rgbstock
Possible Ripper
1. xymonau7 February 2011, 10:20 GMT +01:00
Duchessa's image:
http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/mtJN5o4/background
is being offered for sale at this Romanian site:
http://www.art-mall.ro/cumpara/sunset-815767
I suggest you all look for your own images there.
2. Zela7 February 2011, 11:10 GMT +01:00
http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/mqhZp34/Vista+illustration
http://www.art-mall.ro/cumpara/pleasure-854572
Here is one of mine.
3. xymonau7 February 2011, 11:13 GMT +01:00
I thought I recognised several images, including that one, Marja. But I am not as familiar with RGBStock like I was elsewhere. I have much less time now. I urge everyone to check the site out, use a translator to find the contact section, and send them a letter. They are charging almost a thousand US dollars for some of these images!
4. Zela7 February 2011, 12:41 GMT +01:00
I mailed them and requested that all files in their collection without written permission from the artist are removed since this use is against our license.
5. Zela7 February 2011, 14:37 GMT +01:00
I have an answer that the images were downloaded from sxc and that all users are now notified by mail for a requested permission.
There are 19 files downloaded today from RGBStock.com so check your mailbox!
6. fangol7 February 2011, 22:29 GMT +01:00
I actually agreed to use some of my work :)
In February 4 I received the following e-mail from SXC user annamedia:
Firstly, I would like to congratulate you for the beautiful pictures that
you have in your gallery.
I would be sincerely grateful if you could give me permission to use some
images for multicanvas paintings. These images will appear on my website
but only with your approval. I wish you could give me an answer as soon as
you can.
Thank you!
I wish you a good day
7. xymonau9 February 2011, 1:33 GMT +01:00
I declined to allow my images used. They offered $15 to the photographer - after being called to task - while they sell them at nearly a thousand dollars. I can have my own framed like theirs for about a hundred bucks and make a larger profit than $15.
8. TouTouke22 February 2011, 15:46 GMT +01:00
Hello,
I think this is not ok: http://eu.fotolia.com/id/8460988
9. dlritter22 February 2011, 23:24 GMT +01:00
This person (ripper) has generated over 800 paid downloads of Martin's lime image
http://us.fotolia.com/id/8460988
Does anyone know if this person on fotolia is Martin?
I sent a message to fotolia about this image and the rest of the "gallery".
http://us.fotolia.com/p/200636928
10. xymonau23 February 2011, 9:56 GMT +01:00
Agnes, can you please contact me on the RGB link? I wrote to you on yours, and received a virus in response. This is the second virus from your address.
11. dlritter24 February 2011, 8:23 GMT +01:00
Fotolia will probably not do anything about this ripper even if we have clear evidence that Martin's lime image has been ripped.
They "require" the original copyright holder to prove authorship of the image.
We can not do this for Martin, he has to do this himself.
I have sent Martin a message about this but there has been no response yet.
Until Martin contacts Fotolia himself this ripper will continue to generate sales from ripped images.
http://us.fotolia.com/id/8460988
http://us.fotolia.com/p/200636928
12. dlritter24 February 2011, 9:30 GMT +01:00
More bastard rippers on fotolia.
http://us.fotolia.com/id/23443700
Take a look at the "gallery".
Here is the same image from a different ripper on fotolia
http://us.fotolia.com/id/24212562
13. xymonau24 February 2011, 9:59 GMT +01:00
Why would Fotolia care? They get the money, and even if the guys are banned, Fotolia keeps its stolen profits. They all do. Not an honest one amongst them.
14. TouTouke24 February 2011, 10:36 GMT +01:00
Thanks ...my yahoo account has been hacked ....sent you an e-mail
15. tinneketin24 February 2011, 12:38 GMT +01:00
@12 This ripper (Shof) is also selling 3 images from me, I send an email to Fotolia.
