Again and again I am amazed at the degree photographers are being treated like dirt when it comes to copyright infringement. While the industry of moving images (Hollywood studios and TV broadcasters) and the music industry have strong legal support when it comes to defending their copyrighted works, photographers are really screwed.
Latest example: polyvore.com
Polyvore, founded by ex-Yahoo! Pasha Sadri, is a nifty little site that lets users pull together image objects from around the web and then do “collages” from these images. Cool, eh? Yep, some of the resulting images are certainly interesting and of good artistic quality. Yet, it would be even more cool, if the users who create the collages would actually ask for permission to use the photos.
And they better should do that, because most of them create and publish derivative works without permission. Often they remove existing watermarks from the images, which can be fined at US$ 2,000 per case. And they display the works across the web. Now, if they were found to sell the resulting images, U.S. courts can assign damages up to US$ 150,000 per infringement. (Have a look at Netcopyrightlaw.com to see how things might turn out for infringers.)
Here is an example how my work has been taken and modified:
- Original photo (no, not the most beautiful shot I ever did :-)
- Modified Collage at Polyvore.com (created from 11 images)
My image has been cropped by the user, and the copyright information in the image has been removed.
Exploring this user a bit further, I found that she has collected more than 6,000 photos from around the web. Looking at the photos, I’d say most of the images infringe some photographers copyright.
All that is well known to the creators of polyvore, but they do hide behind the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that allows services to accept “user created content” and re-publish this content without risking to be sued. So I sent a notice of infringement to polyvore to get my material removed, along with all the derivative works created from it.
As a side note, isn’t it interesting that there is no easy way for copyright holders to figure out which sites have been hotlinked by Polyvore? It would be easy to introduce a search that let’s you enter the domain name of your site, returning all collages that use your photos. But no, it’s more convenient to let the users just steal and to hide behind the DMCA, while making it as difficult as possible for owners to find potential copyright infringements.
So I used Google to find out where my work might have been used elsewhere on Polyvore. To my utter astonishment I came across a page cached by Google. It shows that the service apparently had had a feature to find other works of the same site:
A Polyvore page cached by Google reveals that Polyvore used to show “More from” a given site.
The cache copy was made by Google on 17th September 2008. Now, about two weeks later, this feature is gone. At least, I can’t see it anywhere on any page. Was it taken down? Why?
Polyvore.com – another nice service that supports copyright infringment.
P.S.: Some may argue that “it’s just teenagers having some fun on the web”. Sure, that may be right. Someone should supervise these teenagers and tell them about copyright. But Polyvore is a service that tries to earn money from their service. The foundation for this are in fact the copyright protected works of countless photographers that make the service a useful, attractive, and monetizable service in the first place. Without this, there wouldn’t be a service.
P.P.S.: An old, but nonetheless interesting thread on Polyvore at The Flickr Help Forum. Plus a petition to stop the nonsense, signed by hundreds of members of photo sharing community RedBubble. And the standard “it’s-not-us-it’s-our-users” excuse from polyvore can be found here.
Update 07-OCT-2008 – Apparently, Polyvore has changed the page linked above and has now removed the former entry that mentioned that one item in the collage has been taken from my site. However, the service did NOT remove the part of the image that has been used. It’s still in the collage. Plus, an Adsense ad is now visible. Fools!
Update 12-JAN-2009 – The link above now returns “The set you were looking for was not found!”, i.e. the infringing image has been removed.
Many thanks for the heads-up on this. I’ve found one image being used, and I’m sure there are more, but of course can’t search for them! I have written to them, but have also written to their ISP (I did a whois.sc search and came up with these guys: http://www.theplanet.com/legal.aspx) asking them to take down the infringing content, but also mentioning the content on Polyvore as a whole, and the fact that users are effectively running around the net stealing content. As I understand it, ISPs are under an obligation to ensure that their Client’s sites are not infringing, and they’re inclined to act fast to avoid any comeback. Thus I’d suggest copying in any copyright notices to the ISP.
I shall update if their response is any more comprehensive than a take-down.
This is insane. Artists and photographers are being victimized wholesale on polyvore – which encourages the theft and creation of derivative works of copyrighted images by providing the image capturing and altering software onsite to its users. This statement is on the polyvore main page:
Create your own set – Mix and match images from anywhere on the web, to create outfits, interior designs, or any kind of collage.
