Hi All,
I've an important question here, I am new into the stock world and I've been following the theft reports on this forum. By any means, is it possible that your work matches with someone ACCIDENTALLY and they report you based on assumption that it is stolen?
Thank you!
Short answer, no.
If you look at small details of a photograph - light, clouds, shadows, etc. - there are pretty clear indicators that tell you it's a different shot from the same vantage point versus stolen. For studio shots, even lemon slices, there will be details that will give away a stolen copy.
If you have a RAW file for a shot you took, you can certainly offer that as proof you were the originator (if there's some bizarre case where a thief reports the image creator to try and play games - I don't recall that ever happening, probably because there's not enough money at stake)
If you're worried for yourself that's just not necessary assuming you're only submitting your own photos. That means no composites containing any part, however small, of anyone else's images. If you do illustrations, it means that you only use your own photos as references where you use a reference. If you buy stock vectors, don't go anywhere near those when creating your own vectors.
It's very simple to avoid trouble - not to worry