Due to a sleep disorder I am often awake in the middle of the night and
often spend the time researching orchids on the web. Trichopilias are
often the subject; last night I discovered two photos of mine pirated
from my site and displayed (though now in black and white) on a
commercial website (based in Italy, I believe) as their stock photos.
You can view these he

http://www.americanrareorchids.com/c...ME=Trichopilia

The original pics of T.sanguinolenta and T.turialvae are from my page
and can be seen at:

http://www.orchidcourt.com/tricpics.html

I recognized both of the other trichopilia pics (what can I say? I'm a
tricho nut!), one as belonging to a well-known US commercial grower of
my acquaintance (the other I've seen on Jay Pfahl's IOSPE page but I
don't know if the copyright holder may have also given permission to
ARO, though I doubt it)and notified them (they responded and noted that
they have now found additional pics of theirs illegally used on the site
also) as well as emailing the offenders directly concerning my two pics,
politely noting my ownership and requesting they remove the pics. Here
is the reply I got (in toto):

photos are in black and white: are you God and these orchids are yours?
please don't write again

I'm both dismayed and surprised by the reply. Any recommendations as to
options for further action short of an expensive lawsuit? This is new
territory for me; I have been asked for the use of some of my pics
before and have always allowed it in noncommercial usage, but I have
made a general practice of denying permission in commercial cases. There
is a copyright notice displayed on the index page of my site; I guess
I'll have to go to the trouble of putting it on every page, but I don't
think that will stop the problem as far as intransigents like this are
concerned.

Anyone have any experience or concrete suggestions in this area?

Tennis Maynard

Tennis,

I found some of my pictures (which I had uploaded to the totally safe and
secure Internet last year) stolen once by an cheating orchid grower in god
forsaken Moldova... or maybe it was Romania. I mean who really honestly
knows where the border is over there anyhow?

Anyways, I was very upset. I stood up and stamped my feet on my cool
wall-to-wall Italian marble floor (taking care not to step on any cracks to
avoid bad luck of course)... then I cannonballed into my heated outdoor pool
and splashed my go-fast boat real good. Then I jumped in my Beemer and
squealed my tires for three seconds down the block.

When I drove back home I felt so much better after this exercise of
aggressive behavior against that ******* Moldovan. I would suggest the same
thing for you also to ease your concern... unless of course you don't have
any toys to relive your frustration and worrying about $100 in lost photo
royalties (or license-to-use) is a big deal for you... then in that case
hire a contract hitman and "remove" this offending inconsiderate party from
the orchid world if you know what I mean. I think those are the only two
basic choices in this situation. I hope my humble opinion/suggestion helps
you out on this problem in some small way.

Mick

PS, Or you could follow my rule... if I have a photo I don't want stolen
then I never upload it to the Internet or show it digitally to anyone. It
always works for me.

You know I always like to help RGOers out on these never-ending boring
orchid photo stealing problems as best I can.

Tennis,

You can investigate their ISP - if it's a US-based one, a takedown notice
should be honored.

If their ISP is not based in the US, then there is little you can do. I
would send a takedown notice anyway.You can try contacting a lawyer to see
if they will take your case without a retainer, but that usually doesn't
happen unless there is a promise of big bucks.

Next I would start sending letters to all of the orchid societies in Europe
stating that this business is using your photos without permission. Shame
works well sometimes. =)

A post to the international Orchid Guide Digest mailing list might produce
some results - you could probably just re-send the post below to them.

Good luck!

-Eric in SF
www.orchidphotos.org

"tennis maynard" wrote in message
...
Due to a sleep disorder I am often awake in the middle of the night and
often spend the time researching orchids on the web. Trichopilias are
often the subject; last night I discovered two photos of mine pirated from
my site and displayed (though now in black and white) on a commercial
website (based in Italy, I believe) as their stock photos. You can view
these he

Tennis,

I found some of my images used illegally the second plant I looked at. =(

-Eric in SF
www.orchidphotos.org

"tennis maynard" wrote in message
...
Due to a sleep disorder I am often awake in the middle of the night and
often spend the time researching orchids on the web. Trichopilias are
often the subject; last night I discovered two photos of mine pirated from
my site and displayed (though now in black and white) on a commercial
website (based in Italy, I believe) as their stock photos. You can view
these he

tennis maynard wrote:
Due to a sleep disorder I am often awake in the middle of the night and
often spend the time researching orchids on the web. Trichopilias are
often the subject; last night I discovered two photos of mine pirated
from my site and displayed (though now in black and white) on a
commercial website (based in Italy, I believe) as their stock photos.


