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Intellectual Property and Copyright Theft In Our Industry.

Marlene

New Member
Isn't this the same pile of skulls photo on Photobucket, I believe you can down-load it from here?

I didn't see anyone address this yet and wondering about it. under the photo, which clearly is the same photo, it says "by Noktiferus" is this also a stolen photo on Photobucket?
 

cptcorn

adad
I didn't see anyone address this yet and wondering about it. under the photo, which clearly is the same photo, it says "by Noktiferus" is this also a stolen photo on Photobucket?

Yes... it's the same photo. Re-size each photo proportionately. Place them over each other adjust transparency, EVERYTHING, lines up. In this type of photography it's almost impossible to duplicate a photo such as this. Lighting, foliage in the background, camera height and position. It's not impossible, but someone would have to go through extreme lengths to duplicate it.

I placed the "by Noktiferus" image on top, drew a odd shape, and made a mask (look for color and black/white areas), adjusted nothing else. There is a 2px discrepancy between eh two photos when resided.
 

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signmeup

New Member
Here's a question; What if someone did take the exact same photo 5 minutes before or after this one was taken?
 

Fred Weiss

Merchant Member
I didn't see anyone address this yet and wondering about it. under the photo, which clearly is the same photo, it says "by Noktiferus" is this also a stolen photo on Photobucket?

What you need to realize is the impact of the business model and lack of supervision used by sites such as shutterstock, dreamstime, fotolia, photobucket and many others where they providing an upload capability to anyone who wants to upload and sell or display work. It becomes overwhelming for the artist to police and protect their work.

We went through it with several dozen of our images that showed up at three image sales sites. We had to prove to each site, on their forms, that the images were ours. Eventually each took them down but they were totally uncooperative when it came to supplying the name and contact information for each of the alias named "artists". It took roughly 40 man hours just to get it that far.

The impact of this and the various torrent sites, files sharing in general, as well as the growing practice of resellers delivering counterfeit copies of CDs and DVDs, is the reduction of new work being created, the increase in the price of legitimate work from legitimate sites, and the move to individual and small package image sales over the internet instead of delivering a CD with a user guide.

In concrete terms ... there will never be a Vector Art Mega Collection IV. Our Plotter Art™ brand of vector clipart will see no new development. OCA Enterprises sold its clipart libraries to a conglomerate that runs Clipart.com and other art sites, leaving the CD market to Digital Art Solutions and Clipart Design (where most images are done by Eastern European CG artists who work cheap).
 

Fred Weiss

Merchant Member
Here's a question; What if someone did take the exact same photo 5 minutes before or after this one was taken?

Has never happened and doubtful it ever will. If it ever did then each photographer would low the rights to their own photograph ... nothing more.
 

rjpjr

New Member
question...

I saw a few posts suggest that the graphics should be removed from the vehicle. If the customer refuses, does anybody possess the authority or power to enforce the removal of the graphics? I was just wondering about this situation from the customers point of view.
 

royster13

New Member
The vehicle owner is also in violation of a copyright and the copyright holder can enforce those rights.....While they may argue all day long that they did not do it they can still be held liable.....Now they may have a "hold harmless agreement" that transfers the $ liability it does not relieve them of the actual liability....

So if you are a shop owner and you have a "hold harmless" agreement in your contract and a client used some logo there are not supposed to you both get sued....And typically if a judgment is issued it will be in both names...The "hold harmless" agreement makes your client responsible for "indemnifying" you but the third party may have already got money from you....It it now between you and your client to sort it out....
 

javila

New Member
I didn't see anyone address this yet and wondering about it. under the photo, which clearly is the same photo, it says "by Noktiferus" is this also a stolen photo on Photobucket?

What's there to address? It's a user submitted gallery. Photobucket doesn't approve individual uploads, they simply pass the responsibility onto the users for obtaining appropriate rights.

question...

