Art and Photography

Question about image copyright?

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  • Apr 16th, 2015 3:22 am
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Banned
Jul 26, 2009
4315 posts
663 upvotes
Toronto

Question about image copyright?

Since I didn't get a meaningful reply in the off topic section, I figured I would try here, maybe a more relevant subforum, see if anybody has any idea.

I made a video review of a cell phone that I uploaded to youtube, I then took screenshots of said video and uploaded it to imgur and used it in my text review, links below. Do I have automatic copyright on those pictures? If it has any relevance, my imgur profile is set as "public".

I then noticed a website where somebody made a review of the same phone while using some of my pictures and other pictures from other review websites as well.

If I do go about requesting those photos taken down, how would I do that? Even after googling about takedown requests, I don't have the faintest idea how to do it.


My review (the location where I used those screenshots):
https://mobiledevicereview.wordpress.co ... te-review/

My video:


His website:
I figured it was dumb to post his website here and give him more free traffic, so I'll leave it at that.
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7 replies
Deal Addict
User avatar
Oct 5, 2004
1218 posts
371 upvotes
Toronto
I catch hundreds of people every year using my images(travel agencies, hotels, lots of photographers and videographers, wedding planners who I've never worked with, random blogs, spam sites,etc ). Some of these end up in court.

Here are a few things to know:
You own the copyrights of an image you take. HOWEVER, if you take an image of a copyrighted work(eg picture of another copyrighted photo or screen grab from a movie) then then you don't own the copyrights. Same goes if for example you are a painter and decided to paint over someone's photograph or another artwork.
If you capture a video, it belongs to you.

If someone is using your image or video, you can either file a DMCA request or sue that person. Suing is not easy so just file take down request.
If the video is on Youtube, there's a report button. Just follow the directions. Provide all the information you have.

If the video is on their private site, use WHOIS to find their hosting provider, get contact info of the correct department(abuse, legal or sometimes just technical support) and email them your DMCA request.
Here's an actual DMCA letter to one of the thieves who took one of my images( some of my personal information removed/edited)


Subject: DMCA request
Hello Godaddy team,

My name is John Doe and I am the copyright owner of the following photograph described below, which are being displayed and made available on the web at the following hyperlinks below. This letter is official notification under the provisions of Section 512(c) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (”DMCA”) to demand removal of the infringing materials. Please be advised that law requires you, as a service provider, to “expeditiously remove or disable access to” the infringing photographs upon receipt of this notice and that the effect of noncompliance may result in your being liable for secondary copyright infringement.

I have a good faith belief that use of the materials set forth below and in the manner complained of here is not authorized by me, the copyright holder, or by the law. The information provided here is accurate to the best of my knowledge. I swear under penalty of perjury that I am the copyright holder.

My current contact information is included below next to my signature. Please send me a prompt response indicating the actions you have taken to resolve this matter.

Sincerely,
John Doe,
1 John Doe St,
Toronto, ON
Tel. (111) 111-1111
email: info@johndoe.com



Website violating the copyrights: http://www.chameleonweddings.com/
Image location: slideshow on the first page: http://www.chameleonweddings.com/img/slider14.jpg
Also seen in here: http://chameleonweddings.com/demos/
http://classic.chameleonweddings.com/

The original image of couple on the Spanish steps in Rome can be seen on www.dmitrimarkine.com in the slideshow and at the following link: XXX

Once you do this, the Hosting provider must comply if they are based in North America. If they are somewhere in Eastern Europe or India, then it's up to them if they want to obey your DMCA. In my case only 3in4 do it. If said website is known for stealing content from others, chances are they are hosting with some crappy hosting provider which allows spammers,scammers and will not do anything(those are RARELY in North America).
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Deal Addict
Jun 29, 2008
1897 posts
557 upvotes
North York
Thank you Dimitri for the informative post.
Banned
Jul 26, 2009
4315 posts
663 upvotes
Toronto
Thanks Dimitri, so if I created my own video and took screenshots of said video, I still own the copyrights of those screenshots? The offender is hosting his own wordpress site with a custom domain, so I don't think that should be a problem.
i5-3570K 3.4GHz | ASUS DCII 7850 2Gb
8Gb DDR3 1333MHz | 128GB HyperX SSD + 1Tb HDD
Gigabyte Z77-DS3H | Ultra 650W PSU | Dell 22" 1920x1080 LED
The proud owner of a brand new ASUS T100!!!
Deal Addict
Jun 29, 2008
1897 posts
557 upvotes
North York
Yes, the screenshot is your video in a different format. Still your work.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Oct 5, 2004
1218 posts
371 upvotes
Toronto
Yes, the image belongs to you, same as your video.
They may be hosting a website on a separate domain,but sometimes the videos are hosted separately(eg vimeo or youtube) You can actually DMCA to their hosting provider and/or Youtube in this case.
I have a lot of spam sites who steal my images by hotlinking to them. The images are being hosted on my server,but their website is showing it. In this case I send DMCA to their hosting provider so that they remove the links off those sites.


Also, it's a bit advances,but if you find that some countries are stealing your content and you are not catering to those countries, you can block them from accessing your website via plugins or perhaps via sites like cloudflare or by implementing .htaccess rules for specific domains.
I had to block 2 countries to cut the amount of spam from 20-30/day to 0 and then 2 more countries for having a lot of image thieves.

Also, some sites are hiding behind DNS of other sites so you may need to first send the DMCA request to them and they will provide you with the contact info of their hosting provider or will send your DMCA. At times it's a painfully slow process.
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Deal Addict
Jan 9, 2013
1722 posts
1627 upvotes
St Catharines
OP thanked for asking the question, Demi thanked for the awesome info!
Newbie
User avatar
Mar 12, 2015
10 posts
Toronto, ON
demi your response is proper and covers a lot of other questions people might have this image copyright issue.

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