a very prominent place though…
I’d be more than happy to give it a “good home!” 😉
Go get ’em, Ron! This was a very informative and thought-provoking post. Fair use just for educational purposes is pretty complicated in and of itself. This post is a really good reminder for me as I get ready to go back to teaching in the fall. I know I’ll definitely be much more vigilant — for myself as well as for my students!
And that eagle shot is jaw-dropping AMAZING! Wow!!!!!
I remember struggling with fair use a little back when I was teaching, Marty. Thankfully I don’t have to deal with it as a “consumer” in that context these days. Thank you.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE TELL ME HOW TO STEAL THAT IMAGE OF AN EAGLE!!! It’s the most magnificent image of an eagle I’ve ever seen!!! IT COULD NOT POSSIBLY BE BETTER!!! I’m sick of shopping, cooking, etc. and would happily go to jail with that (stolen)image……
(I remember a few years back, when we were all up in arms over that teacher’s(!!!) image of the magpie blatantly stolen from you…when she HAD to know better!)
Yup, she knew better all right, Patty. Eventually she fessed up to that fact in our extended communication. But even if she hadn’t admitted to knowing better it was obvious that she did because of some of the lies she told and edits she made on her original post. Screenshots are invaluable in cases like that. Screenshots don’t lie…
No, “screen shots don’t lie” , but humans sure do…look at our “fake” president…I was so angry at that teacher, and her lies, I could almost spit nails!!! Even as elementary students, we learn that plagiarism is wrong…certainly a teacher does…including an art teacher!!! Drawing, painting, sculpting, photography, music….all the same…you don’t swipe someone elses creation!!!
Danned iPad printed all kinds of errors…too angry to notIce…fix if you can, please…( and I promise not to steal wonderful wonderful Eagle image after all……maybe!)
Fixed, Patty. Your flurry of typos made in your anger made me smile!
Thanks Ron. As a retired educator I always impressed upon my students the NEED to credit their sources and once had a colleague who staged a theft of a student’s writing to prove the point. The student was outraged that his words were used without attribution in the classroom setting. SO the lesson was a success. When it comes to photos it is also laughable to hear folks ask only “what kind of camera do you use?” as IF it were only the camera taking the picture and not the knowledge and skill and determination of the photographer to seek out his subjects (especially when it comes to wildlife). The recent revelations of FACEBOOK’S selling of our information and using posts to friends is also a cautionary tale. I wonder now whether children in grade school and in high school learn about citing sources, or do they still think that copying from an encyclopedia is fair game. Thanks again.
Ha, your teaching colleague sounds like my kind of teacher, Elizabeth! It makes it very personal when it happens to you.
And I wonder about some of the same things you do.
How does one use Google’s Reverse Image?
Elizabeth, there’s a link to Google image search that includes an explanation as to how to use in the first paragraph beneath the eagle in my post.
Staging the theft to make the point is brilliant! I wish I had thought of doing that. It’s tough to drive home that changing one or two words is still plagiarism.
I have to respond to this – Long, long time ago, in the 70’s, a student of mine handed in a term paper. When I corrected it I recognized several pictures and sentences that seemed very familiar. Went to the library, found the book, and noticed that in fact the student had not only cut out the pictures for his report he also underlined words, sentences and paragraphs he plagiarized. I believe that student really didn’t think I or teachers would check his or anyone else’s work. Since this was a private school he was summarily dismissed. Unfortunately it is a sad commentary.
Yup, a sad commentary indeed, Dick. But I’ll bet that’s a lesson that kid really learned!
I taught LA among other things (NO MATH!!! –my downfall subject)… Used “plagiarism” he as a platform to teach use of quotation and footnotes…
“And it’s also been used on extreme right wing political websites which really pisses me off. I do pursue those types of infringements aggressively.” I hope you empty their bank accounts. Hmmm…Ron, you’re bait-fishing, and catching right-wing suckers. I think you should troll your bait in richer waters.
Thanks for the info. There are a couple of friends on Facebook who regularly “share” my photos, with the copyright mark on them, but I’m pretty sure there’s no commercial use occurring. . nevertheless I am going to do a Google reverse image search regularly, and calendar it, thanks to your tip.
Martha, Those reverse image searches can be VERY interesting. Probably most of the stolen images are posted or pinned to social media but some of the others just come out of the blue. You just never know what you’re going to find…
Oh boy …… another thing to lose sleep over ..