I saw a few posts suggest that the graphics should be removed from the vehicle. If the customer refuses, does anybody possess the authority or power to enforce the removal of the graphics? I was just wondering about this situation from the customers point of view.


Original photographer does. Cease and desist order, then they can sue for copyright violation.
 

signmeup

New Member
Who buys these sort of wraps? They don't seem to be aimed at a particular business.
I'm pretty sure a florist wouldn't be interested but I'm honestly not sure what type of business this sort of thing would benefit. If I saw the vehicle in question I would make a mental note NOT to call that business if I needed a plumber.

I could see it at a car show to titilate adolesent boys....but they don't have money to buy wraps. I don't get it. Am I missing something? Maybe I should start carving signs with piles of skulls...?
 
Who buys these sort of wraps? They don't seem to be aimed at a particular business.
I'm pretty sure a florist wouldn't be interested but I'm honestly not sure what type of business this sort of thing would benefit. If I saw the vehicle in question I would make a mental note NOT to call that business if I needed a plumber.

I could see it at a car show to titilate adolesent boys....but they don't have money to buy wraps. I don't get it. Am I missing something? Maybe I should start carving signs with piles of skulls...?

what you are missing is the common error that many business owners make in that they choose what they think is cool or in fashion to represent their business rather than taking the time to think of how to present their company, their products and / or services to the correct target market in a manner that will promote their business.

too many people are concerned with looking cool or following fashion trends. just look at every business in every industry that modified their logo like west coast choppers? it makes zero sense...and just like all fads in time they fade and you are forced to rebrand your company once again eliminating any brand recognition you may have created.

expensive mistakes..but the real expense is not in rebranding it is in having marketing in place that is not generating results. the loss is in the business you could be gaining.
 

vinylbarry

New Member
I think what he is trying to get at is the skulls in that truck kindy look the same pic but to know you would need a better pic of the side of the truck.

On a side note I know of a Flea market that is about 75 miles from me that is open 1 weekend a month and they have 3 people in it selling non license decals of about everthing and one guys both is just cramed full of it and I see cops walk right by it and do nothing dont you think they should atleast take a look.

They sellers have been there for proably a year now.:rolleyes:
 

royster13

New Member
With more and more lawyers and less and less work more folks will bet chased for copyright/trademark violations.....In the past all the "owners" wanted was for the "violators" to cease and desist...Now the lawyers are pushing for "damages".....
 

Pat Whatley

New Member
You'll probably never see the day the police will start busting random sticker makers. There are several cops on this site who make signs on the side....have any of them ever mentioned arresting somebody for cutting a peeing Calvin? Ever heard of them giving a ticket to a guy for a bootleg Harley Davidson sticker on his car?

I've seen guys at flea markets get busted but only after lawyers have done all the paperwork, gone to the district attorney, and pretty much made it something the police were forced to deal with. Intellectual property theft is just beyond the grasp of most people and even after it's explained people still say "But it's just a sticker."
 

Dice

New Member
I just thought of something. If he removes the wrap and destroys it, does that cancel out his infringement?

If this were to go to court, wouldn't the damages be Nothing?

Also since he was paid for the work, and releases ownership to his client, doesn't his client now take responsibility for the work? What if his client refuses to remove the wrap if requested?

Just some thoughts.
 

Billct2

Active Member
I just thought of something. If he removes the wrap and destroys it, does that cancel out his infringement?

No

If this were to go to court, wouldn't the damages be Nothing?

No
 

bob

It's better to have two hands than one glove.
...
On a side note I know of a Flea market that is about 75 miles from me that is open 1 weekend a month and they have 3 people in it selling non license decals of about everthing and one guys both is just cramed full of it and I see cops walk right by it and do nothing dont you think they should atleast take a look...

Copyrights, licensing, etc. are civil, not criminal matters. The local constabulary is only concerned with criminal activities, not civil squabbles. As long as no one is breaking an actual criminal law or endangering public safety, it's no business of law enforcement.
 
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