I 100% don't buy that we are getting anything like the real story. Without links to his work elsewhere we have no idea who this is and what actually happened.

We never do on these account closed for no reason crys. The opposite, the person goes away and we don't hear the answer or the account gets restored because it was a mistake. I didn't know is not a defense. Somehow someone paid for all these on demand downloads, how can that happen for a small fee? There's more here than we'll ever know.

Quote from: Stockmaan on December 22, 2017, 04:41

"... IS better in December ..."? How you know that?

They show me 'Downloads Year To Date' number, and it's growing from day to day

Where? All I see on ESP is November.

Quote from: YadaYadaYada on December 31, 2017, 11:57

Quote from: Zero Talent on December 31, 2017, 11:24

Quote from: namussi on December 30, 2017, 10:22

Quote from: YadaYadaYada on December 29, 2017, 09:58

You mean like we actually get what was promised or voted for? I haven't seen anyone running on law and order where I live, longer jail sentences or more convictions. Do you make this up of do you live in the American Southwest, where crime, illegals and stupid politicians are rampant? California the land of fruits and nuts.

Assume I'm wrong then: what do you think explains that the US has five per cent of the world's population, and 25% of the world's prisoners?

US is not far from the definition of a police state.
People go to prison for being poor and unable to pay stupidly huge fines, initiating a vicious poverty circle.
There is also the "war" on drugs, one of the main reasons for unnecessary incarceration, but still a successful way for backward minded politicians to get elected.
Police has way too much power in US. It often looks like an occupation army. But "law and order" is another election winning slogan.

So much for the "land of the free"!

Right we should do nothing about people who rob and mug others for drug money. People who are poor might be going to jail for committing crimes, not for being poor. You may like anarchy until you get beat up on the street by someone who needs a few bucks for a fix.
...

So the alternative to the highest incarceration rate in the world is anarchy, in your world?
No, my friend, the alternative to the highest incarceration rate in the world is a "normal" incarceration rate.
All civilised communities rely on laws for cooperation. However, jailing for minor offenses is a police state characteristic.

And, for your information, people are going to jail for being poor and unable to pay their debts. Yeah, not paying debts is a crime, but do we really have to fill our prisons with such "criminals"?

Read these examples among many other:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/opinion/sunday/is-it-a-crime-to-be-poor.html

"If you don�t believe me, come with me to the county jail in Tulsa. On the day I visited, 23 people were incarcerated for failure to pay government fines and fees, including one woman imprisoned because she couldn�t pay a fine for lacking a license plate."

And here is a recent article about the re-enforcement of these laws: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/opinion/sessions-says-to-courts-go-ahead-jail-people-because-theyre-poor.html

"A veteran battling homelessness in Michigan lost his job when a judge jailed him for bringing only $25 rather than the required $50 first payment to court."

It reminds me the story of Jean Valjean in Les Mis�rables!

And don't tell me these are "fake news" from "failing NYTimes", please, because your other "arguments" sound very similar to those coming from some well known small tweeting hands.

If you have time and want to smile at this serious matter, watch this: https://youtu.be/0UjpmT5noto

You didn't answer, but your answer is anarchy. No punishment, do what anyone wants. No laws if the person is poor?

What is you alternative. Let people with no license plates drive. Let people with no registration or insurance drive? Most of these sad stories of how someone was imprisoned for not paying a fine will be backed by this person having a long history of illegal activity, bad checks, shoplifting, breaking laws and not paying any fines.
 
Don't try to make the criminals look like the victims. How about the people they stole from and the stores that got bad checks. How about their rights?

What is your answer? Calling the US a police state is not a solution it's just shouting. What's the solution?

Quote from: namussi on December 30, 2017, 10:22

Quote from: YadaYadaYada on December 29, 2017, 09:58

You mean like we actually get what was promised or voted for? I haven't seen anyone running on law and order where I live, longer jail sentences or more convictions. Do you make this up of do you live in the American Southwest, where crime, illegals and stupid politicians are rampant? California the land of fruits and nuts.

Assume I'm wrong then: what do you think explains that the US has five per cent of the world's population, and 25% of the world's prisoners?

US is not far from the definition of a police state.
People go to prison for being poor and unable to pay stupidly huge fines, initiating a vicious poverty circle.
There is also the "war" on drugs, one of the main reasons for unnecessary incarceration, but still a successful way for backward minded politicians to get elected.
Police has way too much power in US. It often looks like an occupation army. But "law and order" is another election winning slogan.

So much for the "land of the free"!

Right we should do nothing about people who rob and mug others for drug money. People who are poor might be going to jail for committing crimes, not for being poor. You may like anarchy until you get beat up on the street by someone who needs a few bucks for a fix.

