Why the Talent Wants to Control the Images!

[DwightMcCann]

I am a good friend of Taylor Swift's [http://taylorswift.com/] (http://taylorswift.com/%5D) manager, Rick Barker. I have been shooting for Rick for several years. Last June as part of his since defunct "Nashville to You Acoustic Radio Tour" I shot the lovely and very talented Taylor Swift. In support of the Acoustic Radio Tour and Taylor Swift I put up a gallery of images on my website. Six or eight months ago Taylor was asked to autograph an image that Rick knew I took as part of that tour. Turned out someone had downloaded from my website and printed copies and sold them at concerts for folks to have autographed. Rick even brought one back from Portland, OR, where this happened. We decided it was not something to be upset about.

About ten minutes ago I got an email from Rick that included an email from Taylor's people that accused me of selling images of Taylor on eBay without permission and using inappropriate language to describe this seventeen year old, such as "sexy" and "sultry". Fortunately Rick knows that I would never sell images of Taylor without permission. He also knows that I get a couple of thousand hits on Taylor's gallery a month from fans and that I totally support the fans and performers and am clear that fans may download for their own personal use.

The result is that I have been asked to remove the gallery ... not told, not threatened, but in discussion, so that the principals feel that (1) Rick does in fact have control (which is important to me) and (2) that something is actually being done proactively without them having to insist. It sucks. I feel like, right or wrong, it is a black mark on my reputation. It also feels like all the good my images have done for Taylor over the past year (her photographs have gotten three times as many hits as James Brown on my website or about 24,000 in the past year) just got killed by one "Aw, ****!"

So, here I am, good friends and neighbors with her manager and this happens. How is it when the 'tog is an known to the talent's management ... one of you ... and this sort of situation occurs? Rick knows me. Our kids are friends. We support his wife when he's on the road. He's is one of the most productive and positive people I know and he has to deal with this, explaining to his employer that his friend provided those images to fans with only the best of intentions. We all know about "Good intentions."

Tonight when I get home from my day job Taylor's gallery will be taken down.

[Zeineth]

I feel you pain Dwight. It is as though you betrayed his trust without intention or knowledge. It is a shame that it has to come to the removal of the gallery. I guess this is why I display mine in flash, not that mine are of any comparison to yours in quality or web traffic. But this allows me to rest assured that someone is not downloading my images without my knowledge and permission.

Long and short of it, I don't think your friend should or would hold it against you nor should anyone else. It takes just one as***le to screw everything up. Go home, take the gallery down, have a glass of wine, sit with your family and just not worry about it, whats done is done. Tomorrow is going to be another beautiful day.

[skifurthur]

Dwight,

I feel for you in this situation. I recently had a situation where one of my Ryan Adams photos was pillfered for use to scalp tickets on e-bay. I went after them with both barrels immediately operating on the legal principal that one must "vigorously" protect your copyright or your rights are eroded. Since that incident, I keep an eye out for any non-authorized use and attack when warranted. It's pretty much all I can do in that situation.

Since your situation is a bit more personal, and you stated the management knows you aren't the culprit, I don't think that you will be painted unfairly. You did the right things in that situation.

The solution for this probably isn't that simple. Sometimes you can do everything in your power to stop that sort of activity and it's still not enough. Many years ago I used a phrase that I coined, in an online article I wrote. It was catchy enough that I copyrighted it. Move forward 5 years and I see it on the cover of a magazine that was published by the company that bought my former company...I was a bit taken back since they should know better and knew exactly who wrote the phrase, since they purchased the rights of reprint to my old article. Well, they are the 800lb gorilla in that genre and I could have made a huge stink and gotten a settlement for their use. I would have also made sure that I never worked for them again by making a stink. Sometimes you just have to suck it up in business...it is neither good nor bad...it just is.

[DwightMcCann]

Thanks, guys. I am absolutely confident that Rick will assure them I did nothing bad, but it just felt as though the thousands of hits and enjoyment of the fans, which is how this type of talent is grown, got no consideration when the issue was brought forward to Rick. And when I checked on eBay (where I found nothing of mine) I did find 'red carpet' shots of Taylor that were 'sultry', purposely, but that didn't seem to be an issue, which I presume is because they control those images or at least they are PR outfit related.

