Author Topic: Photo Justice: Top 5 Tools for Stock Photographers to Combat Infringement (Read 2791 times)

Brasilnut · « **on:** August 02, 2024, 05:02 »

...and Potentially Earn

Dear Colleagues,

This topic is highly relevant due to the abudance of copyright theft going on. Curious if anybody on here has had any success in earning compensation for copyright infrigements using third-party copyright infrigement companies.

I've just published this blog post on 5 tools that are currently being used by an Alamy-exclusive contributor who appears to be having more success at earning from infrigements than actually earning from licensing his images. Which begs me to ask whether chasing thieves may be a viable business model.

Here's the link to the blog post:

https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2024/08/01/photo-justice-top-5-tools-for-stock-photographers-to-combat-infringement-and-potentially-earn/

Alex

wordplanet · « **Reply #1 on:** August 02, 2024, 12:08 »

Helpful info Alex. Thanks

mike123 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 02, 2024, 15:42 »

Thanks for the post Alex!

I went after multiple thieves and got compensation, but all of them through a lawyer directly. And yes, you can definitely earn more doing that than by selling your work on microstock.

From the 5 services you listed I only tried Copytrack. Up till now not a single successful case and only negative experiences with them: e.g. in my most recent case they contacted the thief (a Dutch website) and asked him to provide a license, to which the thief replied he got a written permission to use my photo from another company. Based on his reply Copytrack simply closed the case, they didn't care that I actually never sold/gave a usage license to that company (and the photo is not sold on microstock). Also I never got them to pursue cases on social media, where actually the most copyright infringement happens - while I was able to get a compensation for these cases through a lawyer.

Injustice for all · « **Reply #3 on:** August 02, 2024, 17:08 »

the situation is out of control and it's really a mystery why giant agencies do anything concrete about it,perhaps because it doesn't change much for them and it's a useless job for them,however for me it remains a mystery that the agencies don't care of something like this,when they could very easily solve this problem to the benefit of everyone.

thanks for the info Alex!

zastavkin · « **Reply #4 on:** August 02, 2024, 23:26 »

Quote from: Brasilnut on August 02, 2024, 05:02

whether chasing thieves may be a viable business model.

I have been using the services of the copyright protection law firm "Copydefend" for a year now. During this period, they have identified more than 300 violations. Compensation through courts and pre-trial agreements is comparable to my microstock income.
Unfortunately, they are currently working on copyright infringements only in Russia.

vectorsforall · « **Reply #5 on:** August 07, 2024, 04:57 »

Quote from: Brasilnut on August 02, 2024, 05:02

...and Potentially Earn

Dear Colleagues,

This topic is highly relevant due to the abudance of copyright theft going on. Curious if anybody on here has had any success in earning compensation for copyright infrigements using third-party copyright infrigement companies.

I've just published this blog post on 5 tools that are currently being used by an Alamy-exclusive contributor who appears to be having more success at earning from infrigements than actually earning from licensing his images. Which begs me to ask whether chasing thieves may be a viable business model.

Here's the link to the blog post:

https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2024/08/01/photo-justice-top-5-tools-for-stock-photographers-to-combat-infringement-and-potentially-earn/

Alex

Very useful post, thanks !!
Unfortunately the agencies helping finding thieves don't seem to do this with videos, animations...

Brasilnut · « **Reply #6 on:** August 08, 2024, 05:44 »

Quote from: vectorsforall on August 07, 2024, 04:57

Quote from: Brasilnut on August 02, 2024, 05:02
...and Potentially Earn

Dear Colleagues,

This topic is highly relevant due to the abudance of copyright theft going on. Curious if anybody on here has had any success in earning compensation for copyright infrigements using third-party copyright infrigement companies.

I've just published this blog post on 5 tools that are currently being used by an Alamy-exclusive contributor who appears to be having more success at earning from infrigements than actually earning from licensing his images. Which begs me to ask whether chasing thieves may be a viable business model.

Here's the link to the blog post:

https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2024/08/01/photo-justice-top-5-tools-for-stock-photographers-to-combat-infringement-and-potentially-earn/

Alex
Very useful post, thanks !!
Unfortunately the agencies helping finding thieves don't seem to do this with videos, animations...

You're welcome.

The DCMA process is very hidden in the small print somewhere. Makes sense that they don't want to put off potential clients / investors but at the same time they are deliberately hiding the scale of the problem.

