What Should I Do About My Stolen Image?

send them a dmca notice to have it removed at once. i think there is an official way to do this, and it does effect their search ratings. i can't even see most of this page even after allowing it. it's all ads. oh wait now i see it. it's a pinterest clone, showing some rather ugly people.

according to who is - dindaluvcleo@gmail.com

http://www.whoismind.com/whois/sopwer.com.html -


---Mike Savad

Thanks Mike, I've sent a dmca notice. I think they have just grabbed my picture to get people to unwittingly click on this hideous site as when I translated some of the words on the search tabs they were "nude girls" and "porn actress"! it was Indonesian language.

Hardly dare look for any of my other images!

Contact this lawyer. Or at the very least read up and do some research with regards to "copyright infringement" and what your rights are.


http://www.photoattorney.com/services/


Did you have your display image "marked" as copyright protected? This is why I ask. (read page at link below)

http://www.photoattorney.com/five-things-you-can-do-to-protect-your-online-images/

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We are currently discussing this topic here:

http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=1824779

Thanks Tiny, good advice.

Remember that one clear option is to do nothing. Ignore. Don't allow them to get inside your head, abuse your emotions or spend your time. Accept the risk of selling online and get on with your life.

Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

Yes Dan, this was the first image I google searched and I think if I spend any more time looking for the others I won't have time to create any more artwork.

You are welcome Gill. With the kind of quality I see in your gallery, I believe it would be well worth your time investing in learning what your rights are with regards to your business and property.

That lawyer does show the option of working on contingency, depending on how the claim is evaluated. The more you do to help yourself as a professional and business owner, the more likely legal representation is to take you seriously.

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Artists need to stop looking at themselves as just artists and start treating their investment (time & skill) like it is a real business. A professional one at that.

(not directed at you Gill, just a comment in general)

Most attorneys wont touch a case UNLESS you have registered your photograph with the copyright office as you can obtain a much higher monetary award. Otherwise, it is most likely not worth the time of the attorney.

Exactly David. Not only registered with the Copyright Office (in your country), but also make it visibly clear to browsers or companies that the image is copyrighted (© All Rights Reserved).

You may find a lawyer that will take it on an hourly basis, but they will not touch it on contingency.

That is precisely what is pointed out here!

http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=1824779

No watermark is like leaving the keys in the ignition.

Or having my insurance claim denied when something is stolen from my car overnight and I did not lock it before going to bed.

The lock may not stop a thief from wanting my camera and they can simply break a window or jimmy the door, but if the door was never locked to begin with and there is no sign of forced entry at all in the police report, then my insurance company is going to tell me no way.

Same goes with taking steps to protect your images online. As has been pointed out in other threads, © notice on or beside your image is not going to stop the theft from occurring, but it will give you more options when you file claims of infringement and legal representation "evaluates" your claim. (edit for Dan - "similar to" what the insurance company is looking for in the police report)

"(police report)"

Whoa, absolutely wrong. Infringement is a legal matter (civil) that does NOT involve the police.

Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

There certainly is a happy medium between "Ignorance is bliss" and "Call the cops". You have to pick your battles. When people are profiting off my work, that's when I get upset. If the use has promotional benefits than make sure its properly credited and linked to your work.

These types of sites are just set up to bait you in when you search for your own images. Mostly they want to spread viruses or malware. I just ignore them.

Dan,

I know that. Geez. I am comparing a "police report" to what a lawyer might look at in an "evaluation". If the "police report" does not show forced entry with regards to the theft of my camera (which is criminal) then they are going to dismiss my claim. If a lawyer does an "evaluation" of my infringement claim and finds that I did not protect my property (registering the copyright for example) they are likely going to dismiss my claim and not take it.

I am not saying that a lawyers evaluation is the SAME as a police report. Nor did I once suggest that a police report is done with regards to an infringement claim.

I have edited my last post to make it more clear for you Dan.