Oh, and as one more indication of the kind of guy Rick is, he said he'd be home from the tour for a couple of days and come over and talk to me about it ... which is a good thing. It does seem that whenever he comes over (usually bringing the kids by to play with mine) he spends 2/3rds of the time on his Blackberry defusing issues, so I'm guessing this one isn't a pimple on a pumpkin to his normal level of problem. :-)

[René Damkot]

Damn.
Sucks. Shows again that one rotten apple can spoil the whole basket...

No chance that you can get into contact with the ebay seller, and sue the crap out of him?
(I'm not "into" sueing, but in a case like this, I'd gladly make an exception...)

[DwightMcCann]

Damn.
Sucks. Shows again that one rotten apple can spoil the whole basket...

No chance that you can get into contact with the ebay seller, and sue the crap out of him?
(I'm not "into" sueing, but in a case like this, I'd gladly make an exception...)

I did a quick search on eBay and didn't find the auction that was referenced in the email Rick passed along. More than anything I wanted to shed a little light on how the screwy rules and restrictions we have to deal with come about. It is OK with me for folks to download for personal use. I am not outraged that someone is filling a niche by printing my images and selling them to fans although it would be nice if I could do it. I just wanted to share that events sometimes simply evolve into having a life of their own and have unintended and bad consequences from which the rest of us suffer.

[simonSE15]

Ive only ever had to sign a release form twice. Once was for Raconteurs and the reason they gave was precisely this - they didnt want people selling photos on eBay.

On the other hand Ive never tried to sell photos on eBay! Depends on how high profile the talent is I suppose on how strongly they feel about controlling their image.

[DwightMcCann]

Ive only ever had to sign a release form twice. Once was for Raconteurs and the reason they gave was precisely this - they didnt want people selling photos on eBay.

On the other hand Ive never tried to sell photos on eBay! Depends on how high profile the talent is I suppose on how strongly they feel about controlling their image.

Well, there ya' go ... I guess I should feel slighted because the image the guy had up for auction didn't sell! :-)

[simonSE15]

Well, there ya' go ... I guess I should feel slighted because the image the guy had up for auction didn't sell! :-)

he's probably sold hundreds already! :D:D:D

[DwightMcCann]

he's probably sold hundreds already! :D:D:D

Well, the truth is, if he hadn't used "sexy" and "sultry" in his description he could have sold 1000s more ... and probably still can if he sells them elsewhere. But now that I have had to tell him to desist, if I find he is selling them I will likely take some action, sigh.

[johnstoy]

Well Dwight? They could have swiped any one of her pics from her own album collection... It's just your luck, that you got picked on...

It's pretty petty and small minded of them to think you would try to prosper from bogus autograph gimmicks...

Last month I got a note from a POTN member in Europe... they found 3 of my pics on an LA Guns musician's, fan (MySpace) web site... The musician took them from the LA Guns Band's Fan's MySpace web site...

The band also took my pics from this POTN forum, and have 4 on their fan web site... But they DID put my name, and the venue name beneath each photo... Whereas the band member, just took them and didn't bother to give me credit...

MySpace want's me to submit a copyright complaint and they want me to submit an electronic signature with the complaint...

I don't know what constitutes an electronic signature... Personally, since the main band web site gave me credit, I'm less prone to complain...

Did your stolen picture have your logo/copyright on it?

[DwightMcCann]

I just don't worry about that stuff ... I get paid when I shoot ... if they aren't selling my images and aren't using them in appropriately I don't pay much attention. The purloined image had my name on it but that was cropped off. But it doesn't matter ... the image is copyrighted automatically the microsecond I take it and doesn't require any markings that demonstrate it is mine ... copyright is not a case of "Finders, Keepers!"

[johnstoy]

Absolutely Dwight, I fell the same way about it...

There is a Major Fair in Oregon that is rated as the biggest commercial drawing fair in the entire US... While the CA State Fair in Sacramento draws over 10 million attendees over the course of 23 days each August... The Oregon fair draws 15 million people...

If this guy had a commercial booth at the fair grounds, he is bound by the rules and regs of the fair and can be subject to additional legal action.

EDIT: You did say in a previous thread that someone in Oregon was selling a stolen Taylor pic of your's, didn't you?

[narlus]

sultry and sexy?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Taylor-Swift-Sweet-Sexy-Sultry-16x20-Photo-W-W-L-K_W0QQitemZ140137422898QQihZ004QQcategoryZ108740QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

can't be dwight's, since the use of flash, right? :D

seriously, it's a drag for you, and entirely not at all what you expected.

