Seriously? Like Really?

[Momma Smurf]

Was on another local B&Bs FB page and noticed a video posted that included one of my awesome slideshow pics that appears on our website Home Page... WTF? This guy is a legit photographer, used to photograph inns for Yankee Magazine, and voila, they're pilfering my copyright material?? Sent an email saying: Glad you appreciate our pic, but could you kindly remove it from your FB video?
His response: So sorry! We meant it to be just a place holder to be replaced by an original shot. We will remove it immediately.
Seriously, they live just down the street from said photo spot. Place holder??? Busted. Not the first time they've been caught in nefarious deeds.
We are sadly the last survivors here in this town, no camaraderie.

 

[Arks]

I agree. The place holder excuse it bogus. Busted indeed. And, they messed with the wrong Smurf.

 

[Lee2014]

I agree. The place holder excuse it bogus. Busted indeed. And, they messed with the wrong Smurf..

The other Smurf has teeth, but no bite?!?

Did the picture have Smurf's Inn written on it? If it did, free advertising! But I agree, they should have at least ask for permission before using it especially if it was copywrited. If they are professional photographers, pat yourself on the back and take it as a compliment.

 

[Momma Smurf]

I agree. The place holder excuse it bogus. Busted indeed. And, they messed with the wrong Smurf..

The other Smurf has teeth, but no bite?!?

Did the picture have Smurf's Inn written on it? If it did, free advertising! But I agree, they should have at least ask for permission before using it especially if it was copywrited. If they are professional photographers, pat yourself on the back and take it as a compliment.
.

"Under US law a copyright notice is no longer required to protect copyright. Photographers own the copyright to their work the instant they press the button. However a copyright notice has a purpose as it indicates that a work is protected by copyright, identifies the copyright owner and shows the year of first publication. You should include a properly formatted copyright notice on each page of your website that displays an image."
And we do have the properly formatted copyright notice in the footer of each and every WordPress page!

 

[Lee2014]

I agree. The place holder excuse it bogus. Busted indeed. And, they messed with the wrong Smurf..

The other Smurf has teeth, but no bite?!?

Did the picture have Smurf's Inn written on it? If it did, free advertising! But I agree, they should have at least ask for permission before using it especially if it was copywrited. If they are professional photographers, pat yourself on the back and take it as a compliment.
.

"Under US law a copyright notice is no longer required to protect copyright. Photographers own the copyright to their work the instant they press the button. However a copyright notice has a purpose as it indicates that a work is protected by copyright, identifies the copyright owner and shows the year of first publication. You should include a properly formatted copyright notice on each page of your website that displays an image."
And we do have the properly formatted copyright notice in the footer of each and every WordPress page!
.

Yes, they should have known better.

 

[EmptyNest]

I agree. The place holder excuse it bogus. Busted indeed. And, they messed with the wrong Smurf..

The other Smurf has teeth, but no bite?!?

Did the picture have Smurf's Inn written on it? If it did, free advertising! But I agree, they should have at least ask for permission before using it especially if it was copywrited. If they are professional photographers, pat yourself on the back and take it as a compliment.
.

"Under US law a copyright notice is no longer required to protect copyright. Photographers own the copyright to their work the instant they press the button. However a copyright notice has a purpose as it indicates that a work is protected by copyright, identifies the copyright owner and shows the year of first publication. You should include a properly formatted copyright notice on each page of your website that displays an image."
And we do have the properly formatted copyright notice in the footer of each and every WordPress page!
.

I had a local fellow take one of mine and use it on his website. I told him about it and he said " if it is on the internet it is free game!" Not I told him and shared the law with him. He did remove it. I told him all he had to do was ask and give me credit and he could use it. I let lots of folks use my photos.

 

[Momma Smurf]

I agree. The place holder excuse it bogus. Busted indeed. And, they messed with the wrong Smurf..

The other Smurf has teeth, but no bite?!?

Did the picture have Smurf's Inn written on it? If it did, free advertising! But I agree, they should have at least ask for permission before using it especially if it was copywrited. If they are professional photographers, pat yourself on the back and take it as a compliment.
.

"Under US law a copyright notice is no longer required to protect copyright. Photographers own the copyright to their work the instant they press the button. However a copyright notice has a purpose as it indicates that a work is protected by copyright, identifies the copyright owner and shows the year of first publication. You should include a properly formatted copyright notice on each page of your website that displays an image."
And we do have the properly formatted copyright notice in the footer of each and every WordPress page!
.

I had a local fellow take one of mine and use it on his website. I told him about it and he said " if it is on the internet it is free game!" Not I told him and shared the law with him. He did remove it. I told him all he had to do was ask and give me credit and he could use it. I let lots of folks use my photos.
.

