Do website rippers infringe copyright?
Generally speaking; if you take some snapshots of yourself, and you upload them to an online social media website, and then someone right-clicks to take those photos AND then places them elsewhere on another social media site without your permission — is that copyright infringement? I think this has become a major problem especially with site rippers that can take entire directories of photos and place them elsewhere. What rights stand on this situation?
Sally on May 16, 2012
Good question, Sally. You own the copyright to your snapshots. An individual can probably right-click, save, and repost your snapshot in a similar situation without your permission under “fair use.” However, if a “site ripper” is doing this en masse for financial gain of some sort, then this would not be fair use. Such a situation may be similar to the Kinko’s ruling, which found copyright infringement when a company has an overall profit motive for copying.
fair use, case law: Kinko’s
In ps_get_permalink but no post_id supplied, from ps_breadcrumbs at line 12421
- Law
- Copyright
- Copyright Questions
- Do buildings have copyright?
- What is editorial use?
- What is copyright infringement?
- Where is the public domain?
- Can I copy old family photos that are 65 years old?
- Can I use a photo off the Internet in a presentation?
- Can I use my newspaper photos in my portfolio?
- Can photos of my artwork be sold without my permission?
- Is it against the law to paint an old photograph that someone has taken?
- Do I have rights to photos I took for a college paper?
- Can I legally copy an old photo from an eBay ad?
- Can someone sell a painting of a photo that I took?
- Do I need permission to sell a photo of someone’s house?
- How do I prove that I took a disputed photo?
- Can similar shots of a landmark get copyright?
- Can a print store refuse to scan a portrait of me?
- I’m a model. If I hire a photographer, who gets the copyright?
- Who owns the copyright if the photographer died?
- Does copyright exist for proprietary RAW photos?
- Can I sell street photos without model releases?
- Can I copy proofs from a model shoot?
- Can I sell photos of famous public parks or landscapes?
- Do I need permission to sell photos of a famous building?
- Can I resell photos that I previously sold?
- Do I lose copyright if I enter online photo contests?
- Can I remove blemishes from a photo of me?
- Can a website use Facebook photos and make fun of them?
- Can a photographer rescind permission?
- Can I sell photos of paintings in a gallery?
- Can I use my photos in a portfolio if they’re on Facebook?
- Can I use product photos in my portfolio?
- Do website rippers infringe copyright?
- Can a yearbook publisher use my Facebook photos?
- Are particular old photos in the public domain?
- What if a photographer complains about unauthorized use?
- How do I convince a print store that I took some photos?
- Do I own copyright in a drawing of a photo?
- If I paid a photographer, who owns the copyright?
- Can I sell products using images from the Internet?
- Can I stop my wedding photographer from using my photos?
- Do I get copyright if I infringed someone’s rights?
- Do I need permission to sell a photo of a branded car?
- Can a school claim copyright for photos I took there?
- Can I copyright a 3D picture?
- How do I copyright my pictures?
- Can I publish photos of tattoos without permission?
- Am I infringing on copyright if I sell a montage using a picture of a statue?
- Can a photo of my family be sold without my permission?
- Can I sell photos of toys at a store?
- Can I stop a website using my Facebook photos?
- Can I sell photos that I find on a discarded computer?
- Can I copyright or trademark my building?
- Do I need permission to use photos of houses?
- If a client breaks a contract, can I revoke photo use?
- Can I copyright a photo with effects from an iPhone app?
- Can I paint and sell a photo from Google?
- Can I use a photo of a celebrity without their permission?
- Can I display on the Internet my photos of paintings made before 1800?
- Can I use thumbnail photos of storefronts in an online directory?
- Do we need permission from photographers to use their photos of our church?
- How do I get permission to use somebody else’s work?
- How can I find out who owns a copyright?
- Am I allowed to take photos of accidents to use as evidence?
- How can I obtain copies of someone else’s work and/or registration certificate?
- How much of someone else’s work can I use without getting permission?
- Can I photograph a painting by a dead painter for private display?
- How much do I have to change in order to claim copyright in someone else’s work?