Developer/owner Pasha Sadri had this to say in response to complaints from Etsy artists:
“… we don’t have an affiliate relationship all the sites in the world but we want people to be able to use products from any shop.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8504507@N02/3172837696/page2/
The thing is, images are literally being taken from any and everywhere on the web, including personal blogs, websites, and photo storage sites. Pics of private homes, pets, friends, family, etc. etc. etc. are all fair game to polyvore users. polyvore not only has inadequate fail-safes in place to limit the capture and use of images to ONLY those that it has a contractual partnership with, but, as stated in the article above, they have aided the coverup of illegal activity by making it next to impossible to adequately search for images in order to complete a DMCA.
polyvore says it ‘respects’ copyright and intellectual property, yet also says that artists and artisans ought to be grateful for the promotion and exposure they receive. Amazingly arrogant. The infringement has been going on, non-stop, for as long as polyvore has been on the web. Many are saying, ‘Enough!”
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/copyright-infringement.html
Of course, there are so many complaints ‘out there’ regarding polyvore that the best plan of action would seem to be to be to forward all complaints and petitions to polyvore’s hosting site(s)/service provider(s), GoDaddy, and Level 3 Communications.
I have written to the Polyvore Admin many times about my stolen art. Although they quickly remove the art, they don’t seem to educate their members who quickly put the images back up.
I just wrote this email to Polyvore about 3 minutes ago:
—————– cut here with sharp knife —————–
Hello,
Re: [link removed] and [link removed]
And here is the link to my original art, which is entitled Amber which has a very personal meaning and I made it for a friend named Amber. Here it is on my deviantart gallery, and you can also see it on my main website, thegraphicgroove.com, in the Digital Art section, image 24. You can also view my art on my digital art blog if you require further verification that the original art is my own.
I wrote to you several months ago to report one of your members who had stolen my art (see other emails attached below). Once again this same person [name removed] has stolen my art, which indicates to me that when you removed the prior images that I brought to your attention, you must not have contacted [name removed] to explain to her the repercussions of theft and copyright violation.
Please note I have NEVER posted any images to Polyvore. The only reason I’ve signed up to Polyvore is so that I can leave comments on MY stolen images to ask the person to remove it. I do not use your website for any other purpose.
I am additionally shocked that your members are continuing to tell me that Polyvore is giving them full permission to steal my art and use it however they want. This website is doing a very poor job of educating its members. I have never seen this kind of thing occuring on reputable sites like Flickr or deviantart or CGSociety where I also post my art and where abuse of copyrighted images is dealt with swiftly and all members are notified and educated, or else they are kicked off the website.
[name removed] stole many of my images in the past and very brazenly told me that she refuses to take them down and that anything posted on the Web is free for anyone to steal and use as they please. And today I see that another Polyvore member is mimicing the same nonsense in a comment on my stolen art image:
[name removed] writes:
hey galefraney i think that u are not aware that polyvore allows us to take pictures from another sites and that those creations made by olivia are not really copied cause we all use pictures to create some set here!!! and i also think that if u put some digital creations to some web site it’s cause u allow people to download them and do whatever they want with it! so get it over with and stop complaining cause she dosen’t told anyone that she made the real picture only this set using the original picture! AND SHE IS NOT THE ONLYONE USING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS :))))
I would like to know what is your website’s policy is on repeated Copyright violators. Do you contact them to explain the correct policy once you remove the stolen images. I am grateful that you removed my stolen art images before but am still sick and disgusted that your members seem to have zero understanding of copyright. Does your site not have forums or send out Newsletters, or warning letters to violators.
I request that [name removed] and [name removed] both be contacted and educated about Copyright and theft.
Please remove my stolen art immediately.
Most sincerely,
Gale Franey
[edited by Mark Zanzig] Edit reason: no finger pointing in the comments, please
Why is this site still operating? I would like to propose that artists affected by Polyvore band together for a class action lawsuit.
On the Polyvore Official Blog – An Important Note About Copyright http://blog.polyvore.com/2008/01/important-note-about-copyright.html … they try to convince us that by slaughtering our images, and pasting hideous stick-ems overtop, and chopping them to smitherines, they are somehow “helping us to sell our images” … yet mysteriously they do not tell us how we could possibly get a sale if they make no mention of our name, in fact they actually say the image was created by someone else as in this one that was stolen of mine:
http://www.polyvore.com/lindas_rambling_other_things_fairy/thing?id=4628780 … where they steal it and say that it was “created by Cherry Layne”. http://www.polyvore.com/to_land_fairies/set?id=5761656 There is no mention that I created the original art, there is no link to my website. It is blatant theft, and on their Official Blog they defend their theft, despite the Blog being titled “An Impoartant Note About Copyright”. I have copied the entire contents of their blog to keep for my records, which could be used as evidence that instead of taking the opportunity to educate their members, instead on their Offical Blog about Copyright, they try to thwart every effort to clarify the meaning of copyright violation and image theft.
