blonde poker forum

As many of you know, I run my own Accountancy business and have a website which I developed myself.

This site has been running over 5 years and has some "stock" pictures on it. Stuff like a picture of a calculator/pens etc...

These were taken from a photo site, which said they were free, but the site no longer exists.

Last week I received a bill from a copyright company saying I had illegally used one of their pictures and enclosed a bill for £1200 + VAT!!

At first I thought it was just a scam, but later discovered it is a genuine company and the bill is genuine.

After digging around, there appears to be some question over weather this company can do this or not, so I have decided to "chuck" it in the bin and forget about it.

I have since re done my website using a "current" free photo site.

So, this is just a warning to those involved in website's (including Blonde!!) that this is an ongoing compaign by this company that trawls all websites looking for ANY copyright infringements.

Beware!!!

If anyone is interested, I will see if I can remember the name of the company.

Getty Images?

Yep, thats the one!!

Why do you have to use a free photo site?

I dont know much about the internet so it may seem a stupid question but isn't there another way to go?

I'd be reluctant to use another free photo site after this turnout, what's to stop them doing the same thing to you as this other mob?

For about a year Getty Images has been using a firm called PicScout, scanning websites for unauthorized and unlicensed usages of its protected images. Those websites that were found to be in violation were queried via the Whois database and sent financial settlements that retroactively licensed the image. However, the settlement also demanded damages, which were said to have been incurred against the copyright holder. Thousands of these letters have been sent out, yet according to the Wall Street Journal, Getty had not taken any of these potential cases to court (as of October 2005).[2][3]

I have screen shots of this particular website, and their T & C's , together with a screen shot of the images I have used.

This whole process seems more aimed at USA, as Getty indeed break several UK laws by doing what they are doing. Like Ironsdie has said, none have gone to court.

Thanks Paul, a salutory lesson for all of us.

We are very strict about being "right & proper" in these things. We only use our "own" self-taken photos, (which we note are popping up on all manner of other Poker sites) & we don't allow stuff to be C & P from other sites onto blonde. Sadly, other sites don't seem too troubled by such opportunistic behavious. Even our Forum Posts get copied - unattributed - onto some Fora!

expect a £15,000,000 bill for all the copyrighted pics in that number game thread !!!!

lolololol

This is quite a good idea:
http://rs.bahneman.com/protecting_your_images.php (http://rs.bahneman.com/protecting_your_images.php) (warning: slightly technical)
It is a script that automatically serves website users a watermarked image, but leaves the original file unmodified.

Tony, I believe you can also be a target when someone on the forum posts a picture... food for thought perhaps?

Thanks for the warning M3Boy, Copyright law at the best of times is an extremely complicated issue and internet copyright with so many legal jurisdictions involved complicates the matter further. It’s a subject that I'm greatly interested in and wondered if anyone knew of freely available resources that cover the subject? Some sites make image and content available for reuse but can be vague about the precise details.  Personally I like Card Player magazines website policy, they freely allow any reuse of image or content as long as you receive pre-approval and quote there tag line and link. Everybody knows where they stand.   

Here ya go mate - just get me a banana at BB4 and we'll call it quits :)up

(http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/4126/img1710px0.jpg)

(http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/2927/img1711hl9.jpg)

(http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/9654/img1712gi5.jpg)

(http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/6875/img1713mj4.jpg)

In the final picture there are partial shots of both a monkey and a human, do you have a signed release form for both Matt?

thats what the banana is for ;)

I think the actual law is we're not responsible for for things people post until we are notified by the complainant, we would then have a reasonable amount of time to react until becoming liable for things.

Also, according to the terms of use, which you have agreed to when signing up: