-in a forum, fine.
-for their ebay / yahoo auction sales, less fine
-for their commercial site / blog, definitely not fine

I've tried contacting them and was of course ignored. I'd rather not restrict downloads on flickr, and can't be sure they haven't already saved a copy anyway. What are my options?

I'm sure it's happened to lots of people here...

Not that it would stop anything but why don't you put a watermark on them? I know a lot of board members do that.

Petite, I am not sure about the other sites, but with eBay, I think you can contact eBay help and tell them who and what, and they should hpefuly put a stop to that. On there site, it is said that sellers aren't allowed to do that:
http://ebay.about.com/od/mistakestoavoi ... ealpic.htm
Not 100% sure if it applies to flickr, but you can still try to contact eBay..
But the watermark idea is gbood. Sorry to hear you have to deal with this mess...




That's a pretty good idea
If you don't mind me asking, how do you make and put your own watermark on pictures? I am not familiar with the how to on this.. Is there a special software you have to get or can it be done some other way?

Olie, I haven't tried it yet, but I have learned from a friend that you can actually change the settings to your Flicker to prevent unauthorized use of pics.

at the end of the day, there isn't anything you can do really. even if you restrict flickr, they can take a screen grab. If you display the pick anywhere, it can be stolen.








wait....... am I one of the culprits? my apologies if so...lol..

i think all you can do is post what blog/site it is and start a grass roots effort of talking shit about them in an attempt to reduce their credibility. if it's toybot studios... his blog allows for comments... we can just spam it with links that lead to scat porn.

^^^ Then of course someone will steal the essay and post it on their own blog without reference.

Happens to me alot on ebay. Here are 2 different sellers on ebay using a photo i took right now of my Medicom Ace Killer:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Medicom-RAH-Ultrama ... 1c193864cd

http://cgi.ebay.com/Medicom-RAH-Ultrama ... 230d610109

Eventually i got tired of reporting people using my images on ebay. But you can report people for using your images on ebay. Underneath the Seller Info and Other item info box you will see in blue "report item," click on that. And then the reason for the drop down box would be "copyright violation." Ebay will terminate the auction and send a warning to the seller.


Medicom Ultraman Ace Killer (box) by chimply kaiju

Pics from my Pushead blog have been used on eBay and Tumblr selling items. I've contacted the sellers, and they've always been good about either removing them or saying "picture not of inhand item taken from http..." or whatever.

I watermark now, but not where it can't be cropped, so same boat.

should do what i do... just take really shitty pics so people won't want to use them

^^^ real talk

Damn right you are..

Yep. I routinely snag flickr pics for private archives/viewing/hoarding/collecting etc on a regular basis.
A watermark wouldn't stop me unless it was horribly obvious and ruined the picture.

And yes, using them for sales or commercial purposes is over the top.
Has happened to me on some unrelated work.

back in the day of more traditional image stealing I encountered this a lot on ebay auctions. People would steal my companies photos because we would do everything on a white backdrop and take good quality photos. One time this person just took the url and posted it in their auction. In retaliation we switched the photo to something very obscene....suffice to say I think they were taught a lesson...guess you can't do that kind of thing with flickr.

Thanks for the feedback. Indeed, I want to use the pics so I don't want to restrict access, but was hoping for a quick legal way to stop people... Ah well. I guess spitting on offenders will have to do for now: Collect3d, Artoyz and Outland have all used my pics without asking or crediting in the past, and have ignored requests to have them removed. Well, Collect3d kindly removed one, and kept another. Go figure.

My pictures are used on auctions on Yahoo Auctions Taiwan and Hong Kong and my Chinese isn't good enough to find the proper sections to report trouble. I'd replace the pics with porn to screw them, but then I'd lose my account as well...

Kirkland, send me a custom and I'll let it go this time. Seriously, I don't mind blogs using them at all (if properly credited), but if it's a commercial blog from which people actually make money, then screw it. Take your own pics.

Bit of blog/website eitquette: if you want to borrow 2 or 3 pics, that's cool. Then provide full credit and link to the original source.

Please keep that in mind before doing something like this:

http://tomopop.com/winter-wonder-festiv ... ment-54081

A full 35 pics were lifted from my site. Credit is given on page 1, but click on each pic, and it looks like the new site is the original source.

Don't want to have to watermark, but it's getting to that point.

Blogs and websites should focus on creating *original* content, not heavily lifting from other people's work.

Credit is actually not given. They only say there's more pics on your site. Jerks.

Yeah I dropped a comment there. We'll see.

Here's the way things should be done. Hats off to Battlegrip:

http://www.battlegrip.com/?p=23926

Man, Tomopop fucking sucks. First they send that SirNarwhale dipshit over here, and then they steal Andy's pics? Weak.

I once nicked a single photo from the Anraku thread for a Wanted listing and forgot to credit it... felt bad for weeks Can't imagine just up and stealing a whole site post.

I watermark. I had no choice. It's not as effective as I hope it would be as people who are really determined will take it anyway with the watermark. I put the watermark on the most inconvenient spot too. One where they can't crop it off.

I don't mind when people ask. As long as I get credit. Often most people would say yes, all you have to do is ask.

If you'd buy less crap, that would'nt happen so much

Says the guy who collects Kozik... Hehe.

They mostly used pics from when I had a store...

Rhino, you need to unlock your flickr smogun pics so I can use them in my wishlist. I'll credit you!

I don't really care if people ever use my pics for their want list. I take it as a compliment that my pic was the best pictorial representation of said toy they could find.

Having said that if people steal them for a blog, auction, or something commercial please at least give credit. Andy that Tomopop fiasco with your excellent pics is bogus. What a douche move...

Tomopop is notorious for stealing people's stuff.

If they steal your link, replace the photo at the same link with one that might "shock" their viewers. Someone did that with a kaws auction a couple of years ago, had a really good laugh about it as well

if they download it and re-upload, you're sol unless it's watermarked.
stinks.

this one?
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2417/248 ... 7aab_o.jpg
unfortunately that figure is no longer in the rhinomilk collection (I over compensated in other vinyl goodness). pretty sure you'd be hard pressed to take it off the current owner's hands (I believe he still has it... & it is in some of his photos he's posted).

maybe you want to do what I do....
set it so only people who are classified as friends & family can have full access to the photo (you can set it to all contacts also). If you're just a contact, the only way you can get the pic is by screen grab (if you or anyone else on this board really wants full access to my shit photos for personal use, let me know). still can't stop anyone from jacking your photo if you have it public.... but you can make it pretty difficult.