Anyone have any experience or concrete suggestions in this area?

Tennis Maynard
Tennis,
If you try and have no luck with any other methods, I could contact our
consumer agency here. They do take over international claims once in a
while and have quite good success.
I'll check on coryright protection on this end.

Reka

I did a whois lookup that unhides email addresses to expand your contact
options.
Domain name: AMERICANRAREORCHIDS.COM
Created on: 2006-01-22
Updated on: 2006-04-12
Expires on: 2008-01-22
Registrant Name: ROBERTO GREGORELLI
Contact: Roberto Gregorelli
Registrant Address: Frazione Grello 76
Registrant City: Gualdo Tadino
Registrant Postal Code: 06023
Registrant Country: IT
Administrative Contact Organization: Antonio Della Rocca
Administrative Contact Name: Antonio Della Rocca
Administrative Contact Address: Via dell'Agora'
Administrative Contact City: Perigia
Administrative Contact Postal Code: 06124
Administrative Contact Country: IT
Administrative Contact Email:
Administrative Contact Tel: +39 075 9107433
Technical Contact Organization: Technical Support
Technical Contact Name: Technical Support
Technical Contact Address: Via A Ponti, 6
Technical Contact City: Bergamo
Technical Contact Postal Code: 24126
Technical Contact Country: IT
Technical Contact Email:
Technical Contact Phone: +39 035 3230400
Technical Contact Fax: +39 035 3230312
Primary Name Server Hostname: DNS.BZONE.IT
Secondary Name Server Hostname: DNS2.NIC.IT

I could not tell from this info who was hosting this domain. So I did a
trace route and it resolved to
the mail server: mail.zucchetti.com.

I think this is weird. A website on a mail server. It seems to me that the
server is grossly misconfigured or something unnatural is going on. (But I
really don't know....) However the trace route did provide you with another
name and company contact info for addressing inquiries.

Registrant:
Zucchetti.com S.r.l. Soluzioni per il Commercio Elettronico
+39.03715941
Zucchetti.com S.r.l.
C.so Vittorio Emanuele II, 21
Lodi,LO,Italy 26900


Domain Name:zucchetti.com
Record last updated at 2006-05-30 10:29:46
Record created on 1997/6/28
Record expired on 2007/6/28


Domain servers in listed order:
ns1.zucchetti.com ns2.zucchetti.com

Administrator:
C.so Vittorio Emanuele II, 21
Lodi
LO,
IT
26900

namePaolo Camia)
mail Zucchetti.com S.r.l.
Technical Contactor:
C.so Vittorio Emanuele II, 21
Lodi
LO,
Italy
26900

nameZnet Hostmaster)
mail Zucchetti.com S.r.l.
Billing Contactor:
C.so Vittorio Emanuele II, 21
Lodi
LO,
Italy
26900

nameZnet Hostmaster)
mail Zucchetti.com S.r.l.

Registration Service Provider:
name: ZUCCHETTI.COM srl
tel: +39.03715942850
fax: +39.0371421779
web:http://www.zucchetti.com

I agree with Eric AND I want to add that you should try not to obsess about
something that you can not fix easily and cheaply with shame and a few
properly targeted emails. Reka might be a lot of help here, since she does
live in Italy

