Last week I published a small post with my reply to a ‘client’ who wanted to use my images for free. It was a popular post but the thing is that many times people don’t even ask for permission and simply decide to grab our images from the web or other source and simply use them on their website. The worst case is that sometimes these people, lets just call them for the thieves they are, even alter the images, cover the watermark and create a new watermark of their own pretending the image is actually their own. Now this can really piss me off but unless willing to take legal action there is very little one can do about it.

I have always been someone who stood up for my rights in my copyrighted images as well as the moral right to be acknowledged as the author of the work. Some of you might know that I am running a court case in the Delhi high court against Roli Books, the publisher of my book ‘Street Food of India‘ for claiming copyright in the work.

So what can you do when you find your work used by someone else online? Here is one thing you SHOULD do, but mind you that if you want to shoot, shoot don’t talk. If you intend to go after such copyright thieves you should get in touch with an intelectual property lawyer. Another thing to keep in mind that this thing is time consuming and unless you have someone to do this work for you you will be spending your days chasing ghosts instead of working.

How to send a Cease and Desist notice

So, this is what you do. First of all get on a website like http://who.is/ and find the registered owner of the infringing domain so that your mail goes to a person and that person knows that you know who he is. Send a letter of request/demand to remove the unauthorised images and never use them again or face legal action. This kind of letter is called Cease and Desist letter and is available on various places on the net. Feel free to use the one attached below.

It is important to do the following:

1. Mention the exact place where the image was originally published/created.
2. Stick to the facts without bringing in any emotions. Don’t say anything like “I am hurt/ disappointed/ amazed” etc. It has no value.
3. Be direct with what you demand/expect and give a time frame for that.

Dear _____,

I am the proprietors of all copyright in a number of photographic works on the subject of ___________ (The “Work”). I have reserved all rights in the specific Work which was first expressed in material form on my website <YOUR WEBSITE> and specifically on <THE EXACT LINK TO THE PAGE WITH THE ORIGINAL IMAGE> on  <DATE WHEN THE IMAGE WAS PUBLISHED ON YOUR WEBSITE>

It has come to my attention that your work entitled <THE INFRINGING WEBSITE WHERE THE IMAGE IS USED> uses identical images to my copyrighted Work. Some of the images containing watermark were also altered to remove the watermark and include a different signature which illegally deprives me of my moral right to be recognized as author of the work. Permission was neither asked nor granted to reproduce the Work and your Work therefore constitutes infringement of my rights. In terms of the Copyright Statutes, I am entitled to an injunction against your continued infringement, as well as to recover damages from you for the loss I have suffered as a result of your infringing conduct. In the circumstances, I demand that you immediately:

1. remove all infringing content and notify me in writing that you have done so;

2. immediately cease the use and distribution of my copyrighted material;

3. undertake in writing to desist from using any of my copyrighted Work in future without prior written authority from me.

If I have not received an affirmative response from you by the close of business on <TWO WEEKS FROM THE TIME OF YOUR LETTER> indicating that you have fully complied with these requirements, I will be forced take further action against you that will include, but will not be limited to: asking my lawyers to address this issue, reporting this to any ad programs you may have on electronic copies, and seeking proper copyright infringement litigation for any damages caused by this reproduction. This is written without prejudice to my rights, all of which are hereby expressly reserved.

Sincerely,

<YOUR NAME AND CONTACT INFO>

Try this one and let me know how it worked. I’d say that in about 90% of the cases your image will be removed from the infringing website. In some cases you will get an apology while other times the image will simply be take off which is actually good enough. Good luck.

Let’s call a thief by his real name

There are of course other ways to go about copyright thieves. For example we can all write a nice stinker to the infringing website. The image below is stolen by this copyright infringing website who is @LimoBroker on twitter and also here on Facebook. Not only that they lifted the image from my website but they also placed their own new watermark over mine and if this was not enough they claim copyright in all the material on their website!

The audacity

So I decided to let the social media know about the copyright thief called @LimoBroker and tweeted the following:
@LimoBroker is a copyright thief using my copyrighted image on their weddingcarhire.co.uk website . see bit.ly/sF2F6h Please RT

 

 

 

To which they have replied this unbelievable tweet calling me childish and saying that all I needed to do is write them and request a credit or removal of the image! :-)

 

 

 

 

 

P.S The image of Beware of Dog used for this post is taken from a free for any use webpage HERE