[DwightMcCann]

sultry and sexy?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Taylor-Swift-Sweet-Sexy-Sultry-16x20-Photo-W-W-L-K_W0QQitemZ140137422898QQihZ004QQcategoryZ108740QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

can't be dwight's, since the use of flash, right? :D

seriously, it's a drag for you, and entirely not at all what you expected.

Well, it is my image with my name cropped off! And it is the one that has gotten me in trouble (after a year of being there.) And it is the one that showed up in Portland, OR. And it is the one that you can no longer get to via clicks on my links. And I have the auctioner's ID and have asked him not to use it again. And I will take steps to degrade him if I am aware that he uses the image again ... I really have no choice.

But again, I wanted to share with my friends the kinds of stupid things that happen when people abuse.

[narlus]

i sent an ebay message to him saying 'hey scumbag - don't sell images when you don't own the copyright".

got this back:

"i was notified earlier today regarding this & it did not sell & has been deleted from my allotment of items & I will no longer be offering it sorry about this mix up"

[ThomasOwenM]

Dwight, sorry to hear about these unethical people making life difficult for you. The Internet seems to bring out both the best and worst in people.

Zeineth:
I guess this is why I display mine in flash, not that mine are of any comparison to yours in quality or web traffic. But this allows me to rest assured that someone is not downloading my images without my knowledge and permission.

I hate to burst your bubble, but the use of flash will not prevent someone with a little technical know-how from downloading your image. It's just not quite as quick and easy as it is with a jpeg, but there are only a couple steps. You don't even have to save it as flash. You can easily save flash stuff as a jpeg. I won't outline how to do it, but just take my word for it. Flash will prevent people without the tech skill from grabbing your images, but those who know how to do it can take whatever they want.

[calicokat]

There are some shaddy characters out there, sorry to hear it happened to you. I cannot stand thieves, guess I can make a difference though

[skifurthur]

i sent an ebay message to him saying 'hey scumbag - don't sell images when you don't own the copyright".

got this back:

"i was notified earlier today regarding this & it did not sell & has been deleted from my allotment of items & I will no longer be offering it sorry about this mix up"

Nice, narlus...way to look out for your fellow photographer.

I guess I was lucky with mine on e-bay because my IP lawyer was bidding on another item he had listed and checked to see if he had something else she wanted. That is when she saw my picture. She had it delisted in under 10 minutes...and no charge to me...bonus!

[IODebbie]

I had that happen once too. I had taken pictures at the engagement party of someone who was relatively famous. I asked permission to put a photo or two from the party up on my website. I even tagged them. Before long a fan contacted me to ask me that was one of my photos in a German magazine. I asked her to scan it for me since I'm in the US and did not have access. Sure enough, it was my picture - they had removed the tag. They did give me photo credit, but of course, the people in the photo wanted to know if I was selling the shot. Fortunately they knew me well enough to trust me when I said I had not and assured them it had been stolen, but sheesh. Very frustrating.

[FugiTive]

There really needs to be a new image format created that has some sort of built in copy protection to prevent it from being printed/altered/edited/etc - similar to digital rights management in audio files or to the restrictions placed on some PDF files.

Hopefully if such a format was done right it would be difficult/impossible to crack.

[DwightMcCann]

I'm not all that upset by his use and really wanted to share the kind of things you rarely hear about that cause all the rules and regulations that screw with us. I did contact the seller and he was very pleasant and agreeable. Rick also assured me that no one felt I had done a misdeed after he explained it to them.

[johnstoy]

Well that sounds a lot better, Dwight...

Reasonable folks can come to terms quickly enough...

[Palladium]

Hi Dwight - just a couple of observation

IMPO - your making it too easy and attractive for potential problems because:

1) you putting too too large an image online 667 x 1000 and it size 200KB

2) your not tagging your images with embedded IPCT copyright & contact info

IMPO - your giving potential image stealers too much to work with

[DwightMcCann]

Hi Dwight - just a couple of observation

IMPO - your making it too easy and attractive for potential problems because:

1) you putting too too large an image online 667 x 1000 and it size 200KB

2) your not tagging your images with embedded IPCT copyright & contact info

IMPO - your giving potential image stealers too much to work with

You are, of course, precisely correct! And I have been slowly but surely following your advice. My images are now 800 pixels on the long side, less "thick", and I am embedding IPTC data. My intention, however, is to provide something attractive for fans even at the risk of having my copyright infringed, so overall I'm pretty happy. But there always seem to be unintended consequences, sigh.

[narlus]

is there an easy way to imbed IPTC data in a batch manner using Bridge? i did a search in the PP forum and didn't find anything.

