Sensor defects and copyright

[pico]

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I do not stay up late thinking of crazy ideas. They come naturally.

 

My M9 has a few conspicuous and persistent corrosion spots always in the same location, of course. Does anyone think I could support a copyright of my image's authenticity by the corrosion marks? Something like a natural water mark?

 

These marks are usually only visible at 1:1. Thieves do not go to that extent to view. They aren't that smart.

 

Gimmie hell or gimmie credit.

Edited October 9, 2016 by pico

[Chuck Albertson]

No crazy. If it ever came down to proof that you were the author, it's a good idea. I'd periodically save a "shot-of-the sky-at minimum aperture" showing the corrsion spots as back-up.

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[AlanG]

Those marks would not constitute a copyright notice which has to have the copyright symbol, Copr. or the word Copyright along with the year of creation and the copyright holder;s name. But you don't need a copyright notice since the image is your copyrighted property at the moment you create it. However registering your copyright is necessary if you actually hope to recover any money from a copyright infringement case. Having those marks on your image surely don't make it possible for anyone to find you. Are you saying someone else might claim the image is theirs and these marks will help you prove it?  If that is the case and they falsify the copyright you might have a case under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

 

I know a fair amount about this since I spent more than 2 years pursuing a case that recently was settled on confidential terms.  Here is the press release and the judge's preliminary opinion.

 

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-rights-of-photographers-to-images-used-in-the-real-estate-industry-need-to-be-protected-300128466.html

 

https://casetext.com/case/goldstein-v-metro-regl-info-sys-inc

[jaapv]

Good on you! That was pretty flagrant, adding (!) their own copyright and arguing that was fine because it was done automatically. Such crooks deserve all they get coming.

[AlanG]

Good on you! That was pretty flagrant, adding (!) their own copyright and arguing that was fine because it was done automatically. Such crooks deserve all they get coming.

I wish I could comment but I can't due to the terms of our settlement. I think there is a lot of infringing going on and as in my case, if they get settled you don't hear much more about them. My attorneys said that placing their copyright notice on my photo was what made this a good test of the DMCA.  But since it never got to trial we won't know.

 

I have found hundreds of additional examples of my images being infringed worldwide. (Not DMCA claims.) Just one image has about 100 infringements.  We are trying to figure out which are worth pursuing.

 

Here are the results of just one Google Image search for my shot of a children's undersea playroom. (Articles promoting the interior designer are permissible.)

 

