To keep you up to date on the copyright infringement of the AI images from the initial post:

Of the 4 images I reported to Adobe's DCMA page, 1 has so far been deactivated by the "thief's" account - the copy of this image: https://stock.adobe.com/de/images/a-sad-piggy-bank-with-cracks-and-a-plaster-indicates-insolvency-created-with-generative-ai-technology/586900593

For two images I have received the message that the upload date at Adobe from the "thief's" account is before mine and therefore no action will be taken.
Thereupon, I have once again picked out conclusive screenshots (for viewing see below) from my MidJourney account and sent them as a reply to the email from Adobe.
That was 8 days ago - so far there has been no response.
What is annoying is that the picture with the door on the field is my second best selling picture.

Adobe wanted to look at the fourth image, but that is still online at the "thief"-account too.

I'm afraid I'm not going to get anywhere here and before I risk losing my Adobe account because I'm too "demanding", I think I'd better leave it like this... the "thief" account keeps selling merrily - at my expense and probably the expense of some of you too.

In future, I will upload all AI images to Adobe first and not to other sites beforehand, even though this is certainly not the best solution.
One feels quite alone with such a problem and I think a reaction time of 2 weeks should be sufficient for copyright infringements.

If anything else comes up, I will of course post it here.

Have a sunny day,
Michael

Update:
I took the 4 images from the post above to Adobe for reporting via DCMA form and got a response for 2 images which reads:
"Thank you for your message. We are unable to take action on your report: The asset you allege is infringing has an earlier upload date than your asset.
 
Please note that generally: Copyright protection attaches upon the creation of a work, which in many cases can be inferred from the subsequent publication date. If we have overlooked the infringement that you are trying to report, please let us know. Otherwise, we will consider this case closed."

I don't always upload my images to Adobe first, but also to other sites like Dreamstime, Vecteezy (Pro), etc. and because the person obviously stole the images there before I uploaded them to Adobe, they don't see any reason to consider these images stolen here yet.

I will try to report that to Adobe and see what happens.
So far, after a good week, all the stolen images are still online.

@Mat:
In case you are reading along, I guess I need help here, because I can't accept that someone just steals all of our (and my) pictures and gets away with it :-)

Have a nice day@all,
Michael

Quote from: JustAnImage on July 17, 2023, 12:25

(c) How can I ensure that the income generated by the stolen images goes to the original authors? Or alternatively, the income from such accounts could be donated to a good cause.

Buahahaha. Sorry, I couldn't help it. You know that agencies keep that money for themselves, right?

That's perfectly fine - I didn't feel any different when I wrote the question.

But nevertheless, I will ask.

And then we'll see if we can find out the name of the operator through a legal enquiry, so that we can do some digging.
And yes, I'm fully aware that there's not much chance of success - but if you don't poke a little at the wasps' nest, nothing will change.

And now it's time to pack my suitcase - tomorrow morning I'm going on holiday for a few days :-)

Hello Adobe, Hello Forum,

I just found a mirrored version of an image of mine on another account on AdobeStock.

Since I'm not sure where to turn, I'll try my luck here:


My original image - image index 586,900,593
- https://stock.adobe.com/de/images/a-sad-piggy-bank-with-cracks-and-a-plaster-indicates-insolvency-created-with-generative-ai-technology/586900593

The stolen image - image index 590.829.123 mirrored horizontally and scaled down from 5376px to 3000px width on another account:
- https://stock.adobe.com/de/images/a-sad-piggy-bank-with-cracks-and-a-plaster-indicates-generative-ai/590829123

Attached is a screenshot directly from my Discord midjourney channel (MPfoto71) proving my creation of the image (see below)


And another one on the same account:

My original image - image index 595.643.165
- https://stock.adobe.com/at/images/golden-spiral-digital-artwork-created-with-generative-ai-technology/595643165

The stolen image - image index 590.834.695 mirrored horizontally and scaled down from 5376px to 3072px width on another account:
- https://stock.adobe.com/de/images/golden-spiral-digital-artwork-generative-ai/590834695

Attached is another screenshot directly from my Discord midjourney channel (MPfoto71) proving my creation of the image (see below)


Just found a 3rd stolen image:

My original image - image index 597.491.021
- https://stock.adobe.com/de/stock-photo/id/597491021

The stolen image - image index 590830519 mirrored horizontally and scaled down from 5376px to 3072px width on another account:
- https://stock.adobe.com/de/stock-photo/id/590830519


Image No 4:

My original image
- https://stock.adobe.com/de/images/a-mountain-of-sweets-on-a-white-background-created-with-generative-ai-technology/592778532

The stolen image
- https://stock.adobe.com/de/images/a-mountain-of-sweets-white-background-generative-ai/590828779



I now have a few questions running through my head:

(a) Who do I have to write to in order to have this stolen image removed?