🙂 🙂
Ron, good morning. An extremely interesting post this morning. Very educational. I don’t think that I was even aware that people steal photography, but after reading your article and becoming used to the quality of your photos I can see why. I think that eagle photo is the best I have ever seen. That is Nat Geo worthy plus. It is not hard to imagine that one being stolen over and over. I would love to copy that one, print it out, frame it, and put it on my wall telling everyone that I took it over at one of our lakes. But the truth is my family and friends would of course know that I did not take that photo. I hope that you are successful in tracking down anyone who would pirate your outstanding work.
Everett Sanborn, Prescott AZ
“I would love to copy that one, print it out, frame it, and put it on my wall”
Thanks, Everett. That’s exactly why I post my images at a resolution too small to print to any size and still have any quality. My images are posted at 900 pixels on the long side so if you try to print them to a much larger size they look extremely pixelated and just awful.
Folks who post high resolution images on the internet are taking a real chance with their copyright.
That is a very interesting post. Although I intellectually know what you are talking about, I never thought of registering “all” my images. I am giving that some serious thought. I would think that this is a serious expense for you or for that matter any photographer either professional or amateur. I do not understand the problem people have in not giving credit where credit is due. If there is a copyright © by their name why are people so hell bent on being dishonest. Yes I know it happens, that doesn’t mean I understand it. My neck is getting a tad hot, so I’ll just say Many Thanks for the post and I hope you catch every b……… that tries to go around the law.
Dick, it actually isn’t much more expensive to register a lot of images than it is to register just a few since you can register them in “batches”. The real pain is just the cumbersome and very specific and demanding process…
Thanks for another educational post! Always great to learn from the pros.
Thank you, Elmer.
WOW! And VERY interesting! You’ve mentioned some issues with this previously – good to have it all concentrated in one spot both for the “ignorant” and as a warning to those who are just flat thieves! Real pain to have to keep track of this stuff, BUT it is yours!
Yes, it truly is a pain, Judy. But our copyright is very important to many of us and worth the time and effort involved to at least TRY to keep on top of significant infringements.
I will say this was the most informative post you have done, your pictures are great, but now understanding the copy right and how the photographer is protected a must. This backyard photographer does not mind if one of my pictures are used, but at least say who took the picture. Our Raptor Center Louise insures that, the local minor league team seems to forget and I must remind them. So Thank’s for educating us, appreciate it.
“I will say this was the most informative post you have done”
I’m very happy to hear that, Steven. I realize that some will have absolutely no interest in the subject but it’s very important to many of us. Thank you.
That’s my question, too, with regard to whether it would have been okay if she had credited you for the photo, or would she still have had to ask you first? I get that it would have been the polite thing to do, but if not, would you still have asked her to take it down as promptly? I see a lot of photos on various websites where they post the source on the photo, or directly below it. Great post, by the way. Definitely good food for thought.
Yes, I would have asked her to remove it, Tanya. Image theft is still image theft even if she had credited me with the photo (which she actually did after I complained publicly and before she eventually deleted it).
Definitely great food for thought, Ron. I really appreciate your post and your reply, and it makes me reconsider my thoughts on photos I see on the web where credit is given. I will always wonder now whether they actually have asked for permission.
Wow – great post Ron!! A couple of questions please. If “Jane” were to have taken the photo and posted it while giving you credit, would that have alleviated any potential liability? I suspect not because she didn’t ask if she could use it…but was wondering. 2nd: What program(s) do you use to scan the internet to find out if your photos have been pinched? Tiny Eye, Google reverse image search, others? I’ve tried doing this and find out it’s tedious as I can only scan one pic at a time and if you’ve got 100’s of pics, that’s a lot of work to search them all. And if you wanted to do this 3-4 times a year to keep current…that’a a lot of time and effort. Is there an easier way? That pic of the eagle coming in…I could see it being used for a myriad of different businesses…it’s perfect for that use. I could see why that would be a photo that others would covet for business purposes. Great post – thanks you as always!!
Thanks, Zaph.
First question – yes, it would have mitigated some of the liability but not much of it. Removing the actual copyright watermark is a serious matter.
Second question – I’ve used several “programs” for that purpose but lately I’ve been using Google reverse image search most often. Yes, it is tedious which is why I usually only check the images I predict might be most often stolen. Thankfully many of my blog readers recognize my images and notify me when they see them stolen and sometimes I’m quite surprised by what thieves like! I don’t know of an easier way.
Yes, that eagle image has been stolen a number of times and used for commercial purposes. And it’s also been used on extreme right wing political websites which really pisses me off. I do pursue those types of infringements aggressively.