Just thought I'd share a little bit - I had 8 ebay auctions taken down last
night from 4 sellers who were using my photography without permission.

One of the auction owners contacted claimed they got the images "from a
hybridizer" and didn't know they were stolen. Sorry, that doesn't cut it.
You have a legal obligation to research every bit of intellectual property
you use in your business and you should be prepared for the consequences if
you don't have the appropriate rights. And yes, I was very rude to this
person when I informed them that I would continue to have eBay take auctions
down with my photos on them. I'm a nice guy until you start stealing my
work. I don't cut you slack when you fail to do your legally-required due
diligence during the course of operating your business.

eBay auctions are the only place I consistently have my photos stolen. My
opinion of the entire marketplace is rather low, especially after spending 2
hours last night going through THOUSANDS of auctions and seeing the same 20
photos used across the board, everywhere.

So let this be an education and wake-up call to those selling orchids on
eBay - the photographers are watching you.

Thanks a million to one of the loyal readers on my site - Jon, from the
midwest, for alerting me to this last round of illict photo use.

-Eric in SF
www.orchidphotos.org

(posted to rec.gardens.orchids, alt.binaries.pictures.orchids, Orchid Guide
Digest Mailing List, The American Orchid Society Forum)

Eric,
Let me first say that I am a photographer and painter myself, so I
understand your complaint entirely. The flip side of the coin for eBay
sellers is we often get the photos from the hybridizers we buy from. We're
running a small value-added business, growing on flask seedlings or compot
plants with no flowers to show yet, so we need something to illustrate the
final product. The hybridizers mostly don't care if you use the photos from
their catalogs. The more we sell, the more we buy from them. Often there
are no specific copyright statements or credits in their catalogs, so we
assume that the hybridizers either did the photography themselves or hired
someone to do it, in which they case they more than likely own the rights to
the images as a "work for hire". As a photographer, you need to insist, if
you don't already do so, that the people you are working for, such as the
hybridizers, make the attribution and copyright of your photos known in
their promotional material, whether on line or in print. That way you can
say "I told you so". Otherwise, how do we know who did what when and for
whom ?

Brian

"Eric Hunt" wrote in message
...
Just thought I'd share a little bit - I had 8 ebay auctions taken down
last night from 4 sellers who were using my photography without
permission.

One of the auction owners contacted claimed they got the images "from a
hybridizer" and didn't know they were stolen. Sorry, that doesn't cut it.
You have a legal obligation to research every bit of intellectual property
you use in your business and you should be prepared for the consequences
if you don't have the appropriate rights. And yes, I was very rude to this
person when I informed them that I would continue to have eBay take
auctions down with my photos on them. I'm a nice guy until you start
stealing my work. I don't cut you slack when you fail to do your
legally-required due diligence during the course of operating your
business.

eBay auctions are the only place I consistently have my photos stolen. My
opinion of the entire marketplace is rather low, especially after spending
2 hours last night going through THOUSANDS of auctions and seeing the same
20 photos used across the board, everywhere.

So let this be an education and wake-up call to those selling orchids on
eBay - the photographers are watching you.

Thanks a million to one of the loyal readers on my site - Jon, from the
midwest, for alerting me to this last round of illict photo use.

-Eric in SF
www.orchidphotos.org

(posted to rec.gardens.orchids, alt.binaries.pictures.orchids, Orchid
Guide Digest Mailing List, The American Orchid Society Forum)