Internet Theft

[Fabs Forns]

It had been a long time since I searched for my Snowy Egrets winning picture, that has been stolen in numerous occasions.
I use TinEye, a free program that will let you locate your image and where it is being used in the internet.

This time I found even a card company selling my picture. The nerve!!!!!!!

Let's see what they have to say in their favor.
Caught with the hands in the cookie jar:

There were three pages of uses :eek::eek:, this one being the most annoying!

[Roger Clark]

Hi Fabs,

I feel for you. TinEye shows one of my wolf images has been stolen 26 times. All in all, I have hundreds of instances of theft, perhaps more. I've looked at a few cases and while some have tried selling images, I doubt they actually have sold any (some even with my copyright on it!). After all, they are only small web images. So what to do? It takes a lot of time. If it is an actual company then you can go after them, but if it's just some guy with a web site it may not be worth it. I would be interested in hearing what you do about it and what the outcome is.

[Alfred Forns]

Didn't think they could make something from the small posted images .... just awful :( .. will see what they have to say.... and some how I think they are expecting it !!!

[Dave Mills]

Never knew this site existed Fabs. I'm amazed that you can find this info out.

[Paul Granone]

Any image posted on the internet is seen as fair game. People are going to use it.

[Michael Pancier]

Fabs, IP theft is up my alley, so if you need legal support give me a call.

[David Kennedy]

Wow. Not only did they steal it and try to make money from it, look at that awful text. They're unscrupulous and surprisingly tasteless for people who knew enough to take your image, Fabs!

[David Kennedy]

OK, scratch that, they weren't trying to make money. But YUCK, the "real" thing is worse with it's moving text. Can you sue them for emotional damages?

http://spiritualgraphics.com/birthday3.htm

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

WHAT A BUNCH OF SCUMBAGS!

[Jay Gould]

I think, with Fab's approval, everyone should complain to them: admin@spritualgraphics.com

Fabs?

[Mark Fuge]

They seem to have gotten the word from someone, as the site appears to be down. They are linked on Myspace, but the link gives an orange blank page. Might be your not the only one Fabs!

Sorry you got hit.

[Jay Gould]

They seem to have gotten the word from someone, as the site appears to be down. They are linked on Myspace, but the link gives an orange blank page. Might be your not the only one Fabs! Sorry you got hit.

Mark, http://spiritualgraphics.com/ opens for me. I could not find the image under birthdays.

[John Hawkins]

I went to the site and it is still posted on page 3 of the birthday cards. I sent them an email voicing my displeasure.
John

[Jay Gould]

I did not see it the first time I went through the Birthday cards on the site.

I have sent them the following email:

The image for the card, Come fly with me on your Birthday is being wrongfully and illegal used by your company.

For religious persons it is disgraceful that you steal from the Creator.

The Creator is Fabs Forns.

This is the url where this matter is being publicly discussed.
http://birdphotographers.net/forums/...d=1#post278628

I urge you to eliminate this image from your catalog.

Jay Gould

[Mark Fuge]

I must have had the wrong link for some reason. It appears that there are probably many images used by this site, with or without proper rights for use from the owner. There are butterflies and other nature images that appear to be quality photos, probably captured by the company in the same way for their personal profit.

Being a Christain, I find it extremely offensive, as Jay notes, that they use pirated materials for spreading the faith. The unsuspecting buyers, however trust them based on their pledge of "apparent holiness"! :(

It's easy to call yourself a Christian, or a rightous member of any faith. But it is hard, for the unsuspecting, to tell how "rightous" the speaker is.

I don't have equal condemnation of those that use the images but do not profess a faith with them.

I will leave the soapbox now.

Fab's and Al, I truly hope you get them. Let us know if you need assistance.

I have to add, I just went to the site and was redirected to a Photobucket.com site. They have a counter on there that is counting off their images. Like 70 per second!!! Where do they get them. One more guess! :eek:

Hope your images are only posted in 30 resolution! :eek:

[Roger Clark]

You can get a lot of info about the owners of a site, e.g. see http://www.cqcounter.com/whois

SPIRITUALGRAPHICS.COM - Domain Information
Domain	SPIRITUALGRAPHICS.COM [ Traceroute RBL/DNSBL lookup ]
Registrar	GODADDY.COM, INC.
Registrar URL	http://registrar.godaddy.com
Whois server	whois.godaddy.com
Created	09-Mar-2008
Updated	03-Feb-2009
Expires	09-Mar-2010
Time Left	263 days 21 hours 33 minutes

IP Address	68.178.254.74
Host	spiritualgraphics.com
Location	US, United States
City	Scottsdale, AZ 85260
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ISP	GoDaddy.com
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