In fact, early this week I emailed them at copyright@polyvore.com to remove images that they had stolen and were inviting their members to help themselves to (so that Polyvore can avoid the cost of providing their own image Library to members … they think it’s cheaper to steal ours instead) … well no sooner had they removed the image, then 3 more of my images sprung up.
On other forums I see that others have begun invoicing Polyvore (email invoices to copyright@polyvore.com ). I think this is a fantastic idea. In my future correspondence to them I will begin invoicing them for each single use license at the rate of US$500 per image (so the above link will net me $1500). I will tell them that because they’ve neglected to deter image theft on their website, which has resulted in my images being continually offered up as a feast to their members, and is indexed in their very own Polyvore image database, they must now begin paying a license fee each time they continue this negligence.
In fact, even on their blog they are defending this image theft and even had the gall to tell me they were parodying our work, which would fall under Fair Use exemption (but this is bull crap because parodying has to be of a well known celebrity, or a famous Institution or a famous artist or work of art. It can’t be of joe-blow Flickr member). So this delusional defense will get them nowhere in a Court of Law … if members decide to get together to lodge a Class Action Lawsuit.
Also, please sign the official petition to shut Polyvore down for continual Copyright Infringement (a different link than the one you’ve provided above) http://www.gopetition.com/online/24378.html Already 922 people have signed.
With all due respect……if it was so personal, why’d you put it on the internet so many times in the first place Gale?
Seriously, I honestly think they don’t need to shut down Polyvore completely. They should however, refrain from using artwork and use only clothing.
Okay.. let’s breathe here.
Photographers, Writers, Painters etc etc everyone needs to stop being so bloody uptight.
All works of art, of any kind, are derivative in some fashion or another – unless you have the unmitigated gall to claim your works have zero inspiration other than your imagination and that said imagination has never once watched TV, read a book, listened to music, viewed art etc etc
All of our experiences effect our perpective and thus play a part in our creative process.
Collage, as an art for, is as valid as any other. Allow me to illustrate an example from literature:
For argument’s sake let us say that I am writing a novel. In the novel one of the characters is singing his favourite tune during a scene. I write his dialogue and continue with the story. Now say that the song in question, that I use a few lines of as dialogue is a well known popular song… does this mean my novel has now violated copyright?
This is ridiculous – period
Throughout the history of humankind we can find numerous examples in classical art and literature where creators have derived something new, based in part [whether large or small] on the works of those who came before them.
It is a matter of degree. If I am flat out plagiarizing another author than of course I should be prosecuted.. if one of my characters spouts off a familiar line of song or poetry… that should be fine.
The same applies to visual or audio arts. If someone has “sampled” something another artist has created as a mere portion of some work they are creating… all that should be required is the posting of credit as to where all materials used originated from.
This is an ongoing debate as technologies change and the web brings the entire world to your finger-tips. True copyright violation should only be accused if the derived work is nothing more [or little more] than a repackaging of the original work… if however the artist in question is actually creating a new piece of art it should be respected and we should quit griping.
I recently came across over 350 of my copyrighted images stolen and used on this website. I have been researching and researching and sending links to other photographers whose images have been stolen. This website needs some restrictions.
No Randy, it is NOT ridiculous. Has your photograph been stolen? Ok so they took a picture that you took, that’s not the sickening part.
Do you have children Randy? What do you feel inside when you see a picture of your child that says, “Adopt me, nobody wants me” with a thread of sickening things listed below that for some fantasy world they have created for this poor child. Let me tell you – when it’s your child’s face you want nothing more than to take down the entire site!
1 more vote for shutting Polyvore down completely.
The trouble I’m still having is finding the images where users are hosting them themselves. How are you all tracking down the infringements? Thanks
@Beth: A good tool to find infringements is Tineye. It is a “reverse image search engine”, i.e. you provide it with a photo, and Tineye finds similar images on the web. Most of the infringements on Polyvore would go unnoticed though, because of the fact that the images are re-assembled. Still, Tineye is a very useful service – read my blog post about Tineye.