- Somebody infringed my copyright. What can I do?
- Does the law stop us from selling photos of covered bridges in state parks?
- Could I be sued for using somebody else’s work? How about quotes or samples?
- Do you have a list of songs or movies in the public domain?
- Do I need a license in California to sell personally or online?
- I saw an image on the Library of Congress website that I would like to use. Do I need to obtain permission?
- My local copying store will not make reproductions of old family photographs. What can I do?
- Can I use, on my website, photos that I took at my full-time job?
- Can I paint and sell a photo by a famous photographer that I found on the Web?
- As a model, can I sell photos that I appear in?
- To sell photos of a city, do I need a permit for commercial photography?
- What are the laws regarding using family photos of siblings on a website?
- How can I disable the right-click ‘save target as’ on images?
- If I photograph a document that is out of copyright, do I get a new copyright to that photograph?
- Can I make copies of my professionally-taken family portraits?
- Can I sell photos that I took at zoos and battlefields?
- Can I sell pictures of buildings that show a phone number and address?
- In an ad campaign, can I use a photo I found on a website if I can’t find who owns the photo?
- Can I copyright a photo if I did not take it and it is over a 100 years old?
- What is copyright?
- Does a model have rights over photos I took of her?
- What does copyright protect?
- When is my work protected?
- Do I have to register my copyright to be protected?
- I’ve heard about a poor man’s copyright. What is it?
- Is my copyright good in other countries?
- Can I copyright my website?
- Can I copyright my domain name?
- How do I protect my recipe?
- How do I copyright a name, title, slogan or logo?
- How do I protect my idea?
- Does my work have to be published to be protected?
- How do I protect my sighting of Elvis?
- Does copyright protect architecture?
- How long does a copyright last?
- Are copyrights transferable?
- Do I have to submit a form to transfer a copyright?
- Can I copyright a diary I found in my grandmother’s attic?
- What is a copyright notice? How do I put a copyright notice on my work?
- What is a work made for hire?
Comments
Reply by Mitz
October 16, 2014
I shot a wedding a little bit of go for a relative. There was no contract because of family ties. I uploaded a couple to Facebook for the bride and tagged her bridesmaid in them. The sister of the bride who was one of the bridesmaids broke off my association to the image. Downloaded it, re-edited my work, then uploaded it again on her Facebook as one of her own images. She tried to tag Bass Pro Shop with no association to me. Even though the bride knew that I did want those watermarked and I was the one to send those images in to the store, where I shot the bridal party. I knew that all my work is copyrighted, so I have never bothered to watermark any of my images for Facebook. Now they are trying to tell me that my images fall under public domain because I posted them on my Facebook page, and the bride and groom own the copyright of the images & she is allowed to do what she wishes with my images. Is she right?
Reply by Andrew Hudson, PhotoSecrets
November 3, 2014
Hi Mitz,
Isn’t it nice when you help out at a wedding, then have someone steal your work?
You took the photo so you own the copyright to it — you alone have the right to say where, and where not, the photo can be copied.
The photo does not fall under public domain, regardless of online posting (such as Facebook), that is a feeble excuse for her illegal action. The bride and groom do not own the copyright — you do because you took the photos and you did not sign away the copyright to the happy couple. The sister of bride is not allowed do do what she wishes with your images since they are your property.
You can easily get the photo removed from websites. Go to whatever website the photo appears on and find the legal section. There will be a page to request removal of the photo. This is a legal requirement of image-hosting sites, called a DMCA Takedown Notice. The website is required to respond quickly, and most sites generally do.
Someone removing your credit is a federal offense. This is a violation of the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. See copyright management information (CMI).
Re-crediting the work to herself is worse and demonstrates that the “infringement was committed willfully” (17 USC §504(c)(2)), allowing statutory damages up to $150,000. (Unfortunately this would not be available to you as the copyright was not registered beforehand. But she might not know that and it sounds good in a letter.)
You could ask a lawyer to send a “cease-and-desist” letter, with the threat of a federal lawsuit. That would get her attention.
Best wishes,
Andrew