MicrostockGroup

I don't know if "crime" is the right word, but if this guy is taking images he's found on the web and are not public domain, and he's putting them to be downloaded by others, this is illegal.

If he is only using images he's found to illustrate his site, he is wrong, he can however claim he "didn't know" these images were not public. But when he is - as I understand from what you said - organizing them for other people to download, then IMHO there is no excuse, as he is intentionally garbbing images online for redistribution. Even if there is no finacial benefit other than the banner ad money, he can not redistribute works unless he is the copyright owner or knows they are public domain.

I don't think he is organizing images to be downloaded by others. More like downloading images for his own news purposes/articles, similar to what a newspaper would do. If he is taking images from newspapers and such, that do have copyrights by the photographer/newspaper, then it seems to me, he is doing something wrong when he redistributes their work on his site without any copyright notice at the very least. The only difference is I'm sure the newspapers he is taking the images from are commercial and for commercial use, where as he claims he is not.

He also has a pretty threatening copyright clause at the bottom of his site, that says, "Any reproduction, republication, or redistribution of this site's content without express written consent is strictly prohibited and will be pursued to the fullest extent of the law." I'd find it to be pretty odd if he tried to claim ignorance with something like that out there. I think he knows what he is doing and is trying to be slick about it.

If he is doing something wrong, what's the next step in doing something about it? I can't compete with thousands of images, when Getty/AP charge $20-150 per image.

OK, here is the deal.

He could very well be paying for all those licenses being used on his web site. Is it likely? I don't know.

What you could do, if you are very investigative about it, check with the copyright holder of one of the images and see if they are willing to confirm whether the image has been licensed or not.


and

copyright by Baltimore Sun photo by Gene Sweeney Jr.
at: http://www.ongo.com/v/1669830/-1/790885D2D21598C7/maryland-aims-to-catch-recruits-eyes-with-new-football-uniforms

There is nothing much YOU can do about it besides letting the copyright holders know about it.

It's up to the copyright holders to take action.

First, they might be too busy licensing images for thousands of dollars to other clients and don't even care about a little private, hobby project and forget about it.

Some might actually look into, whether that guy licensed the images or not.

In case he didn't license them, the copyright holder could ask him to remove the images, ask for damages or simply drag him to court over it.

No idea.

Ah, I then misunderstood your original post. 

If you have any proof the images were stolen (it seems you don't), you can always send a msg to the ISP hosting the site, even if you are not the copyright owner.

Glad that got cleared up. It seemed odd that someone who didn't own the pictures was watching a competing website would come here looking for information.

I also don't think there's anything odd about it. Thanks for taking the time to ask and not just stealing the images like so many bloggers do! I hope your integrity pays off and you have lots of success.