KerinF, thank you for your input. If my emails dont have an effect, they certainly do no harm. I just thought when a company is not abiding by EU laws, someone in politics might take action. I mean,  the EU went after Microsoft, Google and Facebook when they broke EU laws.

If nothing else, it will set their pants on fire.
And any other agency that is watching this development, will think twice before attempting a similar scheme.

Quote from: Ron on May 16, 2014, 02:04

KerinF, thank you for your input. If my emails dont have an effect, they certainly do no harm. I just thought when a company is not abiding by EU laws, someone in politics might take action. I mean,  the EU went after Microsoft, Google and Facebook when they broke EU laws.

Anyhoo, we will see what happens. I appreciate your input none the less. I wish I had a ton of cash to splash on a lawyer. 

No problem, I was just trying to offer some thoughts on where your energies might be better directed knowing everyone is time-limited and, unfortunately, IP offices aren't the right avenue.  You may get some more traction on competition issues, but the relevant authorities would need to be convinced that some sort of anti-trust / anti-competitive conduct in a strictly legal sense was going on, i.e. misuse of market power, predatory pricing or something along those lines.  Yes, you are right about Google, etc. But of course each case is different. Unfortunately, though, just because something is unfair or unreasonable, doesn't necessarily mean it is illegal. But you never know, you might get a sniff of interest..will be interesting hear what response you get. (Yes, my day job is an IP lawyer, but not in the EU, and these are just general comments not legal advice    )

Thanks Kerin, good to know. 

As some of you will remember I have contacted some photographers associations in some countries (Canada, France, Italy and Switzerland) about the DPC affair (and you? *)

Well, only two have answered that they will help the best as they can
One answered that they will not do nothing (TAU Visual Italia - and I am not surprised about it�)
Some did not answered at all (it does not mean that they did not received the message).

Okay, two is better than zero.
We should continue to spread the voice.

* more associations we will contact, more photographers will know about it, so what are you waiting?

I don't think photographers associations are right place to target microstock photographers.

Quote from: Beppe Grillo on May 16, 2014, 03:25

As some of you will remember I have contacted some photographers associations in some countries (Canada, France, Italy and Switzerland) about the DPC affair (and you? *)

Well, only two have answered that they will help the best as they can
One answered that they will not do nothing (TAU Visual Italia - and I am not surprised about it�)
Some did not answered at all (it does not mean that they did not received the message).

Okay, two is better than zero.
We should continue to spread the voice.

* more associations we will contact, more photographers will know about it, so what are you waiting?

I don't think photographers associations are right place to target microstock photographers.

I think that every place where there are photographers to reach is a good target.

"Many little acorns grow"
Spanish have a similar proverb that I like a lot for the assonance: �Muchos pocos hacen un mucho�� (Many littles make a big one)
In France they say: � Les petits ruisseaux font les grandes rivi�res � (Little streams make big rivers)

��

My story with Fotolia

Uploaded 10 about a year ago. Felt appalled by a sense of greed and stopped.
In the beginning of April I thought what the heck and began to upload more, about 200 files.
End of April learned about the D-Day and I opted out of DPC (Don't Puff Cigars) and deleted all - but one.

This one I had a sale on the day after�

Thinking of closing up the account but I have some money there and I hate to leave it, even if it is a small amount.

Today I got this in the mail

"Hello,
 
We're sorry to see you have recently removed some files from your portfolio.
If you change your mind please remember that you can just send us a ticket and we'll put all your files back online. However, this must be done within the next 30 days.
Also, we would like to remind you that you can choose to opt in or opt out your images from DPC in your photographers' parameters.
We hope to see you back soon and will be doing all to grow your income.

Kind Regards,

The Fotolia Team"

I would like to do the right thing and the whole situation feels rotten.

What to do� Go for the trickle of pennies or stand up straight?
Put those images back and then not upload anymore?
 

Received the same mail they are trying hard.

ArtesiaWells, only you can decide what is right for you.
Just wanted to say that there's no need to wait for a minimum payout amount - if you're closing your account before reaching the minimum amount, you get your earnings minus 1$ (Fotolia's commission in such cases).

Thanks!

My story with Fotolia

Uploaded 10 about a year ago. Felt appalled by a sense of greed and stopped.
In the beginning of April I thought what the heck and began to upload more, about 200 files.
End of April learned about the D-Day and I opted out of DPC (Don't Puff Cigars) and deleted all - but one.

This one I had a sale on the day after�

Thinking of closing up the account but I have some money there and I hate to leave it, even if it is a small amount.

Today I got this in the mail

"Hello,
 
We're sorry to see you have recently removed some files from your portfolio.
If you change your mind please remember that you can just send us a ticket and we'll put all your files back online. However, this must be done within the next 30 days.
Also, we would like to remind you that you can choose to opt in or opt out your images from DPC in your photographers' parameters.
We hope to see you back soon and will be doing all to grow your income.

Kind Regards,

The Fotolia Team"

I would like to do the right thing and the whole situation feels rotten.

What to do� Go for the trickle of pennies or stand up straight?
Put those images back and then not upload anymore?
 

Why not just write back to them and tell them that you would love to do business with them if they revise their concept of DPC, as it is detrimental to contributors.

If they get tons of those messages maybe that helps them make up their mind.

That is a defeatist mindset. If you have photos at DFC make sure you opt out - everyone should be opting out and sending a clear message that this sort of business model is not acceptable. Nobody will miss the pittance royalties generated by DFC, only the owners of Fotolia

I opted out as soon as the opt-out was available, and I deleted half of my Fotolia portfolio. I've tweeted about this, blogged about it, posted on Facebook, and contacted several people who then also opted out. I even had a direct email correspondence with Mat about this and tried to get him to see the harm this can cause. I think I've done a lot about DPC, and maybe it's defeatist to give up now, but I think I'm being a realist and looking at the big picture and seeing this for what it is, something we really have no power to stop.

The image count is going up at DPC. It has been up every hour so far today. Forget going under 20 million, DPC will be back over 22 million images by the start of next week.

Like I said yesterday, I'm happy to stay in the fight if there is a fight. But right now, there isn't. There's just no real way to disrupt DPC to the point where Fotolia has no choice but to respond. They have too many ways to stop any progress we could make, as we've already seen. They offer a little raise at FT and the opt-outs slow to the point of having no effect. Even if we somehow made things more difficult for them, they can just remove the opt-out option. They can force inclusion in DPC, and guess what... lots of people would stay because they do well enough with Fotolia and wouldn't want to lose that income.

There is one and only one way in which DPC can be stopped, and that's if Shutterstock says they'll no longer do business with any contributor who has work in DPC. But that will never happen, I can't imagine Shutterstock going down that road, so as far as I'm concerned this fight is already over.

The image count is going up at DPC. It has been up every hour so far today. Forget going under 20 million, DPC will be back over 22 million images by the start of next week.

I think it's worth comparing the numbers to those of Fotolia. For example:
On Fotolia: 16-05-2014 17:04:00    28 237 357    12 677
On DPC: 16-05-2014 17:08:58    21 747 761    3 551

These could easily be images of contributors who don't know anything about the club or the button.
(Don't know how long it takes for Fotolia to add new images to DPC - maybe the last DPC change correlates with the previous change on Fotolia.)