This sucks and is clearly an honest mistake (assuming of course the rest of the portfolio is "clean"). They only changed the policy recently. One frequent contributor to this forum has a whole portfolio made up of public domain image scams.
Seems very harsh to give an outright ban over this given how hard we have to fight to get blatant thieves removed from sites.
I guess that's a product of how little stock sites care about people stealing from contributors vs stealing from anyone else.

  What kind of people here give a plus defending someone who steals images and uploads them to SS?

Now it is very clear that this was NOT a "honest mistake".

Hello my friends,

I have been using shutterstock since about 5 months. They asked me some questions about of my work. They sent me this email.

Dear F. OZCAN,

We have discovered that you are submitting content, or elements in your content, to which you may not own the copyright.

The original image(s) are located at:

<https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Atat%C3%BCrk_TBMM%27den_%C3%A7%C4%B1karken.jpg>

Currently, we have suspended your Shutterstock account. Prior to taking any further steps, we are inviting you to respond to this claim.

At the minimum, please let us know:

1) where, when and by whom the image(s) in question was created; and

2) how you obtained the idea for the image

If it turns out that the claim is without merit we will not take any further action and your account will remain active.


Then i answered their questions like this.

1) I got this picture from the Atat�rk archive. I don't know when time this photo took. But older than 79 years. Because of ATAT�RK died in 1938. The copyright is 70 years in Turkey. You can check these links "https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telif_hakk%C4%B1" "http://www.telifhaklari.gov.tr/Telif-Hakki-Kac-Yil-Sureyle-Korunur"  so I thought it would not be a problem.

2) I thought of the idea myself.

I made such a study based on official sources at hand. If it's a problem, I can delete these works.

Thank you for your understanding.

Best Regards,

Then they sent me this email

Dear F. OZCAN,

Pursuant to Paragraph 14(d) of Shutterstock's Submitter Terms & Conditions, when you became a Shutterstock submitter you warranted and represented that: "the Content and all parts thereof are owned and/or controlled by you, unencumbered and original works and are capable of copyright protection in all countries where copyright or similar protection is available�.

We discovered serious copyright infringement issues within your portfolio of images. Specifically, your image 729587650 originally found here:<https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Atat%C3%BCrk_TBMM%27den_%C3%A7%C4%B1karken.jpg>. Based upon our investigation, we have determined that you made a material misrepresentation to Shutterstock.

Paragraph 4 of the Submitter Terms & Conditions gives Shutterstock the right to terminate any existing account " . . . for fraud, intellectual property infringement, violation of a third party's rights including those of privacy or publicity, artificially inflating downloads, submission of material that is obscene in nature, violent or that might be construed as defamatory, failure to comply with Shutterstock's guidelines as may be amended from time to time, or for any breach of the terms of this or any other agreement that you have with Shutterstock.�

As a result of the foregoing, Shutterstock has terminated your account.

If you have earned commissions at the time of this closure, you are not entitled to these earnings per the Shutterstock Terms & Conditions you agreed upon when you became a Shutterstock contributor.

Paragraph 9(d) of the Submitter Terms & Conditions states that "If your account is terminated for a breach of the material terms of the TOS, in addition to its other rights at law or in equity, Shutterstock shall have the right to retain any royalties and/or other compensation otherwise payable to you hereunder as liquidated damages."

Consider this matter closed. Your account will not be reinstated and you do not have permission to create a new account. If you try to open another account, our system will automatically reject you.

Regards,

By the way they have terminated my account. But i answered their questions. Copyrights is 70 year in Turkey. It happened 79 years.  I sent them link for about these copyright. They're saying me "you stole photo from wikipedia" İt couldn't impossible. Cos there was no Wikipedia at that time. Wikipedia couldn't take this photo.

What can i do now? I want to use every way. Do you have any suggestions to me? I want to back my account back.

Please help me this subject!

Best Regards,

Quote from: JimP on December 08, 2017, 09:30

  What kind of people here give a plus defending someone who steals images and uploads them to SS?

Other thieves, maybe?