[René Damkot]

I use iView Media Pro for adding IPTC (puts it in the CR2 file, rather then in an XMP 'sidecar' file), but Bridge can do it as well.
Should be as simple as 'select all', and 'type IPTC ;)

Some links found by Yahoo: Click (http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/24542.html?cprose=7-32), Click (http://www.lightstalkers.org/embed_metadata_to_raw_files)

[DwightMcCann]

I use iView Media Pro for adding IPTC (puts it in the CR2 file, rather then in an XMP 'sidecar' file), but Bridge can do it as well.
Should be as simple as 'select all', and 'type IPTC ;)

Some links found by Yahoo: Click (http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/24542.html?cprose=7-32), Click (http://www.lightstalkers.org/embed_metadata_to_raw_files)
I use PhotoMechanic to ingest, rename, embed IPTC, rotate jpegs, and make the first cull. It's not cheap but it has builtin features such as uploading to PhotoShelter that I wanted when I bought it.

[René Damkot]

Almost forgot that part: I use Image Ingester (freeware) for ingesting, and adding 'basic' IPTC.
Photomechanic is great, but at this moment iView works for me, and I can't justify the $150 or so for PM.
It is lightning fast however for comparing & sorting CR2 files...

[sfaust]

I posted the following and then realized there was another page of replies. Glad to hear that no one feels it was something you did. It's one of those scenarios that worry about also. In your case, no harm, no foul. Excellent!
--------------------

Bummer Dwight, that really stinks. It's hard enough to protect your images, and even harder to protect your reputation as well when something like this happens. If you weren't friends with the manager, its likely they wouldn't believe you at all and a black mark would be coming your way.

If you registered the images, this is a clear case of copyright infringement, and probably very easy to prove willful infringement. Penalities are severe for willful infringement. You could no doubt shut him down permanently, especially if you figured out who some of the other photographers are for the other images he is selling, and have them threaten copyright lawsuits was well. I couldn;t imagine he would want to continue with the threat of possibily having to defend against multiple willful infringement suits.

Thinking about this, it might make sense to have a lawyer draft a letter to him telling him he is infringing your registered copyright, and you will take action if he doesn't stop immediately. Copy the manager on this so that he can use this to show Taylor's people as well. This will hhelp show it wasn't you, and that you are ready and willing to do whats needed to protect their both of your interests. It might be a wise investment of a couple hundred dollars IMO, and turn the possible black mark white again.

Zeineth, flash won't protect your images. Maybe from a few people, but how to pull images from flash is fairly widespread knowledge these days. It used to work, but the word seems to be out now :(. Just another thing we need to deal with. Keep em small so they aren't that useful, register the copyright, and put a watermark is about all we can do. And there are ways around those too.

[DwightMcCann]

I posted the following and then realized there was another page of replies. Glad to hear that no one feels it was something you did. It's one of those scenarios that worry about also. In your case, no harm, no foul. Excellent!
--------------------

Bummer Dwight, that really stinks. It's hard enough to protect your images, and even harder to protect your reputation as well when something like this happens. If you weren't friends with the manager, its likely they wouldn't believe you at all and a black mark would be coming your way.

If you registered the images, this is a clear case of copyright infringement, and probably very easy to prove willful infringement. Penalities are severe for willful infringement. You could no doubt shut him down permanently, especially if you figured out who some of the other photographers are for the other images he is selling, and have them threaten copyright lawsuits was well. I couldn;t imagine he would want to continue with the threat of possibily having to defend against multiple willful infringement suits.

Thinking about this, it might make sense to have a lawyer draft a letter to him telling him he is infringing your registered copyright, and you will take action if he doesn't stop immediately. Copy the manager on this so that he can use this to show Taylor's people as well. This will hhelp show it wasn't you, and that you are ready and willing to do whats needed to protect their both of your interests. It might be a wise investment of a couple hundred dollars IMO, and turn the possible black mark white again.

Zeineth, flash won't protect your images. Maybe from a few people, but how to pull images from flash is fairly widespread knowledge these days. It used to work, but the word seems to be out now :(. Just another thing we need to deal with. Keep em small so they aren't that useful, register the copyright, and put a watermark is about all we can do. And there are ways around those too.