This images are mine and i believe he has also images from other peopple here:
http://us.fotolia.com/id/25321530
http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/2dktVRa/Christmastree+on+the+hill
http://us.fotolia.com/id/27649101
http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/2dkubUm/Joyful+tree+with+butterfly's
http://us.fotolia.com/id/24699638
http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/dJrNcR/Christmastrees+at+night
Found also these:
http://us.fotolia.com/id/18915138
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1223519
http://us.fotolia.com/id/19185962
http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/mmi6AQ4/Flowery+Breath+3
16. tinneketin24 February 2011, 14:21 GMT +01:00
Pff it's loaded with rippers there :o(
http://us.fotolia.com/id/27828059
http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/mHwb9uO/Ribbon+Christmas+Tree
17. dlritter24 February 2011, 21:38 GMT +01:00
I received a reply to one of my message on the "contact us" page at Fotolia.
They instructed me to contact the fine people at this email address
copyright@fotolia.com
Apparently the communication within their company is a bit lacking, otherwise they might have been able to forward my message to copyright@fotolia.com themselves.
:/
18. Abyla24 February 2011, 23:26 GMT +01:00
I am a contributor of fotolia and every time you upload a file to fotolia you have to accept this condition:
I am the author of the file and own all artistic elements in the image.
These persons aren't accepting the terms of use here and there and I hope they'll be out both sites as soon as possible.
19. dlritter24 February 2011, 23:48 GMT +01:00
The thieves uploading these images have little problem lying. A mere checkbox on a web form is no hinderance to them.They are really hoping for a quick buck by uploading the most popular images from free stock websites.
The real issue is the company that continues to accept these images from these thieves. In many cases they are accepting the same images over and over from different thieves accounts.
Would it be so hard for the image approvers at Fotolia and other for profit microstock websites to occasionally have a glance at the top 100 images from several free stock websites?
This would go a long way toward stoping these thieves.
The answer may be that they really don't care to do this as their company makes a profit from these illegal sales. When they are called out on illegal images their response if to remove the images and ban the uploader. The thief will then just create a new fake account and upload images again. In many cases they upload the same set of stolen images.
Fotolia and the rest of the for profit microstock websites keep their ill gotten profits from the sale of these illegally uploaded images.
What is needed it a legal way to make the company pay for illegal sales of these images. If they end up doing this a few times maybe they will take our rights a bit more seriously.
20. dlritter25 February 2011, 0:19 GMT +01:00
So, I managed to get a response on ONE image.
If anyone is interested contact me and I will forward to you the DMCA notice I used so you can fill in your own information to get your own images taken down. Apparently we are not allowed to report the infringement of the copyrights of others.
---
Here is the Fotolia response
---
Dear Sir,
Fotolia respects the legitimate intellectual property rights of others and takes the allegations in your email very seriously. In an effort to resolve your concerns, Fotolia has taken down the image you identified per your DMCA compliant notice.
We believe that the concerns raised by you regarding the image discussed in your notice have been addressed and therefore consider this matter closed.”
Best Regards,
Chad Bridwell
Director of Operations - Fotolia North America
21. fishmonk25 February 2011, 20:29 GMT +01:00
Just found this one of mine here:
http://www.coolhdwallpapers.com/pink_cookies-wallpapers.html
People may want to check this site out...
22. tinneketin25 February 2011, 22:47 GMT +01:00
@20 dlitter: if you can send me one please ?
I would like to remove my 3 images in the gallery of Shof
http://us.fotolia.com/id/25321530
Thanks already !
23. dlritter26 February 2011, 1:22 GMT +01:00
@22 I just sent you a message that contains links to the files you need.
Let me know if you have any trouble with the zip file or the text files inside.
---
I am thinking about creating a sort of package that anyone could download to submit these DMCA notices.
The biggest stumbling block is these notices are in English and not everyone is comfortable writing legal text if they are not native English speakers.
I'll see if I can create a "fill in the blanks" type of file for people to use.
Dave
25. tinneketin26 February 2011, 7:35 GMT +01:00
Dave, thank you very much but it seems not longer to be needed, the gallery of the user Shof who is using my images is blocked ... I think !
Thanks anyway !
Hope that the other users takes action for the other rippers on Fotolia
