I told you in another thread that we sued Shotshop.
We did!!

Last week we had our date at the court in munich.
The trial is still open and we have been requested by the judge to bring in more informations.
It seems , so our lawyer who is a specialist (the judge too) in copyright-law, that this case opens up very severe questions which might impact the whole business in at least germany regarding the business-relation between agencys and their "partners".

If we loose in this level of jurisdiction we will have two levels more (which is not much) and then we will be at the BGH - the highest level. 

Wish us some luck and remember David and the 5th of November ;-)

regards axel

https://www.facebook.com/fotografaxellauer/posts/648443655259822

Gonna pull my port.

@Joshua
Here is my wish for you:
1: I hope that you get enough money from your campaign to overcome that lawsuit without any damage
2: I hope that the model will win the lawsuit!
Why??
Because this will open the doors for a lot of similar lawsuits and this will hopefully smash this rotten and crook "business" called microstock down so that these miserable exploiters never will stand up.

Lets burn down the house!
Kick the bucket, microstock!

PS: If you flirt with butchers you shouldnt be surprised to end up slaughtered

I now asked our contact person multiple times for a comparison.
At first he putted us of with "wait until the 30rd of january" and now we received a mail explaining that they decided not to give us a comparison.
Instead they sended us a mail with very unclear and general phrases like this:
"Articles 6 and 7
They are the subject of the prior announcement.
Paragraph 2 of Article 6 and paragraph 1 of Article 7 were revised according to the content of the announcement,
as well as adjusting some of the prohibitions of Article 6 in order to comfort to the present operation. "

Is it by purpose that they dont want us to understand what their TOS are about??
If so it is a very clear sign that they dont care about contributors and that they treat us as much like "milk cows" like every other so called agenciy

as far as i see there is no comparison between their new and their old TOS and thats what i asked them for.

Qustion for you..."justanotherphotographer":
Do you know what will change?
Are you willing / able to inform us?

Hi,
i know that most of you think that PIXTAstock is crap and i know that their changes of royalty in 2014 was a scandal.
http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/pixta-changes-once-again-commissions-etc/msg384492/#msg384492
Nevertheless i would like to know what their new TOS rolls out in comparison to their old TOS.

The new TOS will be effective on 30.01.2015
http://www.pixtastock.com/blog/updates-of-the-terms-of-use-effective/

We asked them to provide us with a comparison between new and old TOS but the only thing we got was answers which were very vague and unclear like:
"As for the details of our new TOS, we'll announce on 30th January.
So please wait for the announcement."

Our answer was:
"Since your new TOS will be effective on 30.01 i can not wait until the 30.01 to get the details.
So please send us a comparison of your old TOS vs. your new TOS asap"

They answered:
"The updates this time are mainly for the purchasing users,
and we have tried to explain in the previous notice on January 21
the updates that may also affect the contributor members among them.

Hope you understand that we need to be fair to other contributors,
so please wait for the official announcement on 30th January."

We informed them that we will start this thread and invited them to make statement here.
We will see what happens

Is somebody around here who can bring some light in that darkness and who can explain us what exactly will change??
regards axel

a bit of business-knowledge for Gino & Shelma1

1: Sending newsletters without having permission from the receiver (double-opt-in) is in many countrys forbidden and results often enough in a lawsuit ( german statistics say that every 10th sender of  unwanted newsletters will be prosecuted)
2: A lot of people dont know that (see 1)
3: I bet that some adresses from that list will end up in newsletterlists from the people who have been in that open adress list (out of different reasons)

What will be the result?
A lot of unwanted newsletters and a lot of lawsuits.

Why?
Because SS sends massmails with open adresslist

Quote from: Gino on November 20, 2014, 12:28
Someone at SS made a mistake. It happens and was a mistake. I don't see all the commotion. People are not perfect.

What??

1: "Oh sorry that i flattened you with my brandnew SUV, little pedestrian. Was a mistake. I am not perfect. See you.... ha ha....."
2: The measures you have to use for a company like SS has to be different then the ones you have to use for a 60 year old grandma writing her first email
Do you understand the difference, Gino?

3.000 images........DELETED
So long, Stockfresh!

Quote from: Harvepino on November 20, 2014, 07:55
Nice of them to inform us. Sales are tiny, but uploading is easy, commissions are standard. We'll see how it goes.

Nice to inform us?
Oh Boy!!

What about give you the chance to opt out??
That would be the least they could do.

