Hi all

I was just scanning ebay to see what was on offer and the prices things are going for and I noticed that an auction for Tiger track hangers has pictures of one of my tanks I posted in the forum. This forum is the only place I posted them outside my own club so obviously there has been somebody browsing here for our pics. I was not asked by the seller for permission to do this and in addition the hangers and tracks I used were not the same thing anyway so some poor buyer may be misled. Has this happened to anybody else and does anybody know what rights you have to stop people nicking your work without permission? I know it is not a tank related question but I was a bit miffed to see my work used without credit or mention.

Cheers
Gorehound

You can contact ebay, Give them the Auction number and the sellers user id. Let them know the picture used was yours and not theres as well as the fact that the hangers pictured are not the same as advertised. they will pull the pic and warn the seller against using photos that are not theres. I had a seller last year use my pics for an auction that I had posted and did not sell. Ebay pulled them from there add.

I saw an eBay sale that did even better. It was For a Go tech engine and it completely word for word stole testimonials off the net, to sell the engine. Normally I would not of cared, but what surprised me the most was the testimonial was me. It had my pic of me and my buggy form the REAL sellers site and my full testimonial. I contacted the guy whose site the info was stolen from and he took care of it from there.

The way i thought it was is the internet is like the real world. Meaning if you post it on here or anywhere else its free game. Like freedom of speach. But as for someone using a photo with yourself in it. I belive they must have promision. Taking a picture of somebody is much different than taken a picture of a object. I am sure most guys would say sure use my photo as long as it was to be used acordingly. Like if some one liked my M26 Picture and they were selling a M26 That would be ok with me. I would be flatered really of all the 1000's of pictures they chose mine.

Meant to mention to is if you do a search on yahoo or google images you will find every picture there is posted on a website or forum, So they might not be taken them right from the Tank forum, I would think it would be easier to just images search.

Thanks for the replies guys. I was more annoyed by the fact that my work had been used without permission and that the item was not actually the same stuff that I had used - it looked inferior to the products I had used. If somebody had subsequently bought the item after seeing it on this site and assumed it was my listing (there is no real way of knowing who the seller is in relation to members on this site) I did not want them chasing me for the issue.

The chap has responded and I am a bit happier now but I am sure most folk would have liked to be contacted first before seeing their work used to make other people money who did not want to spend the time doing it themselves.

Cheers
Gorehound

linky for yours and the ebay auction?

Generally (at least in USA), public posted material can be re-used within limited copyright usage guidelines, however, direct profit from such usage may be infringement.

Your not meant to post any images unless you own the copyright or have permission to use it. Most people arn't botherd unless someones using it to make a profit or it's being credited as someone elses work / photo.

Even Photobucket have strict copyright rules.

I saw the ebay ad and thought i recognised that tiger,very cheeky! I think a few freebies are owed to you Gorehound by the ebayer in question.

On ebay I'm pretty sure you have to use photos of what you are selling, not photos of somebody elses property, protrayed as the item being sold.

Let me guess, it's a HL ?

Send them a bill for using your photos

Hi there

I did not want to give him the free advertising

cheers

I somehow don't think he would give any freebies. That was one of my main concerns, folk would recognize it and think these were my auctions, which they are not and then be pissed when they got the item and it did not actually look like the one in the photo.

He has removed the picture from one auction and has said he will not to use it on the other item in future.

I am glad others seem to feel the same way though...

cheers guys

I've had numerous photos "stolen" and some commercial sites have cropped "my" photos, deleted part of the photo, or tried to cover up the more descrete watermarks--as a result, the photos I post in the forums are not only reduced, but watermarked "twice" which usually includes one over the subject itself. I also add copyright and other information to the Exif data. For that matter, I've even come across someone trying to sell one of my R/Cs.

Cheers for the tips Tigger. I had briefly thought about watermarking but given what you say I think it is something I will do in future. I will look into the Exif thing a bit more too, even if I do not use it I like to know about these things

Ethical behavior means little to some people.

If it were my photo, I would be pretty pissed if the person hadn't asked my permission first. (I would have granted permission so long as the photo was used in a proper context).

Cheers...

It seems ebay are not bothered. The seller had put on even more listing using my pics despite agreeing he would not. I complained to ebay but they simply said they did not look like any listing I had ever made so were happy he was complying. I have replied to them but it seems ebay are just as guilty in their pusuit of profit rather than doing the correct thing.

Makes me wonder about putting photos of my latest two tanks up at all..... []

guess you need to put your name across the tank or something...

but if they really wanted to, they could photoshop the name out.

That's too much work for most people as well as removing the Exif data from the photo. There are also ways to digitally mark and track a photo if one wants to pay for the service.