I was just wondering, if they did actually credit you (i.e Credit goes to *insert name* from *insert website*) would you mind as much?
Just wondering, because I do truly see some people who do credit these BEAUTIFUL pictures.
Randy, all of the issues you mention regarding quoting lyrics of a song, or using a derivative of someone ele’s art is clearly spelled out in the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. This is the same copyright act that all North American companies must adhere to in order to stay in business. They even refer to this DMCA in their standard auto reply when I write to them to remove my stolen images. Polyvore blatantly thumbs its nose at this copyright act because it thinks that artists and photographers from around the world (ie: me living in Canada), would have difficulty suing a company in another country and state.
They are sitting smug and hiding behind their members, ie: blaming their members although it is actually Polyvore who is supplying its own Image Library with copyrighted images that it taps into via other legitimate website’s image data bases. It even adds a Drag and Drop application to make it simple for its members to drag our stolen images into their sets.
My images have now been stolen more than 100 times and most times the person does very little to change my art, adding a little stick-on like a butterfly in the corner, then claims the art as their own, happily collecting comments and accolades from other people who admire “their art”. The website then stamps the image as belonging to these other people, which also completely contravenes the DMCA which strictly forbids changing the image name or any metadata associated with the image.
In answer to why I post my art online, it is a standard practice and requirement for graphic artists and illustrators to display an online portfolio, every prospective customer and employer will not consider using your services without this. It is reasonable for an artist to assume that if it is against the law for people to steal my art, that I should be able to post my art without the worry that large companies will blatantly steal it and offer it free to its members …
look Polyvore is a great advertising site and if you shut it down there goes business for some company’s. 1st off Polyvore does have copyright rules. so what your picture was clipped to the site now more and more people can see your creations. thats good publicity for your business. 2nd if your child was on this site and haveing fun and making friends well channeling there inner confidence would you want it shut down? 3rd if you dont want people to see it DONT put it online. duh! and for all you writing saying take Polyvore down you obvioulsy did not try it out. if you did make a set you would see how much fun it really is. polyvore isnt meant to cause problems all it is there for is to let young people and older people channel the creativity that they have stuck inside them!!
so if you take it down well there goes creativity and you have now just pissed off a bunch of people!!
anonymous
p.s. I LOVE POLYVORE!!
@anon:
Pardon me, but you are writing utter non-sense.
“Polyvore is a great advertising site” – yes, that may be the case, but then they should share that revenue with those who actually provide the foundation of that success, i.e. with the countless photographers and artists whose work is taken every day. The whole idea is to participate in the revenue. Why should we work for free? Why?
“Good publicity”? Don’t need it. Don’t want it. That old story of “give us your content first, and then maybe you find someone else who might actually pay you” does not fly with me.
“My child…” …will learn to respect copyrights. Easy.
“Don’t put it online” – yawn. There are copyright laws that allow me to publish my work online. If someone else takes that work, he has to face the consequences under that law. Why don’t you people get it that not everything is free to use (and to monetize) just because it is online?
“Try it out” – no time for that, and I am also too old. And then, it would not make me change my views of the copyright issues I have with the site.
“Creativity” – why don’t you grab a cheap digital camera and shoot a couple of photos and use those, for a change? THAT would be even more creative than stealing pictures others have made.
“Polyvore isn’t meant to cause problems” – no, they are a business. They are meant to be profitable. Their business is mainly built upon the actions and the content of others. We as content providers would like to participate in the revenue, or -alternatively- have our work NOT used.
At the end, it’s really simple: don’t use images that do not belong to you.
Randy,
When a writer quotes a song in a book he/she is writing, the song must be referenced. Permission is obtained first, prior to publication, in order to avoid a lawsuit.
An artist is an important member of society. They perform a valuable service and deserve recognition-if you can do what they do, do it and share freely if you feel like it.
There is more to snapping a photo than standing around clicking off frames. A photographer is working, at a JOB, just like you are when you say “want fries with that?” or “cough.”
I spent many years as a musician and the web litterally killed the careers of many because of the P to P sharing sites. Huge numbers of files were shared rather than purchased. With photography as a major part of my life now I can see the same damage.
It is not just images they are “stealing”. I recently discovered one of my poems published in its entirity under one of their collages. Sickening! They removed it once I brought it to their attention, but refuse to financially compensate me in any way (which I requested and which is clearly stated in my websites copyright statement where they took the poem).