But hey, what to expect from a rip-off business?
So stockfresh is the next one we will give the axe.

@Mantis,
sorry, i didnt want to put words in your mouth.
It just makes me wonder that you aim at a topic which does not lay on the table.

The more severe topic is that they just dont care about their obligation to observe confidentiality

@Mantis.

SS is violating law and you are patting their shoulders???
Do you think these 59 people (from their open adresslist) which might use  their private, non-published mailadress are amused that 59 others got their data now?

I have no G-rated words for this :

I received a begging-mail from [email protected] containing a litany about the benefits of opt-in into subscription footage sales ...bla bla

the scandal is....
a: we stopped to sell our footage a while ago because SS stopped to support us (alsway trouble with CSV import)
b: the mail had an open adresslist with more than 60 adresses

@ethan,
your right

@gbalex
well said

Just made an decision
I will pull 70% of my port from SS
SS is the "last man standing" - all others i already gave the axe (means i already canceled although some of them like DT still sell  my images)

What i will do:
I leave the typical stock-crap which can be done by any of our interns and the good stuff like travel or fashion i will pull and give symbiostock a try.

I will leave the videos online until the trend "sell for pennys" will arise there too.
Then it would be time to pull the videos as well.

Enough is enough

Quote from: robhainer on May 31, 2014, 16:32

Quote from: ferdinand on May 31, 2014, 16:26

Quote from: robhainer on May 31, 2014, 16:22
I'm OK if you guys want to make it personal if it makes you feel better. But really, it's not personal and I'm entitled to my opinion.

it is not personal - you are working against the interest of majority of us - so don t be astonished if we condemn your attitude...

After you send me money for all of my equipment and time spent on my images, then you can sit in judgment and tell me what to do.

You bite the hand that feeds you!
I have never met a person who is so resistant against that very simple point.
If you go on like that you cant even afford a plastic camera in future - not to talk about any reasonable gear.

People like your ruin the mean of existence of all of us because you turn down the spiral to the bottom.
Do you like it to bend down lower with every day??

@robhainer
i cant say that often enough:
People who accept everything (even if someone gives away their images for free) are responsible when the business goes fubar.

Quote from: viorel_dudau on May 30, 2014, 11:42

Let's face it, the free images are good, but not good enough to impress a partner or a customer.

WHAT?

What will you invent next?
Do we have to pay if your customer uses our images??

Oooh yes, every time i dream of some horrible stockmarket inventions it comes true a few days later.
"Exciting news from DT - we have to pay for the exposure DT generates"

Quote from: Lucadp on May 30, 2014, 07:43
@Axel
interesting ... you have access to my accounts?
You know how much I earn?
anyway thanks for the advice

I respect your decision and I think you should respect my choice.

I dont know what you earn and i dont care about what you earn.
I know that you are working very hard - to get to the point that you (and we all) will earn nothing!!
And one thing i know for sure.
That people with your opinion ("i have better things to do than to care if someone gives away my images for free") will ruin the mean of existence of every serious photographer.
Either your work is so low level that there is no need to care about or you just bite the hand that feeds you without even knowing what you do.

Quote from: Lucadp on May 29, 2014, 20:18

Quote from: stockmarketer on May 29, 2014, 19:57

Quote from: Lucadp on May 29, 2014, 19:23

Quote from: stockmarketer on May 28, 2014, 19:42
Let's all take a breath...

The email said "small scale beta test program."

.....

As for me, DT selected a HUGE amount of my images to run in this test, and I'm ALL IN.

The rest of you can demand your quarter for the taster spoon.

+1
I'm IN

What?  You mean you're not panicking over a beta test that could allow a few of your images to be downloaded by testers at no cost for a few weeks (even though we're told we could still be compensated for these)?  Haven't you heard that the world is ending?  How dare an agency, by most accounts one of the "good ones," try to land a deal that could potentially mean many more sales for us in the long run?  The nerve!

ehm...no 

i'm too busy in more important things...create new images, improve my works, find new market niches...

ah....interesting.....create new images to give away for free
Maybe you should read a good book some how and then. A bit of math or Wittgenstein to become more logical would suit

Quote from: Rinderart on May 29, 2014, 05:31
A personal Note to Achilles...

My friend I've been with you since day one But...The time has come to tell you and anyone else reading and listening to whats going on lately has to Know.....