In this case, it's a direct competitor. Absolutely Not sharing our website slideshow photos, especially since he's a pro photographer, and they've never been friendly in their past three years, and have pulled other shady shenanigans. (Like trying to operate with 5 rooms, when only licensed for 3, with one of them upstairs with no Fire & Life Safety egress, nor getting Town construction permits, State Fire Marshall approval, etc.) (And booking here anonymously when they were purchasing the other property. And when asked about an arrival time window, he got very annoyed, even when I explained that on a rare occasion, Poppa's cousins from Cal were in town and they were the only ones checking in. We had to sit around all day waiting for them to arrive just before 6 PM). Then there was the we over-booked call the first season, wanting us to make an exception to our Saturday night minimum stay, by taking his guests for a single overnight. When told we would wanted them on Friday too, he insisted they were part of a group, and didn't want to break them up more than one night. So we acquiesced and he used his 3.5 % fee AmEX to pay us! Then, when these guests arrived here, we mentioned being part of a group .... Huh? We weren't part of a group... Pants on fire, yet again!!

 

[Morticia]

I agree. The place holder excuse it bogus. Busted indeed. And, they messed with the wrong Smurf..

The other Smurf has teeth, but no bite?!?

Did the picture have Smurf's Inn written on it? If it did, free advertising! But I agree, they should have at least ask for permission before using it especially if it was copywrited. If they are professional photographers, pat yourself on the back and take it as a compliment.
.

"Under US law a copyright notice is no longer required to protect copyright. Photographers own the copyright to their work the instant they press the button. However a copyright notice has a purpose as it indicates that a work is protected by copyright, identifies the copyright owner and shows the year of first publication. You should include a properly formatted copyright notice on each page of your website that displays an image."
And we do have the properly formatted copyright notice in the footer of each and every WordPress page!
.

I had a local fellow take one of mine and use it on his website. I told him about it and he said " if it is on the internet it is free game!" Not I told him and shared the law with him. He did remove it. I told him all he had to do was ask and give me credit and he could use it. I let lots of folks use my photos.
.

In this case, it's a direct competitor. Absolutely Not sharing our website slideshow photos, especially since he's a pro photographer, and they've never been friendly in their past three years, and have pulled other shady shenanigans. (Like trying to operate with 5 rooms, when only licensed for 3, with one of them upstairs with no Fire & Life Safety egress, nor getting Town construction permits, State Fire Marshall approval, etc.) (And booking here anonymously when they were purchasing the other property. And when asked about an arrival time window, he got very annoyed, even when I explained that on a rare occasion, Poppa's cousins from Cal were in town and they were the only ones checking in. We had to sit around all day waiting for them to arrive just before 6 PM). Then there was the we over-booked call the first season, wanting us to make an exception to our Saturday night minimum stay, by taking his guests for a single overnight. When told we would wanted them on Friday too, he insisted they were part of a group, and didn't want to break them up more than one night. So we acquiesced and he used his 3.5 % fee AmEX to pay us! Then, when these guests arrived here, we mentioned being part of a group .... Huh? We weren't part of a group... Pants on fire, yet again!!
.

We had a guy like that here. Used to cut and paste directly from other websites in town. But his skills weren't good. He would only cut half a sentence here and there and paste them exactly like that on his site. There were random commas, no punctuation, and no complete sentences.
He also poached guests. Quite a lot of mine told me about him. They shook their heads and came back here.
He also kept moving his pin on Google maps. We'd all be going along fine then one day his place would show up across the street from mine. Again.

 

[Jcam]

I agree. The place holder excuse it bogus. Busted indeed. And, they messed with the wrong Smurf..

The other Smurf has teeth, but no bite?!?

Did the picture have Smurf's Inn written on it? If it did, free advertising! But I agree, they should have at least ask for permission before using it especially if it was copywrited. If they are professional photographers, pat yourself on the back and take it as a compliment.
.

"Under US law a copyright notice is no longer required to protect copyright. Photographers own the copyright to their work the instant they press the button. However a copyright notice has a purpose as it indicates that a work is protected by copyright, identifies the copyright owner and shows the year of first publication. You should include a properly formatted copyright notice on each page of your website that displays an image."
And we do have the properly formatted copyright notice in the footer of each and every WordPress page!
.

I had a local fellow take one of mine and use it on his website. I told him about it and he said " if it is on the internet it is free game!" Not I told him and shared the law with him. He did remove it. I told him all he had to do was ask and give me credit and he could use it. I let lots of folks use my photos.
.

