I agree with Tome here, heavy discussion can be healthy. Diverging opinions make for interesting debates, we will not agree on everything but in the end, respecting the other party goes a long way towards keeping it civilized. I can agree to disagree, but I will never agree to  childish name calling!..

On that note, Happy New Year to all here.

Pierre

How about this, posted today at the other general microstock forum:
(btw, Rand McNally is the preeminent US publisher of maps, atlases, other travel materials)

"Ok check this one out. ShutterStock claimed that Rand McNally had contacted them wanting my private contact info because they said that you could see part of one of their maps in 2 of my images. They froze my entire collection of 1500 images until they could verify from me that the images were ok to stay or needed to be removed. I replied the same day that it was a bogus copyright complaint and politely gave detailed info on how the images were created .. the primary fact being that it was not even a Rand McNally map that I used kinda settled everything right off the bat. Then I waited ... hmmm a week goes by and no response .. meaning notta sales for a week. I contacted the women from SS directly again with no response. A month later Im still asking why is my account froze and not getting any type of reply.
So now its like 3+ months later and guess what ... MY ACCOUNT IS UNFROZEN !!!!!!!!!! .. but ... yup there is a but .. they wiped out all 1500 images and say I need to re-upload .. A pain but ok I can deal with that. Now for but number 2. I have to upload 10 for review like Im a newbie ... Guess what all 10 were rejected and they say I can wait a month and try again.
So just to test things out I setup a new account with completly different contact info and uploaded 10 of what was my best sellers I had already uploaded on SS ... All 10 denied for ridiculous reasons. ( I'm an admin so I know what noise is LOL ) ... I do this again from a different IP address just in case and get the same rejections.
So to test it out further I take the same photos and have them uploaded under another photographers existing account and guess what .. Oh my gosh they are all accepted and praised for excellence.
So my question is ....
How naive is that ??"

I'm not taking anyone's side on this one yet since I don't know all the facts.  It's just that statements similar to the above are starting to appear with alarming frequency in regards to SS.  Why does it take so long for submitters to get replies back from admin at a major site like SS?  For two-bit home-operated sites I can understand, almost expect it, but for a major player like Shutterstock??  And deleting all 1500 files without banning the submitter?  What's the point of that reaction?   It sounds like that if one photographer has a grudge against another, he can just call up Rand McNally or whoever and say, "Hey, I think this guy's been using your copyrighted stuff in his pictures," they call SS, and BOOM!, the other submitter is history.  It's really starting to sound not-so-right over there....or maybe it's been like that for a long time and I just never noticed.

Gee whiz!  I was just accepted to SS today (still waiting to see what images were accepted as they don't show yet) and I hope I don't later regret it.

I've seen on thier forum where photos were purchased at cheaper prices and then used on calendars in the UK.  I can't tell you how much that would suck to me to get $0.25 and then have the company get away without paying the EL price. 

Smiles,
Connie

These cases (and others that appear regularly on their own forums) make me wonder if the microstock agencies are able to handle copyright issues in a proper way. It seems to me that competence as well as resources are lacking. What will happen if they get a major lawsuit against them?

I remember a year or so ago a top vector artist created a stylized Christmas tree that sold like hotcakes. I even saw it used on a billboard in France. It wasn't long before 'similar' but not 'exactly' alike trees started appearing. Everytime I would see one I'd just shake my head. I didn't see these people as thieves only people without ideas of their own.
Except for highly technical and detailed work vectors are easily copied especially those that are created with brushes.
Many of the designs you see that look so much alike are copied ideas. There's no crime in this. It's an ethics question and all do not see things the same way. As someone once said...money is the root of all evil. LOL

As for the icons shown here. They are generic and have been done over and over again. They're always going to look similar. I mean just how many ways can you draw a clock or a briefcase?

The tree on the other hand looks like a straight copycat.

There is no way to stop this, not really, accept after the fact. With all the files that reviewers have to look at there is no way they can keep track of them all.

sorta off topic (but still shutterstock)

i find it funny that the #1 photo for the last week in sales has been removed for copyright issues, but still shows in the top 50 list!

Quote from: stock_fan on December 29, 2007, 01:38

What I mean is � who has the copyright on a colour � a rectangle � an arrow � a traffic sign � a web button � the �business handshake� or the �pretty girl with headset?

In regard to copyright on a color check out THIS link  Can copyright issues get any more complicated?  It seems as soon as lawyers get involved, right and wrong goes out the window and winners and losers are formed based on who can argue their point better and nothing else.

..... cause all that the lawyers in the U.S. think about is .........the color 'green'.