Copyrighted photo stolen and put on e-bay

[BLU LUNCH]

I have a problem, I collect vintage railroad negatives from 1920-1950's mainly of the New Haven Railroad I have spent a nice chunk of change and have close to 2000 original negatives. The way the copyright laws are written if you own the original negative you own the image. The problem starts here I had a negative of The Boston and Maine Railroad's "Flying Yankee" on the maiden run stopped Nausha NH In March of 1935 only days for being put in to regular service. I sent a scan to the group that is restoring the train and got a phone call back from the group president about the image. I was told that the image is the earlist known photo of the train and is very rare. Asked if I would donate the negative to them I said no but what I did I had the negative scanned to a 30 meg tif. file and sent that to them along with written premission to use it for fund raising any way they see fit. I had 1 11 by 17 print made and they sold thru a auction on there website for over 300.00. Tonight on e-bay low and behold there my photo lifted and being sold by a guy in Fla ebay number 6598623307. I sent him a threating e-mail what else can I do?....Do a search for the flying yankee restoation group and check it out

 

[jtexas]

Re: Copyrighted photo stolen and put on e-bay

Lawyer-time!

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Copyrighted photo stolen and put on e-bay

Go to ebay, click on fraud alert, follow the prompts to report the unauthorized sell of copyright material. They will yank the item immediately.<br /><br />Next, contact that historical society and ask for an explanation of how the guy on ebay came by a digital copy of your neg.<br /><br />In the future, you may want to consider allowing the use of an image for a limited time only, i.e. for the next 5 years only you can use the image…you must obtain written permission again to use it after than.<br /><br />There are 3 rights associated with every photo. Who owns the neg is not one of them. The right to reproduce the image for profit is just one of the three rights.<br /><br />Then there is the issue of the train itself. Whomever owned the train when it was photographed retains the rights to the likeness of the train, i.e. they decide if and when the image of the train can be reproduced for profit, not the person that owns the neg.<br /><br />The laws regarding copyrights of photos changed in the last few years. There are grandfathered rights, there are implied rights, and there are public domain issues that all apply to an old neg. None of it is simple; sorry can’t suggest more without doing an extensive research on your specific image.

 

[BLU LUNCH]

Re: Copyrighted photo stolen and put on e-bay

The guy admitted he lifted it from the Flying Yankee website he has pulled it but it still upsetting..you can view the image on the photo page on the site it's the March 1935 photo.. Flying Yankee

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Copyrighted photo stolen and put on e-bay

Well your email worked he ended the auction. I looked to see if he had sold any prior and I did not see any but he might of. <br /><br />I would absolutely report him to ebay. I wonder how many of his images are stolen.

 

[KRS]

Re: Copyrighted photo stolen and put on e-bay

Next time, require that the person to whom you granted the use of the picture, protect the image.<br /><br />At least have them "right-click protect" it, and then have them superimpose the words "copyrighted" or some such thing across it before they display it online, and a change in resolution too, so when it's sized back up, it's worthless.<br /><br />Protect yourself with an agreement like this.

 

[SwampNut]

Re: Copyrighted photo stolen and put on e-bay

I don't believe a copyright from 1935 is still valid, though I'm not sure. Copyrights used to be shorter than they are now, and I don't know if old expired copyrights were renewed when the term was changed. In any case, owning the negative does NOT give you any rights.<br /><br />I own an original film frame from the movie "The Patriot," given to me by Mel Gibson and signed. I cannot, however, make any duplicates nor can I prevent anyone else from using the same image for profit. I received a "license" letter from the actual copyright holder (movie production company) spelling this out, and a lawyer verified it to be fact.

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Copyrighted photo stolen and put on e-bay

Originally posted by SwampNut:<br /> I don't believe a copyright from 1935 is still valid, though I'm not sure. Copyrights used to be shorter than they are now...

That's what I meant about rights being grandfathered, could be they expired. Basically now it's 99-years, and in certain circumstances, more, with or without the circle-C … © … added. What the circle-C and registration as owner will get you is ‘treble damages’, as opposed to just the ‘actual damages’ if you prevail in a copyright dispute.<br /><br />EDIT: just had a thought… that image in a digital medium is brand new, right?!? Register it! The diff is, if you don’t and you sued someone for using it, you would pay all of your atty fees and court costs and the most you could get would be whatever profit (net income, actual damages) they made from the sell it. If it is registered and bares a circle-C, you could be awarded your atty fees, court costs, the profit, and 3-time (treble) the profit.<br /><br />For your registration/copyright protection to be valid in foreign countries, the circle-C must follow a specific format of something like:<br /><br /><owner> © <year><br /><br />Look up the format on the web, apply it to the digital image you created, and send it to that historical society and tell them to use the image with the circle-C, and “used with permission” whenever they reproduce the image.<br /><br />You did the right thing by contacting the EBay seller. Keep/file copies of your email to that EBay seller. YOU have an obligation to aggressively pursue any unauthorized use of the image. If you don’t, you loose certain rights, including the right to control the reproduction of the image if it is in the public domain (used) without the circle-C.

 

[tommays]

Re: Copyrighted photo stolen and put on e-bay

Mere ownership of a book, manuscript, painting, or any other copy or phonorecord does not give the possessor the copyright. The law provides that transfer of ownership of any material object that embodies a protected work does not of itself convey any rights in the copyright.<br /><br /><br />Transfers of copyright are normally made by contract. The Copyright Office does not have any forms for such transfers. The law does provide for the recordation in the Copyright Office of transfers of copyright ownership. Although recordation is not required to make a valid transfer between the parties, it does provide certain legal advantages and may be required to validate the transfer as against third parties. For information on recordation of transfers and other documents related to copyright, request Circular 12, "Recordation of Transfers and Other Documents."<br /><br /><br />It sounds pretty complex to me <br /><br />tommays

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Copyrighted photo stolen and put on e-bay

It is. In particular, this:

Originally posted by tommays:<br /> Mere ownership of a book, manuscript, painting, or any other copy or phonorecord does not give the possessor the copyright. The law provides that transfer of ownership of any material object that embodies a protected work does not of itself convey any rights in the copyright.

is true now, but wasn't necessarily true for photos prior to the 1970's. Some “implied” rights may transfer, including the right to reproduce the image, were grandfathered in for older photos. Part of the problem is that photos are often commissioned works of art and unless it was clearly specified in the contract, there is a reasonable presumption the right to reproduce the commissioned work transfers with the artwork to whomever commissioned it. There’s more to it than that, but it gives you an idea that, yeah, it can get complex.