https://www.google.com/search?tbs=sbi:AMhZZiv7b3dZY9q6a3pRD8UNdplsMdx1VFz3guS7_1f2be3U2kp5ge0mKhCdXRdGUU6AzjZKXK8mU7jPMhP4jshFc5VMnvIfuJqBwmBgG_1W1iIW4x0pYxAwqmtIN-rgaAsHHJ3vynX5HGiKLtHq-oy8gR5-mG0JRa1kX2XzLzHF9RSdpR900SNIzklRHataJwb4LAors2ssxHr4YGlGvsDF8Md76kkIhRnP7n2M-TxkG6WW0VcCNV_1bD4gO_1qIEVfvOqPWOA3AgDaTZQnx41AB6mlIRBB6pKziQbRyg2HflI-pG6ayESADE8QH00mJdWpJx6X6owI_1VVziQuDOnv0oZI5kn58Kg02kI4Fdlg3U1XiuBMZ35gOrpEMGqpIDE4pbJZ5ZbxxZMWoCaFUxjxbAuKppyc7TatLW_1acvLFkgTuqYCL-bb4pNsM0wKkLzcButB6z1I-ueaisUM2f9Lmsxz1K9FwTfLHz2nWk69TdNT2NUJQE80gZE029SU_1dD-cxz6ruPyIpA0nuyr4bbb3GR05mp0zvdXpcvYw5F3RHKBYHV8BA7gyRKVFm8rtfWBmnlSyKLyWmvZuQQ7oaGnIwfjROocQ7IoWmaQQt5PB78g3Jah4g1V19TbippdFGmspPTQf8FbCp3z9QQ7YLhaZsufHBI1gbh8OiA7Y9_16UAvTx5RIptkJ7-p8m9ej8mI2KUXu9r1izqcP8RoNF8oxmCRpJllqDjDOIRwKe2klFzQamwPbME1N9wcrdpTJdlOJVXUhU-W1u_1tO-aG53idBSdo0P8H1DPmzVeyRPFt1EBL0pmQTo0O-AaHsZC7bHoVgS-9kz1PYbeCrXiQJ3ZVoIzo6ByNaN00ORBxCv9e4oZ9inSIv-XIBkbnopwF1AUkUzCZjUFT28tzSt690yOQVmoK6kMWJCsTuRBlIpf33MEX0Tzx8D067TM0ge_1t0jKK4yuYym3WHLgvVFdxR75M7IgQP4zhX3ekFF6wIGFfSJuTvGG0ydbzL-ggIJqR8klYJYu7fNeZEv1bO9zSxjw838dBXBMr5EBCUW3R7OFnnVLZwakykZoWiMTtcUsj1-tjpptwKmtl-rTWuw8eShVfc5peN2gQsUAEZnI_1JjuGRnRwgGsu_1ab45Uh9gZVXLY0OvS6z2I5KM141Y_1nfk5uyW1loygc3mq5u4CeeT5zGwerTI9Y5m2BA0kDaPyw4rYHwcKhO8dONBZNuzrMG0U6Km-JweSet0cknTZlkwsLuRTmzlMxvUngajRB5co5vmMoe-9EziIngThgsvkF7Ed2ueQv46EYBwsP9x180pUuwaA1J5y_1xEoyAs3uji6fCtwnv6j9EueFgoZ7_1bXHnqe0e5Cb_1-eDu3r3E8SvAfl9-T0-b39BS-HUJ23n65K6LlKQL4B2mcsScHcz6uOqzgZd6pZmYZciPbvrzC1czbqKm9uSUKlvHMAwE-gYZOx6umI1vCQn28qZXKDVBRvZkIK-_1rbb1UZtALt98xTq4HlOz2i-1P5eexfj9i35aA4OKGl82gmD1UiBt1jsnv_19XemB8DL1WSducef7gmkig5Bc1k2h4F_1y7_1Oe_1u113-g&hl=en

Edited November 8, 2016 by AlanG

[Robert M Poole]

"Mr. Goldstein believes these types of violations are more common than suspected due to the ease of digital copying. He urges other photographers to search for unauthorized uses of their own works. The "search by images" tool on the Google Images site can be useful for this purpose." 

 

I would be interested to know if any of my images had been violated but is there a way to search on a large scale or would it have to be image by image? TBH, I doubt they have and I would secretly be flattered if they were being used (but then I am not a professional photographer)

[AlanG]

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"Mr. Goldstein believes these types of violations are more common than suspected due to the ease of digital copying. He urges other photographers to search for unauthorized uses of their own works. The "search by images" tool on the Google Images site can be useful for this purpose." 

 

I would be interested to know if any of my images had been violated but is there a way to search on a large scale or would it have to be image by image? TBH, I doubt they have and I would secretly be flattered if they were being used (but then I am not a professional photographer)

 

You have to do it one by one. If you find an example you then need to study how it was used. I save a screenshot and also download the web page. Yes it is very time consuming but I feel a responsibility to myself and my profession to protect my rights.  There might be a way someone could make software that searches for a batch of images, but it would have to sort out which are actual "hits" vs. just similar types of images. And then you'd still have to sort through all of that data.

 

It never occurred to me in advance that the image in question would be such a big deal.

Edited November 8, 2016 by AlanG

[jaapv]

You have to do it one by one. If you find an example you then need to study how it was used. I save a screenshot and also download the web page. Yes it is very time consuming but I feel a responsibility to myself and my profession to protect my rights.  There might be a way someone could make software that searches for a batch of images, but it would have to sort out which are actual "hits" vs. just similar types of images. And then you'd still have to sort through all of that data.

 

It never occurred to me in advance that the image in question would be such a big deal.

 

 

This works pretty well:

 

https://www.tineye.com/products

[AlanG]

This works pretty well:

 

https://www.tineye.com/products

Yes that and perhaps some services might be worth checking out. I will say that when I searched for a given image in Google Images it had "hits" at a much higher rate than when I did that with other image searches using other engines. (Bing, Yahoo)  Even images on my own site were often not found. Although perhaps these systems have improved since then.