MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => Alamy.com => Topic started by: Freedom on September 17, 2014, 17:04
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I have just discovered that one of my images which is only available on Alamy without watermark, has been stolen and used by someone. Alamy has never reported any sales of this image.
Did you have any experience on how Alamy handles this kind of issues? I am waiting for the user to respond first before I contact Alamy. Because that person may not be the first one using my image.
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Alamy will not support you in chasing up abuses, but say you are free to follow it up yourself.
However, given that some Alamy sales don't get reported for months or years, I always ask them first. You should get a reply well within 48hrs.
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I wonder why they don't at the least right-click protect the little thums, which I'm assuming was what you found. They should at least make it a little difficult for potential thieves, and maybe make the genuinely ignorant think twice.
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I wonder why they don't at the least right-click protect the little thums, which I'm assuming was what you found. They should at least make it a little difficult for potential thieves, and maybe make the genuinely ignorant think twice.
Exactly, I agree with you.
Only now I realize Alamy has no watermark protection to small-sized images. By the way, which email do you use to report abuse? Thanks!
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I wonder why they don't at the least right-click protect the little thums, which I'm assuming was what you found. They should at least make it a little difficult for potential thieves, and maybe make the genuinely ignorant think twice.
Exactly, I agree with you.
Only now I realize Alamy has no watermark protection to small-sized images. By the way, which email do you use to report abuse? Thanks!
I didn't realise until I read your email!
I write to memberservices [at] alamy.com.
There's no point in reporting abuse as they won't do anything. All I'm doing is checking that they have no record of that file possibly being in legitimate use with an unreported payment. There is one UK newspaper in particular which is famously very loose with reporting uses, and I also found a re-use of an image which hadn't been reported/paid the second time (in an official journalists magazine!). They will chase up - for a time at least - unpaid uses.
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I wonder why they don't at the least right-click protect the little thums, which I'm assuming was what you found. They should at least make it a little difficult for potential thieves, and maybe make the genuinely ignorant think twice.
Exactly, I agree with you.
Only now I realize Alamy has no watermark protection to small-sized images. By the way, which email do you use to report abuse? Thanks!
I didn't realise until I read your email!
I write to memberservices [at] alamy.com.
There's no point in reporting abuse as they won't do anything. All I'm doing is checking that they have no record of that file possibly being in legitimate use with an unreported payment. There is one UK newspaper in particular which is famously very loose with reporting uses, and I also found a re-use of an image which hadn't been reported/paid the second time (in an official journalists magazine!). They will chase up - for a time at least - unpaid uses.
I have asked the user where he got the image from. I suspect that the image has been in circulation in various places. It is possible being lifted from a buyer which has yet to report usage. That's why I will contact Alamy.
Another thing is perhaps we should all tell Alamy we want our image to be protected with watermark.
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Another thing is perhaps we should all tell Alamy we want our image to be protected with watermark.
You could AskJames the next time it's offered, but I suspect he'd say it's not usual outside micro, e.g. Getty, Corbis, Aurora, Offset, Rex features, Blend etc., all of which have unwatermarked thumbs, some of which are quite a bit bigger than Alamy's and also not right click protected.
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The unauthorized user claimed that the image was generated by Google search and there was no indication that one should pay for its use. Why isn't there any indication that it could be purchased from Alamy?
However, my image has been removed from the site.
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If I see any of my images from Alamy in use anywhere else, I ask Alamy first. Happened few times and always gave me $. For me Alamy works fine with that.
It takes few weeks but always worth to try. Well, if it's not payed I loose money and Alamy looses as well, so we both care.
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The unauthorized user claimed that the image was generated by Google search and there was no indication that one should pay for its use. Why isn't there any indication that it could be purchased from Alamy?
If it was the Alamy thum he found via Google, it would have been indicated that it was an Alamy image, but probably a lot of people don't see that (as they're just so intent on getting the picture), or the note that an image may be subject to copyright, which isn't exactly prominent.
Or they see both and hope to get away with it.
I Googled one of my own obscure subjects and it links to Alamy:
(http://www.lizworld.com/LF.jpg)
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Ah, but I've just realised it only links to Alamy if you actually click on the image as above. You can just right-click-save the thum directly from the search. The thums all have the little pop-up-footer thingy that gives the size and the source. That applies equally to all the non-micros who don't watermark the thum.