"tennis maynard" wrote in message
...
Due to a sleep disorder I am often awake in the middle of the night and
often spend the time researching orchids on the web. Trichopilias are
often the subject; last night I discovered two photos of mine pirated from
my site and displayed (though now in black and white) on a commercial
website (based in Italy, I believe) as their stock photos. You can view
these he

http://www.americanrareorchids.com/c...ME=Trichopilia

The original pics of T.sanguinolenta and T.turialvae are from my page and
can be seen at:

http://www.orchidcourt.com/tricpics.html

I recognized both of the other trichopilia pics (what can I say? I'm a
tricho nut!), one as belonging to a well-known US commercial grower of my
acquaintance (the other I've seen on Jay Pfahl's IOSPE page but I don't
know if the copyright holder may have also given permission to ARO, though
I doubt it)and notified them (they responded and noted that they have now
found additional pics of theirs illegally used on the site also) as well
as emailing the offenders directly concerning my two pics, politely noting
my ownership and requesting they remove the pics. Here is the reply I got
(in toto):

photos are in black and white: are you God and these orchids are yours?
please don't write again

I'm both dismayed and surprised by the reply. Any recommendations as to
options for further action short of an expensive lawsuit? This is new
territory for me; I have been asked for the use of some of my pics before
and have always allowed it in noncommercial usage, but I have made a
general practice of denying permission in commercial cases. There is a
copyright notice displayed on the index page of my site; I guess I'll have
to go to the trouble of putting it on every page, but I don't think that
will stop the problem as far as intransigents like this are concerned.

Anyone have any experience or concrete suggestions in this area?

Tennis Maynard

There was a fellow in Europe who'd taken a bunch of pictures, and we got him
to pull his site.... jay Pfahl headed up the efort, so he'd know how to
proceed. Not that Eric wouldn't, too, but just that getting 2 people on
your side, with a bit of oomph behind them, really helps, especially when
contacting the ISP. So I'd forward this message to Jay, too, if I were you.

K Barrett

"tennis maynard" wrote in message
...
Due to a sleep disorder I am often awake in the middle of the night and
often spend the time researching orchids on the web. Trichopilias are
often the subject; last night I discovered two photos of mine pirated from
my site and displayed (though now in black and white) on a commercial
website (based in Italy, I believe) as their stock photos. You can view
these he

http://www.americanrareorchids.com/c...ME=Trichopilia

The original pics of T.sanguinolenta and T.turialvae are from my page and
can be seen at:

http://www.orchidcourt.com/tricpics.html

I recognized both of the other trichopilia pics (what can I say? I'm a
tricho nut!), one as belonging to a well-known US commercial grower of my
acquaintance (the other I've seen on Jay Pfahl's IOSPE page but I don't
know if the copyright holder may have also given permission to ARO, though
I doubt it)and notified them (they responded and noted that they have now
found additional pics of theirs illegally used on the site also) as well
as emailing the offenders directly concerning my two pics, politely noting
my ownership and requesting they remove the pics. Here is the reply I got
(in toto):

photos are in black and white: are you God and these orchids are yours?
please don't write again

I'm both dismayed and surprised by the reply. Any recommendations as to
options for further action short of an expensive lawsuit? This is new
territory for me; I have been asked for the use of some of my pics before
and have always allowed it in noncommercial usage, but I have made a
general practice of denying permission in commercial cases. There is a
copyright notice displayed on the index page of my site; I guess I'll have
to go to the trouble of putting it on every page, but I don't think that
will stop the problem as far as intransigents like this are concerned.

Anyone have any experience or concrete suggestions in this area?

Tennis Maynard

Hi there Tennis,
We have had some in depth discussions on image copyright etc., even have a
couple of lawyers in our group.
I would check into software that gives a message of copyright protection.
Jay Pfahl's has it on his pics. I tried to copy a pic to compare with my
photo & no go!!!!

Also I would definitely write back & answer this way:- YES, YES & I will.
In fact I find it amusing that they ask you please not to write again.
(((LOL))) We should all write & tell them to take your pictures down.