Young black males without a high school diploma were more likely to be in prison or jail (37 percent) on any given day in 2008 than to be working (26 percent). People without jobs and without education, end up suffering the most. I think we need to fix the education system and help these people get out of poverty and the slums. First step would be schools that teach instead of warehousing kids. Then stop the liberals from passing everyone on and out, as long as they feel good about themselves, and start helping kids learn something.

Less Latinos are in jail then blacks because the illegals just get send back or deported. Don't blame crime on race, or blame the system for arresting criminals, that's racist as all hell. Blame the system that doesn't allow equal opportunity for school and jobs. When blacks are in gangs, have more out of wedlock children, or filling prisons, do say, oh its just part of their culture the white people don't understand.

If we are all the same, we all need to live together and behave the same with the same laws. There's no free pass for cultural differences, one nation. Stop dividing and start joining together. There are many other minorities other than blacks and latinos, they don't end up in prisons and the poorest areas, with high risk neighborhoods and gangs. Why is that? Maybe there is a cultural difference and some groups aren't joining into the system.

Why do the California colleges have set quotas for the number of Asians allowed into a college class, racial discrimination, but have to reserve spots for other minorities, to make sure those less qualified minorities can get into school. Cultural? You bet your ass. If we all get what we earn based on qualifications, work and skills, why do some have to get special treatment to be equal?

Pretty much everyone here doesn't like others who get accused of better treatment in the search, a better % rate, more sales because the agency might be favoring them. Then on the forum you defend the same discrimination in the culture you live in? That's strange.

People are in jail because they commit crimes and the system prosecutes. There's no bias or law and order agenda that says we need more people in prisons. We need less. My exception to this is any crime committed with a gun should have a mandatory sentence, but you would probably argue that too many people went to prison for that, at the same time crying about gun crimes? Make up your mind.

I say better education will make for better opportunities and in the long term less young people in jail because they are living in poverty and poor conditions. With education and skills they can bring themselves out of that cycle. Prisons don't rehabilitate anyone or if they do, it's a small number.

If you don't want people in prison, how would you deal with crime? That's my question?

Funny how Dutch image thieves invoke the 'no artistic merit' thing in an attempt to avoid paying for the use of an image.

In my case (around 30 years ago) someone noticed that a popular tv show was using a poster that had been printed from a commissioned photo of mine as decor in a butcher's shop set. They may have used it in 10 episodes but I was certain that they used it in one.

I got a specialised lawyer on to the TV producers. The lawyer determined that the price for use without licencing was a total of DFl. 5000 (licence fee + 200% fee as fine). At first they came with the argument that the poster content was generic/amateur and of no artistic merit and that  therefore they could just use it! I no longer had the original 6x9cm transparency material but I did have the Polaroids taken during the session. Confronted with these and the fact that it was a commissioned photo, they paid in full!

It's also funny that it's the 'royalties' from trade-marked/copyrighted wares and services which appear to be the basis for the majority of tax-avoidance schemes that the Dutch tax laws facilitate. 

Nice going!

Quote from: Hannafate on December 23, 2017, 09:37

...a clear blue sky... Anyone can reproduce it...

Not if you live in the UK...

Please explain why not? I'm not in the UK and don't know the clear blue sky laws.

Quote from: RAW on December 28, 2017, 10:00

Quote from: namussi on December 28, 2017, 01:13

I really don't see that. The inmates could just have easily watch TV shows about living outside. But because virtual "reality" is involved, suddenly everyone panics? Stupid.

We are already running the US prison system on a for profit basis. That's why we have the largest proportion of our population in prisons. More than any country in the world.

Very little of the US prison system is run for profit. (I think the figures are something like 10% of state prisoners and 20% of federal prisoners.) So I don't think that's the reason.

American voters keep voting for politicians who promise lots of prison sentences ... the longer the better.

You mean like we actually get what was promised or voted for? I haven't seen anyone running on law and order where I live, longer jail sentences or more convictions. Do you make this up of do you live in the American Southwest, where crime, illegals and stupid politicians are rampant? California the land of fruits and nuts.

Yes well somebody at Adobe who should know told me that its a vast difference selling stock off the peg rather then producing and selling picture programs. I am beginning to think she was right!

Although the last couple of weeks it seems its improved slightly.

That's right, the pictures are only a valued added product to the cloud and the software subscription. We are not an important profit part of the business. Our images are not important to them like other stock agents who depend on our work for income or profit. Difference also is Adobe treats us with respect as artists.

Are there any ways to get statistics on Adobe if you can't get into Fotolia - you know things like sales per month and that sort of thing?