(b) If the account https://stock.adobe.com/de/contributor/211210945/paraseem is blocked, will it be blocked completely, as it is quite likely that there is more stolen material there?

(c) How can I ensure that the income generated by the stolen images goes to the original authors? Or alternatively, the income from such accounts could be donated to a good cause.


Does anyone here know how to get the stolen images offline?

Unfortunately I'm on holiday for 5 days from tomorrow morning without internet (in the wilderness) and can only continue reading here on Sunday...

Thank you,
Michael

PS: I would recommend that you also take a look to see if any of your pictures are affected - unfortunately I haven't had time to search yet, but I will of course do so.

I'll try again: How do I delete an image that was put into the Data Catalog by SSTK?

I just got my answer from Shutterstock support, as I was asking them the same question together with a second question:

The answers are as follows (translated with Deepl.com from german to english)

Question 1 was: How can I delete an image, which has been only allowed for the data catalog?

Answer from Shutterstock: "Secondly, regarding the possibility to remove content from the data catalogue; however, this will not be possible, We have added an option in the account settings to decline the inclusion of your content in future records. I invite you to read the following article for more details: Shutterstock Data Licensing and the Anbieter Fund"

Question 2 was: Where can I see the rejection reason why an image is only put to the dataset section?

Answer from Shutterstock: "Shutterstock has introduced Data Licensing, a new earning opportunity that will include content that would not normally meet the criteria and technical requirements of our regular Creative Marketplace for computer vision training. The selection criteria for content to be added to our data catalogue will be based on submissions that do not meet Shutterstock's technical specifications and quality standards. You will not be able to appeal this decision or submit the asset to the Creative Marketplace for consideration as usual, as it will be rejected because the content has already been accepted."

To sum up briefly:
-> you can no longer delete images from the data catalogue (not even at some point in the future), you can only withdraw consent to the data catalogue before submitting images
-> no detailed reason is given why an image "only" ends up in the data catalogue
-> You cannot resubmit images that have been accepted into the data catalogue because they are now considered accepted.

All in all, the data catalogue solves some problems for Shutterstock regarding multiple submissions, support, etc.
Very clever from the company's point of view - another slap in the face for us image submitters.

Have a nice day

Got paid too today ... In my case, 18 out of 776 qualified images were selected.
That would be a pretty disappointing result if it stays that way.

When I try to looking my earnings the page just says "Incorrect usage of CUBE/ROLLUP and ORDER BY"... anyone else with that and an idea how to fix that?
Tried Chrome, Edge on Win 10 and 11...

To clarify, the date range you see in your pending files is based on the date you uploaded the image to the Adobe Stock contributor portal, not the date you actually submit the file for review. If you uploaded a file and wait for a while before submitting, the time pending you see will be longer than the actual time it has been in the queue. 

That said, I acknowledge the wait time is still significant but progress is being made. We appreciate your patience.

-Mat Hayward

Thank you very much for the constant information!
It's good to know that things are progressing :-)

Have a nice day, Michael

Some of my images are at 29 days now... hopefully this will change soon, 830 images in the queue and more than 1400 waiting to be uploaded.

February was a little below average for me.

Video Rpd: $2.38
Foto Rpd: $0.65

My "2023 Pond5" so far:

- 15 videos sales with an RpD of $3,62 (which is very low)
Video portfolio size is about 3.000

- 1 image sales with an RpD of $2,13
Image portfolio size is about 20.000

Pond5 is really not doing well in 2023 so far

still the most boring poster on this forum. no one cares what you have to say mate. give it up,

I haven't been on the forum as long as others - but I can't understand the attack on Uncle Pete either.
Information was simply provided for everyone and that's just a nice touch.