Photo-theft On This Forum

[Rikx1M]

I searched my avatar and found pages and pages of images that they are selling...Bimmerpost.com should sue them for stealing images off the site to protect our community

[E92 M Sport]

Bimmerpost: Better call Saul! Sue the sh!t out of em!

[50shadesofhockenheim]

Originally Posted by Z K

I've noticed eBay is notorious for showing people's cars without their permission to hawk their items.

If you search for M3 CRT front lip, you'll see a forum member's car with the authentic CRT lip used to hawk a knock off front lip...

Years ago some ebay store put my e90 in their listing to show off a carbon fiber roof spoiler and they even put their watermark on it. I told them to take it down

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by E90 LCI

Years ago some ebay store put my e90 in their listing to show off a carbon fiber roof spoiler and they even put their watermark on it. I told them to take it down

It's probably too late, but next time, get my attorney's contact information. That's worth a few thousand. Taking your copyright off and adding their own watermark is a specified offense in the DMCA and you can collect statutory damages. Register your images and it become more thousands.

[50shadesofhockenheim]

Originally Posted by dcstep

It's probably too late, but next time, get my attorney's contact information. That's worth a few thousand. Taking your copyright off and adding their own watermark is a specified offense in the DMCA and you can collect statutory damages. Register your images and it become more thousands.

How do you register images? I take some nice pics with my DSLR and have had car pages take them so I started putting my instagram handle @____ on the pictures. Not sure if that counts as anything.

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by E90 LCI

How do you register images? I take some nice pics with my DSLR and have had car pages take them so I started putting my instagram handle @____ on the pictures. Not sure if that counts as anything.

https://eco.copyright.gov

ECO stands for Electronic Copyright Office. To be considered "Timely", you have to file within 90-days of "publishing" an image. I zip thumbnail sized images into a file and register a batch each quarter. ECO's system is archaic. They don't keep it updated for OS and browser changes, so instead of it taking five-minutes, it'll seems to always take hours.

One first step is to go into your camera's menu and make sure you got a copyright embedded in your EXIF. There's a menu item for that. Mine says, "All Rights Reserved - David C Stephens". If I remember correctly, removing that is $1,500. Replacing it with your own is another $1,500. It adds up fast.

Indicating copyright on the image is also a good idea. A big ole watermark across the middle of the image ruins it, IMO, and defeats the purpose of trying to share with friends. If you have a copyright on the face of your images, even down in the corner like I do mine, removing that shows "Intent" and "Willfulness", both of which puts you in a strong position under DCMA.

Here's an example of mine:

Smokey Morning by David Stephens, on Flickr

It's easy enough to crop off, but doing so shows "Willful Intent" to Infringe. An ugly watermark is much harder to remove, but the degree of willfulness doesn't change.

[Daftasabrush]

Oh awesome, I could buy a photo of the photoshopped F31 I made when deciding on what colour to have my car:

http://wallpart.com/poster/05-18-201...m-121439318588

Or, I could buy a photo of my car's tailgate hinges:

http://wallpart.com/poster/people-wi...s-183574133134

Or I could buy a squashed photo of my car at the detailers:

http://wallpart.com/poster/my-indivi...9-255263933922



Cheeky fuckers!

[Zing]

Originally Posted by dcstep

A big ole watermark across the middle of the image ruins it...

Agree. So I purposely try to "ruin" (read: protect) my images with the least amount of impact by using a subtle-yet-obvious watermark. Sometimes it works well, other times it's a full-fledged ruin.

A small price to pay in my opinion.

[Zing]

Semi-related to OP.

Link

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by Zing

Semi-related to OP.

Link

Thanks.

I think it's directly related. For those that haven't followed the link, it's about Registering you copyright.

I costs $55 to register an unlimited number of images. A Registration is considered "timely" if it's done within 90-days of first "Publishing" the image. I Register several hundred images every 90-days with the eCO (Electronic Copyright Office). I register everything that I've retained within the 90-day period, whether it's published or not.

Even without Registering, your copyright exists from the moment that you create the image. Registration increases statutory damages very substantially.

Dave