RE: filmscanners: Importance of Copyright on Images

["LAURIE SOLOMON" <LAURIE@advancenet.net>]

>And it's not the 'thumbnails' that we worry about getting lifted, it's the
larger images on our website

Maybe you should not have larger images that are downloadable on your web
site; and if you do, they certainly should not be high resolution images.
Obviously, the search engine can only acquire your images for use in their
engine by downloading the image from your web site; and they are not only
going to be able to download the image at the resolutions that you provide.
Moreover, they probably will resize the image into a thumbnail image for
their uses as in the index and not use it at its original size if the size
is larger than a thumbnail.  So I really have difficulty is seeing you
concern here with theft and unauthorized use of your images off the search
engine web site for commercial purposes or for reproduction since the
individual stealing the image off the search engine site will only get a low
resolution thumbnail of the larger low resolution images that you have on
your web site, which they could got to and steal directly from without
having to mess with the thumbnails on the search engine site.

>It would not take much effort on their part, and go a long way to alleviate
the ..."Oh, I
>thought it was in the public domain" excuse

I doubt it, the people who are stealing your images are probably the young
teenagers and people on the street who are not using them commercially
anyway and who you will not educate or stop.  These same people in all
likelihood and despite any admonitions and education will and do regard
anything that is on the web, on CD, on TV, on Radio, or on VCR as being in
the public domain and there for the taking by them for their personal use.
Copyrights mostly pertain to commercial reproduction and use not to personal
non-commercial uses.  Moreover, the general public does not know or care
about copyrights not=r care to be educated about them. so I doubt if any
change in the cautionary advisory from might to is will have any effect in
general or in your case in particular given the audience for your images.
If you think that there should be a stronger advisory caution, then you
should put the copyright notice in the image area of the images on your web
site.  That way it will be on every copy downloaded from your sight
including those being used by the search engines who probably got the images
from your web site in the first place.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
[mailto:owner-filmscanners@halftone.co.uk]On Behalf Of SKID Photography
Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2001 1:38 AM
To: filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
Subject: Re: filmscanners: Importance of Copyright on Images


Anthony Atkielski wrote:

> Harvey writes:
>
> > In a word, yes.....to both questions.
>
> Interesting.  I am surprised that anyone would be willing to pay for a
thumbnail
> image.  Web-resolution images are easier to understand, but even if that
is a
> source of revenue, why would putting them in a search engine make them any
more
> likely to be stolen than leaving them on your site?
>
> Personally, I have a very hard time finding buyers for Web images; most
people
> want them for free, and even if they are willing to pay, they don't want
to pay
> much.  I cannot cover my costs with what people are willing to pay for a
Web
> image, which is one reason why I still shoot film (high-resolution images,
such
> as those obtainable from film, are worth much more than Web-resolution
images,
> and since they are not themselves on my site, they cannot be stolen).

I cannot/will not get into a discussion of business practices, but suffice
it to say, that the fees generated
from licensing web images are more than worth our time and effort.

And it's not the 'thumbnails' that we worry about getting lifted, it's the
larger images on our website
(although our website is currently down).

Again, I maintain that saying that an image on a web search engine 'might'
be copyrighted is misleading, when,
more than likely, it *is* copyrighted.  Perhaps they should, on every page,
of every search, have a paragraph
about copyrights.  It would not take much effort on their part, and go a
long way to alleviate the ..."Oh, I
thought it was in the public domain' excuse.

Harvey Ferdschneider
partner, SKID Photography, NYC