# Kawamoto Orchids



## Lanmark (Apr 2, 2012)

Sad to see it -- they've lifted and used (without my permission) my photo of Neofinetia falcata variety _'Kohou'_ to advertise and sell their "Neofinetia falcata var. yellow!" on eBay. I've written and asked them to at least give me credit for the photo.


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## likespaphs (Apr 3, 2012)




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## Lanmark (Apr 3, 2012)

Update: I have just now received a very prompt reply and apology from Reid at Kawamoto orchids. He has given me credit for my photo on his auction pages at eBay.


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## Clark (Apr 3, 2012)

Good news!

Registration for copyright is fairly priced, and the internet upload was very fast. Two minutes for about 65 images.
But getting to that point, took forever at my end.


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## Lanmark (Apr 3, 2012)

Clark said:


> Good news!
> 
> Registration for copyright is fairly priced, and the internet upload was very fast. Two minutes for about 65 images.
> But getting to that point, took forever at my end.



I'm debating with myself: do I "get to that point" or do I simply stop publishing photos online?


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## NYEric (Apr 3, 2012)

Pay, then get paid!


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## SlipperFan (Apr 3, 2012)

Lanmark said:


> Update: I have just now received a very prompt reply and apology from Reid at Kawamoto orchids. He has given me credit for my photo on his auction pages at eBay.


That isn't enough. He has no right to use your photo without your permission, regardless of whether you've paid for copyright. As long as you have © on your photo, you have copyright protection. 

He should give you a plant.


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## Lanmark (Apr 3, 2012)

SlipperFan said:


> That isn't enough. He has no right to use your photo without your permission, regardless of whether you've paid for copyright. As long as you have © on your photo, you have copyright protection.
> 
> *He should give you a plant.*


He offered, but I'm too turned off to take him up on it. I'd probably just deliberately kill it.


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Apr 3, 2012)

Why don't you just take it and put it up for the auction?


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## emydura (Apr 3, 2012)

I'm seeing more and more of my photos appearing on eBay without my permission. And there just from the Australian site. I'd hate to know how many are being used elsewhere. I wrote to eBay last week about one. They agreed the photo was mine and had been taken from our Slippertalk site but it needed to be taken from my own eBay auction for them to be able to do anything. Which obviously I couldn't point to as I had never sold this plant on eBay. They said it was up to me and the seller to sort it out. Too much trouble. 

They said that I should also put a watermark on my photos but then that ruins the look for me.


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## John M (Apr 4, 2012)

I wish some big, fancy lawyer would "stick it" to eBay. They are the enablers here. They make money off the people who steal photos and when you complain to eBay, they don't do squat! 

One of my photos was stolen by a vendor in Australia and I tried and tried to get the Australian eBay people to give me contact information so that I could send the thief an invoice for the commercial use of my photo. EBay was much more interested in protecting the identity of the thief than they were in doing what's right. I was very willing to deal with the vendor myself; but, eBay refused to help me communicate with their seller! I was furious at eBay. As far as I'm concerned, I hope eBay one day gets hit with HUGE financial losses due to their cavalier attitude about all these thefts. No, they can't be responsible (initially), when people steal photos and use them commercially; but, when a photographer complains to them and can show that it is THEIR photo, eBay should hand over the information needed for the photo owner to contact the photo thief.....or else share in the liability for damages. After all, if you help a criminal escape justice, you are risking being charged with "being an accessory after the fact". Why has eBay not gotten into trouble yet for failing to help photo owners to get justice? Why is eBay getting away with helping the thieves get away with their crime.....especially when eBay is also profiting from those crimes?!!! If they want to not be held financially responsible, they should stop protecting the thieves.

As far as this offense by Kawamoto Orchids is concerned, you know who the thief is....I'd send them an invoice for $500.00 for the "for profit commercial use" of your intellectual property. If they don't pay, get a collection agency after them. Also, see if you can find out who they bank with, who their customers are, who their supplieres are and send everyone a letter of complaint, describing their despicable ethics and morals. Shame them into paying the bill.


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## koshki (Apr 4, 2012)

I'm sad to hear this...I've always loved the plants I've bought from Reid. He seems like a pretty nice guy. And I don't remember many photos that weren't taken in his shop...in fact I can usually tell who the vendor is because the photos look so similar.

Makes me really want to know how to put that copyright symbol on my photos, though!

PS...I suggest that you be gracious and accept the plant.


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## nikv (Apr 4, 2012)

I think that Reid has done more to repair the situation than a lot of other sellers on eBay. Give him a chance to make things right. he might not have been the one to acquire the photo for him.


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## Lanmark (Apr 4, 2012)

nikv said:


> I think that Reid has done more to repair the situation than a lot of other sellers on eBay. Give him a chance to make things right. he might not have been the one to acquire the photo for him.


Reid said his mother likely took my photo from a foreign site. No doubt someone in eastern Europe took my photo and she took it from there. It still doesn't make it right, but I do have to give him credit for owning up to it. He has apologized, and he has thanked me on his auction pages for the use of my photo. He has kindly offered me a free plant, so maybe someday I will order a plant or two from him. He can give me one for free if he wants. I'm not going to make an issue of it with him any further, but I also have great reservations about ever posting photos online again, copyrighted or not, unless I put a big ugly watermark on each and every one of them. That's about as gracious as I'm going to get about this ugly problem which keeps rearing its ugly head one seller at a time. Ebay does very little to help anyone out but itself as John M has so accurately pointed out.


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## KyushuCalanthe (Apr 5, 2012)

Hey Mark, it is a bummer to have someone just up and take your photo, but it is typical. Fortunately, most plants I photograph are odd and have little commercial value, so I haven't had too many issues so far. My attitude is that once its out of my hands, I just let it go. I know a couple of my Cyp photos have been used on European sites to sell plants. Also, the size and quality of photos I put up are limited, thus preventing any physical publishing.

I do go after people who just up and steal content though - another big problem on the net. Since I started a blog I've so far only had one person grab a whole article from me. I told the guy that he could post a link to my article but not republish it word for word on his site. He complied no issues. I've had other friends with less luck though. Nowadays it is common for spammers to grab entire ebooks and sell them - even on Amazon - though they eventually get caught, it is not a big deal to them since in the meantime they made a few hundred dollars. Hmm...


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## Clark (Apr 5, 2012)

Putting one's name on their property is nothing new.
As a child, it was the bicycles. Then construction equip./tools.
Now, it will be numerous photo images. It sucks, but what else can one do???
Right click disable? Lower quality image as Tom mentioned?

I don't see a way around the watermark. Theft makes me nuts.
One of the lovely ladies started a thread a few months ago about hotlinks to images and Russia(?). Gotta tell ya, it made me paranoid.

Many folks put the copyright symbol/year/name on a area of the image that can be cropped out.
Or, that area is of one color, and the text can be easily cloned out. Heads up.


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## SlipperFan (Apr 5, 2012)

I'm guilty of that. 

It helps to have the many eyes of friends looking at orchid photos.


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