Using a photo without permission
Mineral Matters #198
Every now and again, I like to check out potential suppliers of boxes for mineral specimens. I really like the ones that I have for micros, locally supplied, not too expensive, a good size, an option to have clear or black or mix and match, and rigid so they won’t break. But unfortunately, they are no longer available.
Imagine my surprise when I followed a promising looking option from a Google search, only to find that a photo of mine (see below) had been used for the product! The photo would likely have been downloaded from a Mindat discussion page.
Not only was my photo used without permission, but the description doesn’t even match the image. The description says hinged boxes (I don’t particularly like hinged boxes).
So when you come across misuse like this, what do you do?
I decided to first try to contact the supplier, basically saying that they had used my photo without my permission. I didn’t hold up much hope. The supplier is in China.
Unexpectedly, I got a response very quickly. The response was “sorry for it, we will remove the picture asap”.
I responded with “No problem. I would not mind, but the image doesn't even match the description. I am actually looking for a supplier of similar boxes, but your description says hinged. I am looking for two part boxes that are rigid, but not magnifying lids. I would be happy for you to use the photo if I could get similar boxes from you”.
I got back that they are able to custom make boxes. So I have given them the specification I am looking for. This may work out or it may not. The product page has been removed already!
I will report back! 😁
I’d have done exactly what you did, and likewise would have expected little or nothing. What a nice surprise that they responded quickly, AND removed the offending item.
I don’t care much about my mineral photos because I don’t put anything like the effort (stacking etc) that many do to make spectacular art works that are also scientifically valuable. But I started putting my name/copyright statement on all my ‘scenic’ photos (I put a lot out on Facebook) after two events.
One was someone who took my photo, and not only used it, but claimed their own copyright to it! They pleaded ignorance, I got uppity, they apologized and deleted it. The second was a photo of mine that a local business took and used as background for advertising, not just once but many times. That one I reached the point of threatening to get a lawyer involved, but it was days and many ‘interactions’ before they gave up.
When my website had a lot of popular information about oil exploration, I had the experience of someone not just taking the words and images – all of them, verbatim, for dozens of pages – but also the entire website design, colors, thickness of table boundaries, everything, and changing my copyright statement and contact information to theirs. I got REALLY uppity on that one, and I was within a couple days of actually calling a lawyer (there was a shot, because they were in the US), but I think what did the trick was I threatened to take their entire client contact list, dozens of companies and individuals in the oil biz, which they had listed on another part of their website (but with the look and feel of mine) – I threatened to contact every one of them with details of what had happened. Their entire website disappeared within hours.
I put stuff out on Facebook, in blogs, and whatever, with the expectation (often the hope!) it will be shared, but the line is crossed for me when they don’t give attribution, use it egregiously, and/or claim it as their own. I’m glad this case worked out well for you.