Coincidentally I was just looking at a couple of those sites today. With blockchain the technology certainly exists to curtail a lot of image theft online, but as I understand it in order for it to be beneficial to any of us all of the agencies would need to adopt it into their respective licensing programs. I don't see that happening anytime soon because as it stands blockchain is an open ledger, meaning in essence agencies would need to share their licensing data (read customers) with each other as well as with contributors in order to effectively track infringements. Not likely.

I agree, the two sites I was looking at definitely look like they are gearing up for the business side of things in terms of litigation. Perhaps as an arms length middleman between all of the agencies and creatives? Holding the "wallet" on behalf of stakeholders for a cut of any settlement. Might be a great business.

Kudos to KevinM and everyone else who was/were so strident and active in their opposition to this. For those who did nothing, enjoy your free lunch. You know who you are. Perhaps next time something like this happens (which it will) maybe more of us will be motivated to participate .

Quote from: mj007 on August 07, 2018, 19:17
   "Good artists copy, great artists steal". Pablo Picasso....  As one of the great artist to live might say, get       over it. Everone copies , everthing has been done..Just do more...Be great and make more art.

What a charmingly whimsical generalization. Ironical too considering Picasso paraphrased that himself from TS Eliot. Except the true spirit and meaning of that quote says exactly what Pauws99 said - that as a good artist you build upon the work that came before you, and as a truly great artist you do it so well that you effectively co-opt it into your own immediately recognizable style. It does not give you the right to copy others work verbatim. So no, I don't think the great Picasso would have conflated this and said "get over it" in the two examples above.

Quote from: memakephoto on August 06, 2018, 13:58

Quote from: ODesigns on August 06, 2018, 12:14
Happens often.  Here's an example from my portfolio.

I created this in May of 2016:
https://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/61523334/super-popular-social-video-counter-counts-1-billion-views.html?ref=odesigns

After it started selling, I saw copycats like this:
https://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/73031793/beautiful-3d-animation-close-video-counter-quickly-increasin.html?ref=odesigns

So blatant.  When I complained, the agency said unless they take my actual file and re-upload it, not much can be done about it.

The only consolation I have is the fact that my file, for the time being, has a higher placement in search results.

If you copy Youtube no one else can copy Youtube? Your example is a bad one. If you had done a completely original clip and someone copied it I would be behind you 100% but to suggest that a clip showing elements done in a style suspiciously like Youtube can only be your creation and any other clip with a similar look must be a copy, I'm just not with you.

Unfortunately there are only so many ideas in the world and eventually 2 or more images/videos are going to be created that look very similar even when the contributors have no connection to each other. You can't always chalk it up to copying.

Honestly? This is so clearly a copy. Everything from concept to framing, depth of field to the angle of dynamic rotation. Heck even clip durations are identical. The only appreciable differences I can see are the counter limit and some extra vignetting on the copy.

Not a coincidence or even a product of "inspiration", just another scumbag.

Although I know what your husband meant, I wouldn't use the word slave. Slave implies a lack of choice or consent and none of us are doing this against our will. The cold  hard truth is that microstock is an open, oversaturated and highly competitive global marketplace where many contributors can still live very well on relatively small amounts compared to much of the so called developed world. Agencies are acutely aware of this and are subsequently under no pressure to adjust royalties in any direction other than down.

ShadySue beat me to it...

And don't forget about the Kenyon gyro you would have needed to get anything usable from a chopper. I still have one of those somewhere. I totally agree, technological advancements have lowered fixed costs in some areas but at the same time have opened the floodgates in terms of accessability to so many more people. Great for democratization of an entire industry, not so great for individual pricing though.

Which is in turn completely negated by increases in food, accomodation, taxes, insurance, fuel,  healthcare, service fees, and so on.

Just signed it.

I don't contribute to SB but if I did I would certainly sign your petition. I applaud your initiative, and even if it has no effect it certainly can't hurt. Apathy, pessimism, self defeatism and inaction accomplish nothing.

I agree with all of your points with the exception of Flickr. I've always thought it would make more sense for a fledgling startup with any investment capital to speak of  to make a run for one of the low earner agencies. Infrastructure, contributor base and at least some customers already in place. Build from there, rebrand and restructure as necessary more along the lines of what you outlined above. At least you are not starting from scratch.