--
Cheers Wendy

No Spam Email Address Invalid

tennis maynard wrote:
Due to a sleep disorder I am often awake in the middle of the night
and often spend the time researching orchids on the web. Trichopilias
are often the subject; last night I discovered two photos of mine
pirated from my site and displayed (though now in black and white) on
a commercial website (based in Italy, I believe) as their stock
photos. You can view these he

http://www.americanrareorchids.com/c...ME=Trichopilia

The original pics of T.sanguinolenta and T.turialvae are from my page
and can be seen at:

http://www.orchidcourt.com/tricpics.html

I recognized both of the other trichopilia pics (what can I say? I'm a
tricho nut!), one as belonging to a well-known US commercial grower of
my acquaintance (the other I've seen on Jay Pfahl's IOSPE page but I
don't know if the copyright holder may have also given permission to
ARO, though I doubt it)and notified them (they responded and noted
that they have now found additional pics of theirs illegally used on
the site also) as well as emailing the offenders directly concerning
my two pics, politely noting my ownership and requesting they remove
the pics. Here is the reply I got (in toto):

photos are in black and white: are you God and these orchids are
yours? please don't write again

I'm both dismayed and surprised by the reply. Any recommendations as
to options for further action short of an expensive lawsuit? This is
new territory for me; I have been asked for the use of some of my pics
before and have always allowed it in noncommercial usage, but I have
made a general practice of denying permission in commercial cases.
There is a copyright notice displayed on the index page of my site; I
guess I'll have to go to the trouble of putting it on every page, but
I don't think that will stop the problem as far as intransigents like
this are concerned.

Anyone have any experience or concrete suggestions in this area?

Tennis Maynard

Basic lesson---NEVER post anything to the internet that you don't want
stolen.

There are a lot of folks who think they have the right to anything they
find on the net, a sort of inversion of the Marxist dictum that
"property is theft."

Short of a costly lawsuit, there's nothing definitive you can do to
stop them.

J. Del Col

Wow, Al. I'm impressed!

Diana

No, but putting a notice about this person's illegal activities on all
of my popular pages will shine quite a big spotlight on their nefarious
activities. 2000 unique visitors a day, baby.

-Eric in SF
www.orchidphotos.org

wrote:
Short of a costly lawsuit, there's nothing definitive you can do to
stop them.

On Wed, 06 Dec 2006 14:33:50 GMT, tennis maynard
wrote in
:


Anyone have any experience or concrete suggestions in this area?

You can do some research he
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html
http://www.piercelaw.edu/tfield/copyVis.htm

Personally, I would send the offender an invoice for their unlicensed
use of your property. Send them one each month that your photos
appear on their web site. Don't forget to bill for the arrearages as
they accumulate.

In the future, you might consider including a copyright notice on the
photograph.

Eric Hunt wrote:
No, but putting a notice about this person's illegal activities on all
of my popular pages will shine quite a big spotlight on their nefarious
activities. 2000 unique visitors a day, baby.


So what? Many of the visitors probably think the same way they do. The
net is a gigantic, lawless wasteland.

J. Del Col

J -- that's the problem. The pic is of no use to the grower selling
on-line, if it can't be posted ... but once posted, there is truly no way to
completely prevent piracy.

Personally, I don't worry so much about it. I know that many of my pics
have been pirated. I even saw one (hard copy) on the table of another
vendor, at a show a few years back. Boy, were they surprised when I said
(in person) "Hey, I recognize that picture!" Kenni

wrote in message
oups.com...

Basic lesson---NEVER post anything to the internet that you don't want
stolen.

There are a lot of folks who think they have the right to anything they
find on the net, a sort of inversion of the Marxist dictum that
"property is theft."

Short of a costly lawsuit, there's nothing definitive you can do to
stop them.

J. Del Col

Kenni,

You hit it on the head. I don't worry about it. The first few times it
happened I got real bent out of shape, but now I just do what I think
might help stop the theft and I move on. Otherwise I'm too busy taking
and sharing new photos. Furthermore, I am *sure* there are many other
people out there using my photos against my wishes and I still sleep
well at night.

-Eric in SF
www.orchidphotos.org


Kenni Judd wrote:
Personally, I don't worry so much about it. I know that many of my pics
have been pirated. I even saw one (hard copy) on the table of another
vendor, at a show a few years back. Boy, were they surprised when I said
(in person) "Hey, I recognize that picture!" Kenni