Stealing my photos??? And she says she took them...?

Question

One of my old friends has a horse. I took photos of the horse. I put them on webshots. She takes them and puts them in her album and says they are hers and refuses to take them off. I have solid proof they are my photos and she denies it. Should I call her parents or her and tell them to take them off? I never gave her permission to use those pics because I had previously had problems with her taking my stuff like that. Please help!

She told me I could take photos of her horse, and I did, but I told her they are mine ask before you use them or print them out, but NOOOO she didn't listen.

Answer 1

She is an old friend of yours and you certainly don't want to lose a friendship over this if the friendship is something that you value. Is the value of the stolen photo (for resale purposes, principle, whatever) greater than the value of the friendship? If yes, then the other responses to your question have some solid suggestions. If not, I would recommend that you write off the experience as a loss, but use the wisdom gained to prepare how to deal with your friend in the future. But next time, you may need to be more explicit to make sure nobody makes assumptions about the other. Set some healthy boundaries with her now that you know what her behavior is like. Setting boundaries may seem awkward, but your friend will probably appreciate you for doing this later in the future. This skill will serve you well in many other relationships in the future.
Also, the next time you post photos, you might want to put a large digital watermark with your name across the image or below the subject if you don't want people to re-use the image.

Finally, if she doesn't understand, ask her this leading question:
"If a painter paints a subject, does the painting belong to the subject before or after the painter was paid for their service? How is this any different than a photograph?"

Answer 2

I am a photographer and the only agreement you need is if you take a photo of people (non-celebrities). Then you need a release from them to use the photos for whatever specified. Her verbal agreement is valid enough and because you shot the photos they are already copyrighted. You have the proof they are yours because you are in possession of the camera that took them and the photos. Time stamp and type of camera is embedded in all of my photos, I know when I took them and with what camera and lense, even the aperture and speed. Those are your photos and you can prove it. If this were a business deal or agreement I would say sue her. But since it is your friend I would use caution on this one.

Also, posting them on web doesn't make them available for people to steal. You can sue people for stealing and using your photos on the web as well. Many photographers put their work up online, by another guy's comment that makes every artists work available to take. This is not true, it is theft unless you have given a party permission to use your photos.

Also read column in my source list. I disagree with the part in the article about general public however. If you get a shot of a person you don't need their permission to sell photo but it is courteous and will save you trips to court. It is a touchy issue because you could spend time in court which costs you money. People always don't have the legal basis to sue but that doesn't stop them. So just be careful if you ever get into that area. I have a lot of candids of people I don't know but I don't sell them because I don't have the money to waste on defending myself in court at the moment.

Answer 3

There's alot of things you could've done in this situation. Before you take photos of someone else's things, make sure you do an agreement, like a previous poster said. And since this concerns WebShots, including any other kind of picture-uploading site, you could also do the whole labeling your pictures with your name, etc.

As for what to do right now, it is a hard situation. Since she said that she actually took the photos - as in shot them - then she's in the wrong. I'd call her parents and let them know what's up.

Answer 4

One of the privious posted mentioned about the in-bedded data that is on all digital photos, on some cameras you can also put in your own name as the copyright. If you chose to shoot things like this in the future you need a model release which also states your intentions and how you will use these images. You could also ask her to put your name on the pictures that YOU shot the pictures but it is HER horse. I do not know how good of a friend she is but you could just brush this off and learn from what happened or you could persue it more but you will loose more than a friend because she will let all of her friends know "what" you did and word passes fast in a school.

Go to this website and read about copyright laws which will give you more information to help you.

http://www.copyright.gov/

Hope this also helps along with what some of the others posted.
Kevin

Answer 5

Live and learn.
In the future, watermark your images before you post them.

Look at it this way: She evidently thinks these are pretty good photos if she wants to claim them. So you can feel flattered. What she is doing is wrong, of course, and you can pay some bucks and get a lawyer involved If you were a professional and in a position to lose money from this, or if she were in a position to benefit, it would be different. In your case, going to the parents should be enough of a step to take.

BTW, a friend who has a history of "taking your stuff" might be a relationship you want to re-think.

Answer 6

First of all I would serve her with a cease and desist order for illegally posting copyright images. Explicitly say in this letter refusal to do so will result in legal action. Although you have done some things on your behalf which are not responsible in terms of not signing a model release in which the owner allows you to take photos of her property and not elaborating as to what you the photographer is responsible for and what she the owner is responsible for; nonetheless the law is still more in favor of you. You can thank the copyright revisions of 1978 for this, it gives photographers automatic copyright status of all the images you make, although you should take further actions
There is of course a good chance that the judge in this case would throw the case away, but most people stop posting the images after they receive their cease and desist.

Answer 7

There should have been some sort of agreement between you two, especially since the horse belongs to her. It's a difficult situation, since they are YOUR photos of HER horse.

I agree with the first poster--some sort of watermark on your images would probably be a good way to go.

Did you receive permission from her for you to post pictures of her horse on the web?

Answer 8

Did you get her to sign a property release form?????

If you didnt you can use the photos as they are legally yours but you cannot profit from them in any way eg sell them unless you have a property release from signed by your friend.

She cannot use them in any way shape or form as you have copyrigt of the images.

This is a bit of a catch 22 situation where if you had know about this beforehand you could have saved a lot of arguing about it.

A verbal agreement is NOT a legally binding agreement!!!!

Get it in writing first!!!

Hope this helps :)

Answer 9

Have you check the terms of use for Webshots, if they are using your photos in her Webshot album then they (Webshot) will help you to get her to remove them. Go to here to check the terms:

http://www.webshots.com/html/terms.html

Answer 10

Did she give you permission to take pictures of HER horse? Next time use a program to put a watermark, symbol, or your name on your pics...Or find the HTML code to put on the webpage you use so people cannot right click them and steal them.