Is this my Image
Author
Discussion

blondemoment

Original Poster:

712 posts

284 months

Tuesday 12th December 2006
quotequote all
It certainly looks like it - I found it this morning on a website that recommends Hotels around Europe - a very famous 'Guide'.

Can I have opinions please, and advice of how to approach said company if it is my image?

My photo is at the bottom.

Many thanks!

miniman

30,156 posts

292 months

Tuesday 12th December 2006
quotequote all
Whilst they could argue that they just took a similar shot, I can't see how they could claim that there "just happened to be" the exact same boats, shadows, water marks etc.

Is there any EXIF data on the "borrowed" copy to compare against the original?

speedychrissie

2,994 posts

269 months

Tuesday 12th December 2006
quotequote all
that most certainly does look like your pic. main points are the fact that the fog is the same aswell as the shadows being at the same angle. also, there is an object in the water on the left hand side.

is it a major company that wrote the guide? if so i would suggest that they should know better than to use other peoples images without permission so you can probably be quite forceful with them asking for the payment that you deserve.


if it is a small company you may want to approach gently with a "friendly" email stating that you believe they have used your image without permission. if they dont play then you can always resort to the more forceful approach.

Gemm

1,833 posts

245 months

Tuesday 12th December 2006
quotequote all
There's no doubt that this is your pic. I'd go along with Chris's approach.

blondemoment

Original Poster:

712 posts

284 months

Tuesday 12th December 2006
quotequote all
I thought as much!! Thanks for your help - ooh - how cross am I!

There is no EXIF data, and it is quite a large specialist internet guide - obviously I won't name & shame, but the next question is.....how much do I charge???

Of course, I do have my original with all it's data intact!

EmmaP

11,758 posts

269 months

Tuesday 12th December 2006
quotequote all
Cheeky feckers didn't even bother to edit out the boat!

I'd get on the phone el pronto.

GregE240

10,857 posts

297 months

Tuesday 12th December 2006
quotequote all
The URL links for both servers is the same?

speedychrissie

2,994 posts

269 months

Tuesday 12th December 2006
quotequote all
GregE240 said:
The URL links for both servers is the same?


thats because it is only one picture. the OP has joined them together for the coparison.

EmmaP

11,758 posts

269 months

Tuesday 12th December 2006
quotequote all
Thinking about this, you may find that it is the company that built the site that pinched your image. I imagine that the client, ie the holiday company, would be seriously pissed off if they found out that their design bods had breached copyright. There is no excuse for this, but it does not prevent people from stealing work. An initial polite phone call to the marketing department of the holiday company - pointing out pretty much all that has been said on here thus far - would be a good first step.

dumbfunk

1,727 posts

314 months

Tuesday 12th December 2006
quotequote all
Is it Schmap?


df

blondemoment

Original Poster:

712 posts

284 months

Tuesday 12th December 2006
quotequote all
No, but can't say any more until I have contacted the company in question!

ali_kat

32,155 posts

251 months

Tuesday 12th December 2006
quotequote all
To55ers!!!!

Hope you get this sorted!

heelantoe

43 posts

243 months

Tuesday 12th December 2006
quotequote all
Well it's the same pic, no doubt about it but how did they get hold of it?
Have you entered it into any competitions? Some of these have some small print that say the image becomes theirs once you have entered it. These unscrupulous people then sell them to ad agencies or picture libarys :-(

blondemoment

Original Poster:

712 posts

284 months

Tuesday 12th December 2006
quotequote all
It seems to me they have whipped it from my Pro Photobox gallery, used a screen print, then cropped it.

It hasn't been submitted for any competitions - I am very careful with my images, which makes it worse!

Still deciding the best approach - company is based abroad with no address on website, or in source code, or on a whois search!! All I can find is an email address!

megy

2,429 posts

244 months

Tuesday 12th December 2006
quotequote all
blondemoment said:
It seems to me they have whipped it from my Pro Photobox gallery, used a screen print, then cropped it.

It hasn't been submitted for any competitions - I am very careful with my images, which makes it worse!

Still deciding the best approach - company is based abroad with no address on website, or in source code, or on a whois search!! All I can find is an email address!


You could always find out who has registered the website domain, get their address and write/email them from that. There are several sites around that you can type in the URL and they will then give you the contact details.

dumbfunk

1,727 posts

314 months

Wednesday 13th December 2006
quotequote all
I would go to www.flickr.com/groups/ and do a search of the group discussion. There's always this kind of stuff going on and I'd be surprised if somebody else hadn't come across the issue before?


dumbfunk