Quote from: cathyslife on December 08, 2017, 09:48

Quote from: JimP on December 08, 2017, 09:30

  What kind of people here give a plus defending someone who steals images and uploads them to SS?

Other thieves, maybe?

Cathy you really are the worst troll. You've stalked more than one person off of this forum. At least one that was genuinely bringing something unique to the community. I've never ignored anyone on here but * it you've finally made me push that button.

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on December 09, 2017, 03:12

Quote from: cathyslife on December 08, 2017, 09:48

Quote from: JimP on December 08, 2017, 09:30

  What kind of people here give a plus defending someone who steals images and uploads them to SS?

Other thieves, maybe?

Cathy you really are the worst troll. You've stalked more than one person off of this forum. At least one that was genuinely bringing something unique to the community. I've never ignored anyone on here but * it you've finally made me push that button.

And I bet you got a plus for this post from a fellow thief.    I love you men who call me out as a troll after seeing some of the crap you guys post. Gotta love forums.

Quote from: Sammy the Cat on December 09, 2017, 10:04

Quote from: cathyslife on December 09, 2017, 08:04

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on December 09, 2017, 03:12

Quote from: cathyslife on December 08, 2017, 09:48

Quote from: JimP on December 08, 2017, 09:30

  What kind of people here give a plus defending someone who steals images and uploads them to SS?

Other thieves, maybe?

Cathy you really are the worst troll. You've stalked more than one person off of this forum. At least one that was genuinely bringing something unique to the community. I've never ignored anyone on here but * it you've finally made me push that button.

And I bet you got a plus for this post from a fellow thief.    I love you men who call me out as a troll after seeing some of the crap you guys post. Gotta love forums.

Misandry at it's finest 

Not "you men" just one person of indeterminate gender

True, but why not call JimP a troll too? I am pretty sure "Jim" is a man's name. Misandry, or misogyny? 

Quote from: Sammy the Cat on December 09, 2017, 10:34

Quote from: cathyslife on December 09, 2017, 10:28

Quote from: Sammy the Cat on December 09, 2017, 10:04

Quote from: cathyslife on December 09, 2017, 08:04

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on December 09, 2017, 03:12

Quote from: cathyslife on December 08, 2017, 09:48

Quote from: JimP on December 08, 2017, 09:30

  What kind of people here give a plus defending someone who steals images and uploads them to SS?

Other thieves, maybe?

Cathy you really are the worst troll. You've stalked more than one person off of this forum. At least one that was genuinely bringing something unique to the community. I've never ignored anyone on here but * it you've finally made me push that button.

And I bet you got a plus for this post from a fellow thief.    I love you men who call me out as a troll after seeing some of the crap you guys post. Gotta love forums.

Misandry at it's finest 

Not "you men" just one person of indeterminate gender

True, but why not call JimP a troll too? I am pretty sure "Jim" is a man's name. Misandry, or misogyny? 

Far as I can see it was only "Justanotherphotgrapher" who called you a "troll" Cathy.

JimP didn't seem to..

Misogyny? Where did I say any thing rude about "you women"?

Never mind. You "guys" crack me up. Quite entertaining. And quite the deflection from the actual problem related to this topic...thievery of other peoples images.    Happy holidays!

Quote from: Sammy the Cat on December 09, 2017, 10:04

Quote from: cathyslife on December 09, 2017, 08:04

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on December 09, 2017, 03:12

Quote from: cathyslife on December 08, 2017, 09:48

Quote from: JimP on December 08, 2017, 09:30

  What kind of people here give a plus defending someone who steals images and uploads them to SS?

Other thieves, maybe?

Cathy you really are the worst troll. You've stalked more than one person off of this forum. At least one that was genuinely bringing something unique to the community. I've never ignored anyone on here but * it you've finally made me push that button.

And I bet you got a plus for this post from a fellow thief.    I love you men who call me out as a troll after seeing some of the crap you guys post. Gotta love forums.

Misandry at it's finest 

Not "you men" just one person of indeterminate gender

True, but why not call JimP a troll too? I am pretty sure "Jim" is a man's name. Misandry, or misogyny?