On this one, I agree with Dan Turner. You are not going to get any response from these idiots and there's no limit to the amount of time you can waste on this issue.

"I have edited my last post to make it more clear for you Dan."

No, Tiny, you edited your post to correct misinformation, which you do constantly. That's why your threads eventually make no sense whatsoever.

You shouldn't be allowed to get away with the editing BS.

Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

Same goes with taking steps to protect your images online. As has been pointed out in other threads, © notice on or beside your image is not going to stop the theft from occurring, but it will give you more options when you file claims of infringement and legal representation "evaluates" your claim. (edit for Dan - "similar to" what the insurance company is looking for in the police report)

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No Dan. That is not true at all. The "police report" was always in brackets and I added this - with "edit" "similar to" what the insurance company is looking for in the - in order to make it more clear to you that I was not saying a "police report" was involved in an infringement claim.

If you want to jump on two words and use it out of context, then I will clarify what was being said. Now you are grasping at straws and picking words out of context to silence me.

Dan, you even quoted "(police report)" in brackets in your 2:11 post.

As long as there are members at FAA spreading the idea that the internet should be a "free for all" and that artists should just ignore it and move on, I will continue to post information and links to direct legal resources that debunk those ideas.

"As long as there are members at FAA spreading the idea that the internet should be a "free for all" and that artists should just ignore it and move on, I will continue to post information and links to direct legal resources that debunk those ideas."

I don't know of anyone here doing that. It sounds like you are "debunking" ideas that you made up. You keep editing and re-editing the post just before this one, so I'm quite sure you aren't sure what you're trying to say or do.

Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

.......that artists should just ignore it and move on - Tiny

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OP's question - What Should I Do About My Stolen Image?

Remember that one clear option is to do nothing. Ignore. Don't allow them to get inside your head, abuse your emotions or spend your time. Accept the risk of selling online and get on with your life. - DanT. 12:44pm

Sounds about the same to me??

I'll just wait until you're through editing, Tiny.
Although I do have a couple of Bubba Burgers on the grill and I will probably lose interest by the time you're through.

Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

Dan.

You have now latched on to that. Yes I made an "edit" with regards to the (police report). However, I marked it clearly and also made reference to the edit in a new post. I did not try to hide it. You took those two words out of context and tried to hang me on it with regards to calling an infringement case "criminal", which I was not doing at all.

I was well within reason to clarify it in my post.

Where it becomes "trolling" would be to purposely make a comment in the thread to get a reaction and then secretly edit the comment to appear less than it was.

I did not do even close to this.

I see "edits" all the time in the forum, where they are used legitimately.

Enjoy your burgers :)

Hello

STOLEN NAME AS WELL IN SOPWER.COM

I also made a search and I found out my name on sopwer.com as well. When I opened this website I saw many porn photos of nude girls, and hardcore sex photos.Somebody stolen my name and put there as a author of those photos and this web,also put images from my blog.
I saw discussion about it from Gill Billington and I decide to reply.
First I saw sopwer.com in Indonesian language, then somebody had change on english, also that lookes like this person is puting some more pics every day, and creating this web bigger and bigger.

http://sopwer.com/opublikowano-march-autor-ewelina-tanecka.html

I'm not autor of this website, if there is more people victim of this crime please let's talk about it,and stop it!

I'd probably advise to stop going to that web site and certainly stop sending people there as well. It sounds like a virus trap for anyone who does.

DO NOT VISIT SITES YOU ALREADY KNOW ARE PORN SITES STEALING IMAGES

You will get malware, viruses or other instances of unwanted parasitical thingies on your computer

This site page will give you all the details you need to know about this site without having to visit it

http://www.whois.com/whois/sopwer.com

Same IP adres and serwers are on funpoper.com , jobspapa.com, sopwer.com . Don.t go there , but I checked IP , maybe is virus or you never know....

Thank you, Abbie for the whois site information.