In this case, it's a direct competitor. Absolutely Not sharing our website slideshow photos, especially since he's a pro photographer, and they've never been friendly in their past three years, and have pulled other shady shenanigans. (Like trying to operate with 5 rooms, when only licensed for 3, with one of them upstairs with no Fire & Life Safety egress, nor getting Town construction permits, State Fire Marshall approval, etc.) (And booking here anonymously when they were purchasing the other property. And when asked about an arrival time window, he got very annoyed, even when I explained that on a rare occasion, Poppa's cousins from Cal were in town and they were the only ones checking in. We had to sit around all day waiting for them to arrive just before 6 PM). Then there was the we over-booked call the first season, wanting us to make an exception to our Saturday night minimum stay, by taking his guests for a single overnight. When told we would wanted them on Friday too, he insisted they were part of a group, and didn't want to break them up more than one night. So we acquiesced and he used his 3.5 % fee AmEX to pay us! Then, when these guests arrived here, we mentioned being part of a group .... Huh? We weren't part of a group... Pants on fire, yet again!!
.

We had a guy like that here. Used to cut and paste directly from other websites in town. But his skills weren't good. He would only cut half a sentence here and there and paste them exactly like that on his site. There were random commas, no punctuation, and no complete sentences.
He also poached guests. Quite a lot of mine told me about him. They shook their heads and came back here.
He also kept moving his pin on Google maps. We'd all be going along fine then one day his place would show up across the street from mine. Again.
.

ie not where he was? that's a bit stupid as people can't find you.

 

[Arks]

I agree. The place holder excuse it bogus. Busted indeed. And, they messed with the wrong Smurf..

The other Smurf has teeth, but no bite?!?

Did the picture have Smurf's Inn written on it? If it did, free advertising! But I agree, they should have at least ask for permission before using it especially if it was copywrited. If they are professional photographers, pat yourself on the back and take it as a compliment.
.

"Under US law a copyright notice is no longer required to protect copyright. Photographers own the copyright to their work the instant they press the button. However a copyright notice has a purpose as it indicates that a work is protected by copyright, identifies the copyright owner and shows the year of first publication. You should include a properly formatted copyright notice on each page of your website that displays an image."
And we do have the properly formatted copyright notice in the footer of each and every WordPress page!
.

I had a local fellow take one of mine and use it on his website. I told him about it and he said " if it is on the internet it is free game!" Not I told him and shared the law with him. He did remove it. I told him all he had to do was ask and give me credit and he could use it. I let lots of folks use my photos.
.

"if it is on the internet it is free game!"

That's like saying if it is on a billboard or in a newspaper, it's free game. It's not! People don't have to plaster copyright notices across their photos to protect them, though it does cut down on the "borrowing" from the uninformed folks like your local fellow.

 

[Morticia]

I agree. The place holder excuse it bogus. Busted indeed. And, they messed with the wrong Smurf..

The other Smurf has teeth, but no bite?!?

Did the picture have Smurf's Inn written on it? If it did, free advertising! But I agree, they should have at least ask for permission before using it especially if it was copywrited. If they are professional photographers, pat yourself on the back and take it as a compliment.
.

"Under US law a copyright notice is no longer required to protect copyright. Photographers own the copyright to their work the instant they press the button. However a copyright notice has a purpose as it indicates that a work is protected by copyright, identifies the copyright owner and shows the year of first publication. You should include a properly formatted copyright notice on each page of your website that displays an image."
And we do have the properly formatted copyright notice in the footer of each and every WordPress page!
.

I had a local fellow take one of mine and use it on his website. I told him about it and he said " if it is on the internet it is free game!" Not I told him and shared the law with him. He did remove it. I told him all he had to do was ask and give me credit and he could use it. I let lots of folks use my photos.
.

In this case, it's a direct competitor. Absolutely Not sharing our website slideshow photos, especially since he's a pro photographer, and they've never been friendly in their past three years, and have pulled other shady shenanigans. (Like trying to operate with 5 rooms, when only licensed for 3, with one of them upstairs with no Fire & Life Safety egress, nor getting Town construction permits, State Fire Marshall approval, etc.) (And booking here anonymously when they were purchasing the other property. And when asked about an arrival time window, he got very annoyed, even when I explained that on a rare occasion, Poppa's cousins from Cal were in town and they were the only ones checking in. We had to sit around all day waiting for them to arrive just before 6 PM). Then there was the we over-booked call the first season, wanting us to make an exception to our Saturday night minimum stay, by taking his guests for a single overnight. When told we would wanted them on Friday too, he insisted they were part of a group, and didn't want to break them up more than one night. So we acquiesced and he used his 3.5 % fee AmEX to pay us! Then, when these guests arrived here, we mentioned being part of a group .... Huh? We weren't part of a group... Pants on fire, yet again!!
.

We had a guy like that here. Used to cut and paste directly from other websites in town. But his skills weren't good. He would only cut half a sentence here and there and paste them exactly like that on his site. There were random commas, no punctuation, and no complete sentences.
He also poached guests. Quite a lot of mine told me about him. They shook their heads and came back here.
He also kept moving his pin on Google maps. We'd all be going along fine then one day his place would show up across the street from mine. Again.
.

ie not where he was? that's a bit stupid as people can't find you.
.

ie not where he was? that's a bit stupid as people can't find you.