Thank you. While I fully support those who wish/need to enforce copyright to the full extent possible, that is not what I am about at this point for these images. I am almost always well paid for my photography either monetarily or "in kind" with arrangements made prior to shooting. Currently this applies to the casino, my winery client casacassara.com, Kalyra Women's Cycling Team (no website), and my always transitioning hobby band [used to be Shalonda & A Touch of Soul but new incarnation is not named yet.] I like the fans to be able to download and print my images as I cannot sell them legitimately as I don't have releases. I would prefer that they were used for personal use only but I am more interested in supporting the fans access than worrying that someone else is making a few bucks without compensating me. OTOH I would be somewhat outraged if legitimate media or publishers were to use my images without permission/compensation. In fact, I pay for huge bandwidth so that fans can link to my images from their profiles and share the links around.

Unfortunately my attitude doesn't fully consider human nature and unintended consequences. But it does help keep my blood pressure down (along with a few meds, sigh) so I generally don't worry about it. I would also note that most transgressors have been very cooperative when I have had cause to pursue misuse of my images. Perhaps when I retire in four or five years and do photography fulltime without a "day job" I will feel that maximizing my profit is more important than supporting fans and the talent but for the moment I am enjoying not pounding my shoe on the table over principle. And, once again, OTOH I am slowly tightening up, and may soon begin to register my images which will allow me to sue abusers into the stone age if I finally lose patience. :rolleyes:

[thelightofsound]

i'm sorry you're having to deal with this dwight. as mentioned, i think it would help to not publish such large images. i will not go larger than 600 and that comes with a decent sized watermark. i also think about the placement of the watermark in terms of ease of being able to chop it off.


simon, you mentioned the raconteurs. the contract i had to sign with them comes with a penalty of $15,000.


skifurther, was it you who recommended carolyn wright (http://www.photoattorney.com/) in a previous thread? her book is great and a must have for all photographers. my fiancé used to work at king and spalding with her.

[DwightMcCann]

skifurther, was it you who recommended carolyn wright (http://www.photoattorney.com/) in a previous thread? her book is great and a must have for all photographers. my finance used to work at king and spalding with her.

In the interest of fair marketing I have to say that while I have her book and think it is excellent I have had one report suggesting that she is a bit aggressive in her advice. Given the sentiment here I think more of you guys should get her book! :-) But I fail to understand how your finance (sic) got involved? :lol: :lol: :lol:

[thelightofsound]

In the interest of fair marketing I have to say that while I have her book and think it is excellent I have had one report suggesting that she is a bit aggressive in her advice. Given the sentiment here I think more of you guys should get her book! :-) But I fail to understand how your finance (sic) got involved? :lol: :lol: :lol:

damn you firefox spell check!!! :lol:

she is a bit agressive, but such is that of the attorney. one of the main things i've learned is that you loose a lot of rights if you do not register your IP at least 3 months after publication.

[DwightMcCann]

she is a bit agressive, but such is that of the attorney. one of the main things i've learned is that you loose a lot of rights if you do not register your IP at least 3 months after publication.
Yep, I'm going to have to start that ... it will be one of the issues I bring to the table in December when I am planning to try to renegotiate my agreement with the casino ... it is getting more expensive to do business. Is it the case that you can register a whole DVD of thumbnail size images that represent your fullsize versions?

[sfaust]

I certainly understand your position on copyright, but only mentioned it as leverage if the ebay seller decided not to adhere to your wishes. I don't advocate ligitation on a whim, but only as a last resort to initial negotiation.

Yes, you can send in a DVD with as many low resolution images as you can fit. Typically, 640x480 at screen resolution is a good start, and a DVD can store thousands of these. You could register everything you've shot up till today if they would fit.

Registering your copyright not only gives you the full protection of the law, but it guards your clients interest as well. As in this instance, if the infringer decided to do as he pleased against your wishes and those of her management, I'm sure you both would be glad to have the images registered. I find its a selling point to my clients since it protects both of our interests against third parties.

[DwightMcCann]

Stephen, I appreciate your sharing. I have been putting off doing anything about registering images (I think I have about 100,000) but you are very insightful mentioning also protecting my clients which is much more important to me. I'll get back to Carolyn's book and see how to go about it ...unless it is straight forward and you can describe it ... in which case I'll add it to the FAQ ... unless you beat me to it! :-)

[sfaust]

You might be able to find a way to run an automated batch process to create small JPG's in a directory, then use that directory to create the DVD's for the registration. That could make the whole process go very smoothly and quickly.