I'm pessimistic when it comes to the future of microstock.

Brasilnut · « **Reply #7 on:** October 11, 2024, 14:30 »

Life is full of irony and just a few weeks after "recommending" Copytrack, they give me a notice of payment for an image I've used legitimately in one of my blog posts. Full story here.

https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2024/10/11/from-interview-series-to-legal-battle-yay-images-and-copytrack-come-after-the-brutally-honest-blog/

Pacesetter · « **Reply #8 on:** October 11, 2024, 15:23 »

Quote from: Brasilnut on October 11, 2024, 14:30

Life is full of irony and just a few weeks after "recommending" Copytrack, they give me a notice of payment for an image I've used legitimately in one of my blog posts. Full story here.

https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2024/10/11/from-interview-series-to-legal-battle-yay-images-and-copytrack-come-after-the-brutally-honest-blog/

Gee, what a frustrating situation. I hope this all works out for you and I know we'll hear of your updates.

gnirtS · « **Reply #9 on:** October 11, 2024, 17:33 »

Theres got to be a market for a tool that will run reverse searches on your stock stuff to see if its for sale on the same or another stocksite by a different author (or multiple times).
Does such a tool exist? Copytrack doesnt seem to.

mike123 · « **Reply #10 on:** October 12, 2024, 02:20 »

Quote from: gnirtS on October 11, 2024, 17:33

Theres got to be a market for a tool that will run reverse searches on your stock stuff to see if its for sale on the same or another stocksite by a different author (or multiple times).
Does such a tool exist? Copytrack doesnt seem to.

These was a tool which did exactly that. It was called Plughunter. It was discontinued 1-2 years ago - probably wasn't generating any profit.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #11 on:** October 12, 2024, 12:13 »

Quote from: Brasilnut on October 11, 2024, 14:30

Life is full of irony and just a few weeks after "recommending" Copytrack, they give me a notice of payment for an image I've used legitimately in one of my blog posts. Full story here.

https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2024/10/11/from-interview-series-to-legal-battle-yay-images-and-copytrack-come-after-the-brutally-honest-blog/

Interesting reading and that reminds me of when Getty was doing the same. I don't see them in the news as much as years back. Yay has been a no go for me, from the day they opened.

"Oh and no news yet on me getting sued via Alamy" I missed the story on that, link please, or can you provide a quick summary?
OK I found it: https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2024/04/30/april-2024-brutally-honest-earnings-report-special-getting-sued-edition/

I don't know how the German courts work, but in many other countries, BiLD would be liable for expenses and fined for a frivolous lawsuit. At the very least some sanctions.

Some background: Bild is Europe’s largest daily newspaper and the publisher’s crown jewel. But Axel Springer has sought to expand its digital presence in recent years, especially in the United States, through the acquisition of Business Insider — now called Insider — and newsletter producer Morning Brew. Its $1 billion takeover of Politico is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021.

In 2019, US private equity giant KKR took Axel Springer private in a deal that valued the publisher at €6.8 billion ($7.2 billion).

They are a big dog.

Rating: Overall, we rate Bild Right-Center biased based on sensationalized news reporting and right-leaning editorial positions. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to misleading headlines and a failed fact check.

Ownership and brands: https://www.axelspringer.com/en/brands

rkz91 · « **Reply #12 on:** October 23, 2024, 05:11 »

A couple of years ago, I went through a lot of trouble trying to deal with some infringements of my photos by thieves. One guy contacted me, claiming to be a "lawyer," and said he was looking for copyright infringements because he noticed many of my pictures that could potentially have been stolen, especially from Shutterstock. We made a deal and signed some sort of contract. I thought he would be looking for people who were actually stealing my photos, but instead, he was targeting Shutterstock customers who had incorrectly credited me. He started sending them letters with demands and claims.

Naturally, these customers contacted Shutterstock support, and after a couple of months, my account was suspended. Shutterstock asked me to retract all the demands made to their customers, along with other requirements they imposed on me. Of course, I immediately terminated my contract with that so-called "lawyer" and complied with all of Shutterstock's demands. Thankfully, the lawyer also took steps to retract those demands. After 3-4 months, my account was reinstated.

However, I lost 3-4 months of income, and during that time, all of my images were invisible in Shutterstock's search results. After my account was reinstated, it took about half a year to regain my previous standing. In this situation, I don’t blame the lawyer or Shutterstock—I was just naive and blame myself for not doing more research before signing the contract.