Your copyrights, and those of your colleagues, are under constant attack. It's critical to not just police yours, but to help out your fellow photographers, where it seems likely an infringment might be possible.
Today, while in-between assignments, I was in Washington DC's Union Station. There, I stumbled upon Images 4 View (listed here), a kiosk operating a green screen business. Most of the images appeared to be snapshots they could have taken themselves, or, in a few cases, White House public domain images. However, one image stood out for me - the image from the cover of Sarah Palin's book. Set aside your opinions of Sarah Palin, the fact is, this was the one image I thought was a candidate for having been infringed.
First, I made several images of the booth scenery, and it being operated.
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Then, a quick online search turned up the photographer - Seattle photographer John Keatley. Fortunately, his cell phone was listed there, and a quick call to him confirmed what I suspected - he was being infringed. While no one likes learning this, I think what they like even less is that people are profiting off of their work and they are not being compensated. What's interesting here - is that while locations like Union Station must be certain that their vendors are not selling illegal drugs, and are operating with a license to do business, they should also be making sure that their vendors are not violating federal laws like Copyright. I get this same type of frustration when I see a kiosk in the mall where a sketch artist has "sketched" famous images like John Lennon with his arms crossed, or other iconic images of celebrities. I can't wait to stumble upon one of my images that has been infringed - I will have a field day with that vendor.
In this case, I sent along all of the images I shot of the booth. Next, I went to the hourly photographer working the booth, and asked for the company owner's name, and she provided it, and his email address, which I promptly sent along to Mr. Keatley.
If each of us, when we see what could well be an infringement, or, well, just looks odd, spend a few minutes on your smart phone, make a few images, and help out. The more we police this, the better our community will be.
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