WAB image use by external websites

[Tiggrx]

I was browsing Google Images the other day and was surprised to come across one of my pictures being used by a website that I had never heard of. The picture is one that is uploaded to this site and the site that was using it had linked the picture back to this site.

I don't really mind that they are using the picture but just wondered what the general WAB view is on this situation?

Aaron

[Perry Grin]

Originally Posted by Tiggrx

I was browsing Google Images the other day and was surprised to come across one of my pictures being used by a website that I had never heard of. The picture is one that is uploaded to this site and the site that was using it had linked the picture back to this site.

I don't really mind that they are using the picture but just wondered what the general WAB view is on this situation?

Aaron

Dunno what the WAB view is, but what many photographers do is put a watermark with their name across any images they upload, or just add your name to the corner. Not sure how you do this, probably in photoshop or similar. At lease it means that you'll get the credit you deserve. Don't know if this is sufficient to copyright images though. Maybe someone sles could comment?

[mh68]

On every WaB gallery page, at the bottom is a copyright notice,which presumably covers gallery images.If the site you mentioned had linked the image without Stuarts approval then its breaching the copyright of this site.Might be worth a pm to Stuart with details so he can check it out ?

Mark H

[StuartDH]

We never give permission for anyone to use any of the images on the site. Instead we always direct any enquiries from visitors to be made only with the original photographer.

Stu

[Tiggrx]

Originally Posted by StuartDH

We never give permission for anyone to use any of the images on the site. Instead we always direct any enquiries from visitors to be made only with the original photographer.

Stu

Thanks for clarifying this Stu. I might e-mail the website involved and suggest they ask in future.

[jennyb]

If it was pointing directly to the image on WAB, that is "bandwidth theft". This can be serious if there are lots of hits on that web site which means that WAB gets hit each time the image is displayed from that site. The expensive thing about running a web site is not the size of the site but the amount of bandwidth the site uses (ie: size of downloads - both pages and images).

If this happens to more images on WAB, that could be a serious problem for WAB bandwidth.

Jenny

[beckiscott]

Originally Posted by Tiggrx

Thanks for clarifying this Stu. I might e-mail the website involved and suggest they ask in future.

i would email them and tell them your price for using the image under license, and suggest that in future they pay first or the compensation for copyright breech will be more costly!

Give them a set number of days to pay or insist the image is taken offline. If they dont oblige, find yourself a mate with a bit of legal knowledge and persue it
further!

I would be polite but firm ... you dont want to lose a potential sale, but then don't allow people to cheapen your talent & images by letting them steal them. Yeah it might be exciting to see your photos online, but who pays for all you kit and the time and knowledge you've invested?!

[ChasCreek]

It is an issue with any images that you put onto the web I am afraid.

Often people think it is OK if rather than downloading the picture and then uploading it to their website, if they instead link the image back to your site and by doing so crediting the image and as such I guess in a way they aren't stealing the image by linking it back to the creators site as they are simply 'referencing it and they are not trying to claim ownership of the image. I would much prefer people do this than download my image and upload it to their site.

I have experienced this quite a lot with sketches from my sketching site. In the main I don't have an issue with people linking the image back to me with a credit as they aren't trying to take credit for it and they are directing people back to my site (as long as they aren't a commercial site). I guess in this case with images off wab there is yes the issue that site bandwidth is used, but then again people will I am sure find wab images from Google searches etc so it will happen anyway - and on the flip side of course it may bring people to WAB that didn't know about the site and maybe become members and contributors.

I have a copyright statement on my site about useage (both my sketch site and photographic site) but I don't really have an issue with someone referencing my pictures on their site as long as they are credited and linked back to my site and in that they aren't using the image for commercial gain.

I also have a lot of audio on my main site as well and the BBC used a portion of my audio in a roundup on BBC Radio5 of good Web based audio Radio style programmes to listen to - My audios are also copyrighted (including editing or changing the audio which they did to create the portion of the segment about my audio) but I certainly wasn't going to chase the BBC for giving me some exposure and a link back from the Radio5 programmes website!!