He figured he was close enough that guests would keep driving but he wanted them to book before they realized how far away he was. (Not really far and it's a beautiful property. It's just not as close so people complain they don't want to walk that far.)

 

[Jcam]

I agree. The place holder excuse it bogus. Busted indeed. And, they messed with the wrong Smurf..

The other Smurf has teeth, but no bite?!?

Did the picture have Smurf's Inn written on it? If it did, free advertising! But I agree, they should have at least ask for permission before using it especially if it was copywrited. If they are professional photographers, pat yourself on the back and take it as a compliment.
.

"Under US law a copyright notice is no longer required to protect copyright. Photographers own the copyright to their work the instant they press the button. However a copyright notice has a purpose as it indicates that a work is protected by copyright, identifies the copyright owner and shows the year of first publication. You should include a properly formatted copyright notice on each page of your website that displays an image."
And we do have the properly formatted copyright notice in the footer of each and every WordPress page!
.

I had a local fellow take one of mine and use it on his website. I told him about it and he said " if it is on the internet it is free game!" Not I told him and shared the law with him. He did remove it. I told him all he had to do was ask and give me credit and he could use it. I let lots of folks use my photos.
.

In this case, it's a direct competitor. Absolutely Not sharing our website slideshow photos, especially since he's a pro photographer, and they've never been friendly in their past three years, and have pulled other shady shenanigans. (Like trying to operate with 5 rooms, when only licensed for 3, with one of them upstairs with no Fire & Life Safety egress, nor getting Town construction permits, State Fire Marshall approval, etc.) (And booking here anonymously when they were purchasing the other property. And when asked about an arrival time window, he got very annoyed, even when I explained that on a rare occasion, Poppa's cousins from Cal were in town and they were the only ones checking in. We had to sit around all day waiting for them to arrive just before 6 PM). Then there was the we over-booked call the first season, wanting us to make an exception to our Saturday night minimum stay, by taking his guests for a single overnight. When told we would wanted them on Friday too, he insisted they were part of a group, and didn't want to break them up more than one night. So we acquiesced and he used his 3.5 % fee AmEX to pay us! Then, when these guests arrived here, we mentioned being part of a group .... Huh? We weren't part of a group... Pants on fire, yet again!!
.

We had a guy like that here. Used to cut and paste directly from other websites in town. But his skills weren't good. He would only cut half a sentence here and there and paste them exactly like that on his site. There were random commas, no punctuation, and no complete sentences.
He also poached guests. Quite a lot of mine told me about him. They shook their heads and came back here.
He also kept moving his pin on Google maps. We'd all be going along fine then one day his place would show up across the street from mine. Again.
.

ie not where he was? that's a bit stupid as people can't find you.
.

ie not where he was? that's a bit stupid as people can't find you.

He figured he was close enough that guests would keep driving but he wanted them to book before they realized how far away he was. (Not really far and it's a beautiful property. It's just not as close so people complain they don't want to walk that far.)
.

See if I was a guest and I had booked a place to be in a specific place and it wasn't there I would not be happy.
Many of my guests book us to be near the HIC which is accross the road- they put in that into Google maps then look for the little beds - If I wasn't where I said I was there would be trouble!

 

[user 26]

Momma Smurf, that is just not on and they know it. Especially someone who is professional, has had photos published - they know about copyright and rights to pictures.
Wasn't it Morticia who had text and photos lifted from her website by another inn? Shameful!
People share around pictures, it's so easy to do. And I can see pictures ending up in a search ... but a professional knows better. Places I work people submit articles for the newsletters ... I am continuously asking, where did you get these pictures? And people answer, 'oh I just googled it - doesn't that mean anyone can use it?'

 

[dumitru]

Some years ago I have started working on a local travel website in my country. My wife (girlfriend at that time) and I traveled the most popular attractions in the country (small country, about 450 km long) with my car, spent money on gas and on car parts (really poor roads).
I took a bunch of photos (HDR mostly) and used them on my own website.
Since then my photos have been taken and used by over 50 websites: travel agencies, travel websites, even politicians (prime minister, etc.).
Last year I had my lawyer get in touch with 4 of them with a draft of the lawsuit. 3 of them immediately payed up, one of them is in court right now.
This year my lawyer contacted another 4 offenders, with 3 of them I have upcoming court dates.
As a photographer, even a hobbyist, it pains me when people steal and then try to teach ME about copyright laws. Some are cool and admit their mistake.
By the way, it is cool to read about copyright cases involving photos in Australia, New Zealand and other parts of the world. The compensation there rises to $xx,xxx per single photo.