Annoyed

[Munchy]

So I typed in Half Moon Conure to look at all the pictures of them, and saw one of Disney I clicked on it because the name underneath it did not sound familiar to me. On BirdBreeders .com A breeder called
CoooCooo's Nest is using disneys picture to advertise there half moons for sale. I understand that when you put picture online that people can take them and use them, but it doesn't seem right to use Disney's image to sell their birds. They did not breed Disney. These people could be total loosers bird breeding wise. I also see they are using other pictures of half moons that I recognize as not belonging to them. I am very annoyed.

[Munchy]

advertise there half moons

Annoyed at my use of there, It should be their... It's just not my night,

[marie83]

Not sure what the copyright laws are over there but I'm guessing they should be the same. Use of your photo without permission is against the law, it is theft. Whoever took the photo (I assume you?) I believe owns the copyright of that photo. So they need to ask your permission and credit you wherever it is used- websites/leaflets etc. You can request they remove the photo within x amount of days or you will start legal action if you wish or ask them to credit you on their website for using the photo. My boyfriend has had alot of photo's stolen in this way and has never had trouble after asking them to remove a photo or to credit him.

I do think you need to say something though and I wish more people would. Might act as a detterant if people think they are going to get a load of hassle for it. You will always get those who don't care though.

[marie83]

Just to add if they are trying to make money off of your photo (advertising) you are perfectly entitled to ask for payment for its use.

[Cage Cleaner]

ok

[Michael]

That's what happens when you take nice photos. Try taking some terrible ones next time and it won't happen

[Naurthon]

If you took the photo, you hold the copyright. You don't have to put "(C) Copyright Munchy 2012 All Rights Reserved" or anything like that on the photo. Once a work is substantially complete, you have the rights to it, with or without the claim text.

This company looks like a small "mom and pop" organization and they probably just scanned the web looking for pics of different parrot species to post. Their phone number is listed on their contact page. I would call them and request that they remove the images that belong to you. They also have a page on Facebook. If they are using your photo there as well, you can file an infringement complaint and get their Facebook page shut down until they resolve the problem. That is probably your best option. (I just looked through their pics, btw, and it doesn't look like they are using Disney's pic on Facebook, but you should take a look, regardless.)

While you technically hold the copyright on your photo, legally enforcing it would be a challenge. Call or write the website owners and ask them to remove your photos and hope they comply.

[Munchy]

I was so annoyed, that late last night I e-mailed both him and the site bird breeders. He replied this morning and admitted to taking images from google and said he did nothing wrong but would remove it. I told him why it was wrong and said yes please remove it and that he should try to take his own pictures. I have such a free spirit I don't mind a lot of what people want to do with my pictures, use parts and turn it into a different work of art etc.... but advertising is completely different. He said he is not using my picture to advertise his birds, but when you place my picture on your web page which is selling your birds you are using it to sell what you have. I think he is just ignorant about what he was doing. Hopefully he will learn and take down not just my picture but the other images he has used as well.
I find I need to learn a bit more about the internet, copyright, and intellectual property.

[Munchy]

That's what happens when you take nice photos. Try taking some terrible ones next time and it won't happen

Thank you

[Naurthon]

I'm glad the person agreed to remove your content. Many people don't understand that just because they find something on the Internet doesn't mean it is free for them to use as they will.

I find I need to learn a bit more about the internet, copyright, and intellectual property.

A simple search of "Internet copyright" will give you a good number of sources to start with. Many of them are published by universities, which have particular concerns about copyright on both ends of the matter, and are also usually brief and easy-to-read.

Something you might consider doing is to embed copyright text into your images before you post them anywhere. Assuming you have a PC (I don't know how it would work on a Mac) you can right click on the image and click on Properties in the menu that appears. In the dialog box that shows up next, find the Details tab and click on that. Scroll through that tab and you should find a Copyright section. You can add in your "Copyright 2012 Munchy All Rights Reserved" text here (use your real name! LOL). If you don't mind people using your images, you can replace "All Rights Reserved" with something like "Non-Commercial Use Permitted". Bear in mind that once you grant this permission, you can't really un-grant it later on. It is kind of a genie out of the bottle thing.

Embedding this text in your images will likely not prevent occurrences like the one you described. Most people don't even know you can do this, and most of those that do never bother to look to see if there is copyright related text present. But you would at least be able to tell an infringer to look and they could see for themselves that they are violating your stated copyright. "I'm not doing anything wrong" becomes much less strong when the image itself says they are! Bear in mind, though, that this text is easily removed from images and that your putting it there is no guarantee that it will stay there. Your copyright does not require the text to be present, but it can be helpful in certain circumstances.

I've done a good bit of research on the topic, since I take quite a lot of (non-commercial) photographs. The only time I've had my copyright infringed, though, is when a spammer used a shirtless picture of my thirty-two year old self (back when I still had abs) to send fake responses to personal ads to try to harvest people's emails. I suppose I should be flattered!