Battling the scam sites....
 

Guess I'm going to have to start putting a watermark on all my ad pictures. Found someone using a picture from my local Prologue TT ad in their craigslist ad. So, out of curiosity I ran a quick search of just that image. Found 16 different sites using the image to "sell" the bike.

Pretty sure since they are obviously scam sites a notice on copy right infringement ain't gonna matter to them. Have to do some research to see if there's a way to shut down the site. I'm betting no but it's a shame these things go on so I'll try and do something. Site's like this are nothing but thieves and I won't even go into what I think should be done to thieves.

Anyway, just passing this along. If anyone knows a legit way to go after the sites let me know. I'm always happy to do my part to address this kind of thing.

Edit: Gonna go after them here.

https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/

I once found someone in CL using my pics to sell their Raleigh Super Course. I messaged them asking to remove my pics. Of course, nothing happened.

I then messaged CL, explained the situation, and within minutes the add was gone.

Yeah I emailed the CL ad person and will give him a few hours. The selling site's I'm working through the reports on. I seriously doubt the FTC has time to even address this but I'll do my part.

https://www.websitepolicies.com/blog...akedown-notice

What is protected by the DMCA?

Any original work or content that you own and/or that you have created on a tangible medium (and that is thus subject to copyright protection) is protected by the DMCA if it is being used online without your approval.

The definition of content is large: blog posts, text, photos, videos, are all examples of content that could be subject to protection under the DMCA.

I've heard that a lot of digital artists are finding that other people have made NFTs of their work, and of course are not getting compensated. Pretty crappy thing to do...

How about some more information on how you are going to put in the watermark, and maybe what type is less intrusive of the image.

Also, is their a polite way to use someone else's image?

If I am posting an image of someone else's personal bicycle I will usually say "Not my image" or post the url it was stripped from.

Considering your post I will try to do this more often.

So what do folks think would be a good watermark? Maybe something as simple as "This bike is NOT FOR SALE"?

I like the way Bike Quarterly/Compass/Rene Herse does it... a very faint logo through the content of the picture. It's not enough to detract from enjoyment of the picture (at least to me), but it is undeniably there, and difficult to erase or crop out of the shot:

https://www.renehersecycles.com/wp-c...rse_01_800.jpg

Thread moved from C&V Sales to C&V.

I don't usually sell bikes, just small parts that are easy to ship. I generally use a giant machined chunk of aluminum as a physical watermark, and it's handy to prop stuff up against. No idea what it was for, it's some kind of water/coolant/oil manifold or something. Really easy to spot anyone using my pictures with it.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...20cd784f27.jpg

Playing the devil's advocate, what do you stand to lose from other people using your photos jamesdak ?

I get that we want to curb the improper use of our creative content, but I also am aware of how much a time suck it can be to chase down malicious uses.

Non-obtrusive watermarking is a good idea. Just remember that posting your content on other people's websites (including BF and CL) usually comes with the release of your copyrights to the work, at least non-exclusively.

If you google, "How to remove a watermark from photo", you will find software to do it with one click.

IP is only as deep as your pockets to defend it. I'd rather go for a ride.

I've seen some of my pix of my stuff being used for ads- also for examples.

I know I'm not a good photographer and don't have a particularly good eye for stuff- so it's actually flattering to have my pix used as examples.

There's a point to which the ad and picture says "I have a bike like this for sale" vs. "this is the bike I'm selling."


Not that there's anything similar- I was pretty flattered the first time a picture of mine turned up on a google image search- It was for a Marshall guitar cabinet in my back yard- from decades ago- I really don't remember uploading it- and back then online hosting was a bit more uncommon than it is now.

I’ve seen a few instances reported of someone selling a bike on CL and then seeing it resisted for more money with their original pics! That’s just a lazy flipper.

Had some issues similar to this in the past. Local realtors taking my low res images for their advertising. Simple contact with a copy of my usage agreement/cost would get the images taken back down. Except one realtor contacted me once about using my images for free and I told him no. He's a business and can pay. He took images anyway and posted to his site. That one was handled legally.

Now I'll share my work freely with a lot of organizations, Schools, museums, wildlife conservatory organizations, etc. But if your out to make money for yourself and want my images you need to pay.

Ha! Still for sale. You can even buy one with Jan on it! :eek:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...cd4128cfec.jpg

It's according, LOL!

Mostly I don't care. I do care if they are used to scam folks for sure. And maybe nothing can be done about it. But that does not mean I have to be complacent and do nothing. If you see a wrong you should give an honest effort to fix it. Now someone borrowing my picture for a CL listing is no big deal unless they are trying to pass it off as theirs. But all the scam websites using the image are scum trying to prey on innocent people. I ultimately may not be able to do anything about it but I am going to try. At the end of the day we all need to be able to look in the mirror at ourselves and know we did our best, right?

Where do you draw the line? What about repop decals or brake hoods? Catalog scans? Magazine scans? They are on this site most every day.

Most of those are for extinct products. I will note, however that Velocals went through a short period where they didn't sell Raleigh decals by whoever owns the brand nowadays. After a few months of discussion they worked it out somehow, not quite sure how.

This is why we banned mirrors in my house.

I think most brands are still owned. You may not like the owner, but IP doesn't care. Especially when I look at the Velocals catalog, it seems most aren't extinct..

I don't even know who the owners are, but I'm wondering why in the world they would care to go after someone posting a catalog or magazine excerpt from decades ago here.

I'm reminded that Jackie Gleason was pretty upset that the Flintstones were an obvious copy of the Honeymooners, and would surely have won in court had they sued Hanna-Barbera. Jackie's lawyers asked him "Do you want to be known as the guy who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air?"

Wait, is this in reference to the KSL ad?

I've seen pics of mine used elsewhere before.
Meh- it doesn't hurt me at all as I am not trying to monetize my pictures.

Dirty secret- I have used stock pics of components before for ebay. Eek!