Achilles....Without us, You and your site is dead and I mean dead. You and the other sites biggest issue is , You and others still after all this time have no clue or respect for what we go through to give you our hearts and soul through our work, The time and Money we invest in supplying you with your income and vast income. We own everything...You and all the other sites own Nothing But server space and some furniture. The sooner you and all the other greedy sites realize this the better off you will be going forward. FT set off a firestorm and It's about time, I've been saying since 2006 we have to unite and we Finally are.

This is not going to stop and I prey it doesn't. This crap cannot go on and I will spend whatever time it takes to alarm everyone about the continuing injustice we have been through.


If any site cannot make a decent profit with product they don't make themselves at a 50/50 split from every dollar then maybe it's time to do something else.


The Gravy train is over my Old friend, We are starting to rise up and I Prey we don't stop....Is it to late? well ya. We were lazy and let this happen. But Im afraid FT and now you have awoken a sleeping Giant and Thank God it's about time.

Ya better hear this Achilles and Oleg and Jon. Those of us that do the work, Invest in our craft deserve more. There is no creative agency anywhere that takes more than 50% of any artists work.

You can spin this anyway you want, and this message is not about your new test program...it's about Our future, Not the gullible newbies that are happy getting 20 cents or whatever....You want to target them Like the others? Go for it.

245,000 Images are new just this week on SS. WHY?   because no one Gives a crap.  if thats what you want, Well you got it.

My advise is make it as fast as you can because WE OWN EVERYTHING!! You own Nothing and the sooner you get this the better you will Position yourself for the future because no matter what you think, it's gonna change and come back to us..  That I will guarantee or die trying.


I would rather make 800 Million and take care of the people who made that happen than make a Billion.  All you owners have to get your head straight. 50/50 or nothing!!!  No Business makes a better margin than that. You can't? Then business is not your forte"

I wish you the best of Luck and also My Comrades whom I will always support regardless of there opinions.

Laurin Rinder.

Laurin, great post. Thank you very much.
One cant quote it often enough...

@Mantis
thats true and a plea for more education / clarification of facts.
These people who accept and dont care about all this rip-off will one day realize that they did ruin their mean of existence.
but the onces who just dont know whats going on can be enlightened.

@Leaf
thanks for your private message where you informed me that you deleted one post out of this thread.
May i ask what post it was and why you think that it is "offtopic"?

As far as i see this thread is not only about the new "business model" - it is about the general question if DT is trustworthy or not.
And if i try to get an answer from achilles why DT still sells our images although even an attorney has been hired it is definitely not "offtopi" because it shows the level of "trust" DT deserves.

Of course i realized that you are one of just few who claims for understanding against DT in this thread.
May i ask with all the given respect if there is a closer relation between you and DT than you have with other agencies?

Hi Robert
thanx for that hint.
Do you know Miss(es) Wolff personal from legal issues or by hearsay?

regards axel

Quote from: Achilles on May 29, 2014, 09:22
The email we sent was created by our legal department and our partners'. It's still our email and I won't pass the guilt on someone else: I'm sorry if it doesn't provide the information you want. This is what we were allowed to share. We tried to say more, but this thread is the sad proof that things can't be kept confidential.

Is this deal good? Yes, if it works well, it will be very good. If it doesn't or it's unfair, then it will not be allowed to run any further. If it goes well, everyone gets paid. If it doesn't, then it means the potential was not there, end of story.

How long it will run? Probably a few weeks, maybe more, maybe less. How large it is and why we didn't support it ourselves? Look at the size of our database, envision a larger partnership. Try to put things into perspective.

As for Dreamstime and its royalties. We still award 60% royalties to our exclusives like in day one.

Again, nobody is forcing you to participate. Feel free to opt out if the deal is not for you. Be respectful and you will be respected.

This is such a laugh!!!!!

"nobody is forcing you to participate."
You do - for example all contributors you have choosen for your "exciting business-model" and which have been in holiday!!!

"but this thread is the sad proof that things can't be kept confidential."
This thread is a hint that hoepefully the times are over that gready people can do what ever they want with contributors and their work.

Like Laurin Rinder said.
You are nothing without us and you get the respect you deserve.

Hi,
has someone an recommendation for an US-based attorney?

We already asked our german attorney to take legal action against DT but its always better if you have a "partner-lawyer" in the country where the compagny resides.

If you know a competent lawyer with experience in copyright-law and stockmarket-business , please let us know (either here or by PM).


Thanx for your help
regards axel