You can find out how to do the registration from some of these links. Its not hard, you just need to understand the form, and fill it in properly.

http://www.peterkrogh.com/copyright/main.html
http://www.sethresnick.com/photographersonly/copyrightregister.html
http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/2001/66fr37142.html
http://www.asmp.org/commerce/legal/copyright/

Once you do it, it becomes a 15 minute task once every 90 days. You can sync it up with your quarterly income tax or sales tax payments so you know it gets done in time. For special shoots that you want protected immediately, you can do those separate right after the shoot for maximum protection.

I haven't tried it yet, but I think you can now file electronically which is supposed to be more streamlined and easier to do. I believe it was to start something this spring or summer. I'll sort that out when I register next and try to report back on the process where appropriate in the forums.

[bmoguy]

is there an easy way to imbed IPTC data in a batch manner using Bridge? i did a search in the PP forum and didn't find anything.

Short version: pick one photo and go to File > File Info. Fill in your copyright info. Then in upper right corner is the little right facing arrow, click and select save metadata template. Now select Edit > Invert Selection, this will deselect the photo you stareted with and select the rest. Now go to Tools > Append Metadata and pick the one you just saved. Learned this from Scott Kelby's book.

[narlus]

nice one, thanks!

[skifurthur]

Thanks to all for the IPTC data tips. Something to do after I get back from the road. Went back to my roots and am shooting some mountain biking...in the pouring rain. I think I like funky low light better...lol.

[simonSE15]

By the way Dwight, Taylor Swift is now one of my favourite singers, having had country radio on for most of our time in USA, she's fantastic. I noticed one of your pics is on the Wikipedia entry here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift

[DwightMcCann]

By the way Dwight, Taylor Swift is now one of my favourite singers, having had country radio on for most of our time in USA, she's fantastic. I noticed one of your pics is on the Wikipedia entry here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift
Yes, she is excellent! She will be performing on the last night of "America's Got Talent" (or something like that) in a duet with the winner singing "Raindrops on My Guitar" ... found that out yesterday riding my bicycle when I ran into her manager. She is racing to the top of the charts ... I'm hoping she does movies, too, someday.

That picture's caption has been changed over and over. It's supposed to say " ... at the Maverick Saloon & Grill in Santa Maria, California" but people can't leave anything alone on Wiki ... I finally quit putting images into their Public Domain because they were editing out my attribution requirement. I even had one guy remove an image I put in and then resubmit it as his own. But, at some point, I will be putting small versions of my collages into the public domain on Wikipedia again.

[blackshadow]

I see the scumbag has another "Sexy" Taylor Swift photo for sale on ebay - http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260146644398&ssPageName=MERCOSI_VI_ROSI_PR4_PCN_BIX&refitem=140137422898&itemcount=4&refwidgetloc=closed_view_item&refwidgettype=osi_widget

I hope it's not one of yours Dwight.

[DwightMcCann]

I see the scumbag has another "Sexy" Taylor Swift photo for sale on ebay - http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260146644398&ssPageName=MERCOSI_VI_ROSI_PR4_PCN_BIX&refitem=140137422898&itemcount=4&refwidgetloc=closed_view_item&refwidgettype=osi_widget

I hope it's not one of yours Dwight.

Nope! I really don't think he's "bad" ... most of what he uses are PR images and he is fulfilling a need of her fans that her management (my friend Rick Barker) hasn't had the time or resources to accommodate yet as she is growing hugely faster than anyone imagined. Oh, and I don't think he barely covers his own eBay costs with what he sells. ;)

[shesgotthepic]

Dude, this is so not kosher. I'm feeling your pain. I'm in a somewhat similar situation with a former client who still owes me money. I shut down his website so he had another person register a new domain and set up a new site and I found one of my photos there. While I was running his previous site I gave him permission to use photos I had taken on that site and on his myspace site. New webmaster has taken it off the new site and asked the former client to remove it off the myspece site as well.

I'm happy for him to use it if he had made sure there was credit added. I've told the new webmaster that not only can they do that once bill is settled but I will also supply them with newer and better material as long as they do not remove watermarks and provide a link back.

I'm not holding my breath getting the invoice paid.

/She

[blackshadow]

Nope! I really don't think he's "bad" ... most of what he uses are PR images and he is fulfilling a need of her fans that her management (my friend Rick Barker) hasn't had the time or resources to accommodate yet as she is growing hugely faster than anyone imagined. Oh, and I don't think he barely covers his own eBay costs with what he sells. ;)

Whether he covers his costs or not isn't the point. If he obtained the photo by legitimate means that's OK but if he is selling photos he obtained without permission it's not on.