Not views but you can see by downloads https://contributor.stock.adobe.com/en/portfolio?limit=100&page=1&sort_by=download_desc or earnings and sales recent, totals https://contributor.stock.adobe.com/en/sales not much detail. FT is better. Ask Mat why Adobe only gives us minimum. If you want sales by month you have to get on our own.

Yes to both. You reached your level or quota for 2017, in thanks for your hard work they're raising that so you won't be able to make as much next year. Which means they will pocket more of your hard earned money.

I wonder if the judge would have ruled differently if the car company were the copyright holder.

I wonder if anyone follows links or reads what's written here? 1991 and it's the Netherlands not someplace else.

In 1991 the Supreme Court ruled that a creation had to have an �own, original character� (�Eigen, Oorspronkelijk Karakter�) and had to bear the �personal stamp of the author� (Persoonlijk Stempel van de maker) in order to be eligible for copyright protection (HR 4-1-1991, NJ 1991, 608: Van Dale/Romme).

I think the judge and supreme court is wrong to deny the art creation that started this thread, but that's the Dutch. Happily the rest of the world, unless there's another stupid interpretation of the law, still protects us.

So if I understand this correctly a Dutch judge ruled in favour of a Dutch company and the legal basis for their ruling was nothing more than a subjective personal interpretation of what constitutes artistic merit? Not only is this the height of arrogance it is a dangerous precedent which leaves us all in a position whereby we will not only need to prove that we are creators of a particular work but also that that work has artistic merit on a case by case basis. Not only is that ludicrous but it's also potentially financially ruinous. In the case of the image above no matter how mundane it may seem to be, the photographer made many choices conscious or otherwise to achieve the final product. It is the photographers work. Period. I don't understand how anyone can possibly argue that.

+ Pretty well covered it there didn't you. Not only is it arrogant but short sighted. From further reading they say inventions that are the result of limited choices are not protected. The case does not set a precedent, the interpretation has been in effect there since 1991. This will not topple the market and ruin our protection in the rest of the world and it hasn't in 16 years.

More reading on how the Dutch have no sense, not new, this one 2010. https://kvdl.com/news/copyright-still-has-its-boundaries-dutch-supreme-court-confirms-exclusion-of-technology/

Here's why, the Dutch Supreme Court has ruled that to be considered a work, it should have its own, original character with the personal imprint of the author (HR 4 January 1991, NJ 1991, 608(Van Dale/Romme)). I'd guess the judge is just following the law, which I agree with most people here, is wrong. If you take a photo of a sky, it's your work. However stupid and plain that may be, it's an individual work. Sorry Hanna you have to tell me when something changes from just a stupid photo into art or something that can be protected. Where's the line?

In the article the judge decided, and in the sky example Hannafate decided. That's subjective and both are wrong. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_Netherlands

Go ahead Darla tell me when something becomes art or creative work, and not just a person pushing a button on a camera. I'd like to know.

If mostly new files are shown, old-timers with lots of sales will complain.

If mostly files with lots of sales are shown, people who actively upload now will complain.

A search engine will never be able to make everyone happy. It is impossible.

If buyers really want new files, they will sort by "New". If they find what they need with "Relevant", well, then the results were relevant.

So true, but then you see people on forums saying, remove photos, upload as new and get seen, but post after post saying new images don't sell. Followed by old images don't sell, new gets unfair search advantage. No search will ever please everyone, in fact with Microstock any search will likely displease almost everyone.  Seems like finding things wrong comes with working Microstock.

Someone who didn't do their research before submitting, it seems.
Admittedly, I thought their minimum was 25c; but as I don't submit for that, I hadn't checked any further.

The blog post or whatever that is, is highly inaccurate and one sided. Nice way to open the door for the Microstock haters to jump in with their versions of why we are stupid, or how they make much more by some other means. Then the also usual how digital and autofocus ruined photography or how Microstock ruined income because anybody can sell now.

That's the point of Micro, anyone can sell their work and make some money! 

Then the professional genius peeps who say, they tried with 100 photos and only got some 25c subs, so they quit. What did they expect, money raining down from the sky, because they added a minimum starter group. Doesn't matter who they are, 100 for two months isn't a good test. Try 2,000 for two years, that's a start.

My last ten sales on Adobe. $1.24 .27 1.65 .99 .99 .27 .27 .33 .99 .99 which beats SS but not as many sales on FT. Believe me I don't have models or great work, bronze, but that's what I get and it's more than the people who answered the blob post.

DUMC what did you think you would get after you read here, saw the polls, read the Adobe payment terms for artists details? You did read them
? https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/royalty-details.html