Should I milk it?

Just now I was hunting around for a potential good deal on some plug wires for my car and a quick Google search led me to a site I'd never seen before. I poked around on the site just to get a general idea of their prices when I came across this page:

http://www.jscspeed.com/miata_nanb/w...kei_wheels.htm

That's my car/my photo they're using as the masthead photo. ( http://www.steveandlee.com/wordpress/?p=41 ) I had posted it to a few sites back when I got the wheels. Not sure how long they've been using it. I've had the wheels going on 2 years now.

Turns out they don't sell wires or really anything else that I need/want. So my knee-jerk reaction of demanding compensation for stealing my intellectual property doesn't really seem worth the effort. Or does it....?

They have a picture of an RX-8 with gullwing doors. They've clearly already filed for intellectual bankruptcy. I'd say there's nothing left to take! :-)

Darn... I saw the thread title and the fact that TC was first with a quick reply and immediately expected something much different.

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Originally Posted by Titus

Darn... I saw the thread title and the fact that TC was first with a quick reply and immediately expected something much different.

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Yeah... some days you're the windshield... some days you're the bug...

it's America, lawsuit

I'm no lawyer, but I don't know how much you'd get out of it. My guess is it would be more trouble that it's worth. Write them a letter, tell them it's your pic and they need to remove it.

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Originally Posted by trickyrix

I'm no lawyer, but I don't know how much you'd get out of it. My guess is it would be more trouble that it's worth. Write them a letter, tell them it's your pic and they need to remove it.

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I tend to agree. Though - in all honesty I don't care that they're using my pic. I just kinda wish they asked first. I'll probably just write them a letter enlightening them that they can't steal images without the original owner finding out and that they should be careful about it because there are people out there who would care enough to give them a hard time about it.

I work in the creative field and have a bit of experience with licensing photography. Copyright infringement can get very hairy very quickly.

You might say something like "I don't feel comfortable having my pic used when I am not even a customer of yours". This could results in them offering you a discount on purchases. It probably wouldn't, but it is worth a try. ;)

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Originally Posted by tailchaser

Yeah... some days you're the windshield... some days you're the thumb...

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Fixed it for you.

I am not an attorney either, but I think since you posted it at other site(s) and you don't say that you stated the image belonged to you... If you see where I am going with this.

You might say, "Hey, since you're okay with hijacking my property, I hope you don't mind the link to my new porn website, www.jsctonight.com. I'll leave it to your imagination what the jsc stands for.;)

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Originally Posted by RedHot-n-Red

I am not an attorney either, but I think since you posted it at other site(s) and you don't say that you stated the image belonged to you... If you see where I am going with this.

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If you create a unique image or design you automatically own it and all rights to it. If someone else wants to use it - especially for commercial purposes where they are benefiting financially - they have to obtain some type of formal consent from the person who generated the content.

Posting your creation in a public forum doesn't make it automatically public domain. If that was the case, anything on the internet could be used by anyone for anything.

Send em a bill. :D

just get me a set of 15x7 41mm rpfs in bronze =)

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Originally Posted by jeff_man

just get me a set of 15x7 41mm rpfs in bronze =)

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You should probably pay the guy who fixed your hood before you buy other bullshit.

Hello, I know I am new here but I also know about the copy rights to an image taken, or created by someone. There are two questions you have to answer before you can claim copy right to it. First one being, are you holding a degree in graphic design, which if you are then you are granted the copy rights on any and all work you create. If you aren't then then the next question would be did you personally place a copy right on that picture which would state who the auther of the image was.

There may be other ways to have copy rights on it but those are the two I know of. Either way if you have answered yes to either of those then ya you have copy rights to it. Weather or not it is worth doing anything about is up to you, just consider what they are using it for. Shoot if they sale just one set of those rims from there site cause someone was able to see that picture with those rims on your car that is some good change right there alone.

Well either way nice rims.

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Originally Posted by amdman

First one being, are you holding a degree in graphic design, which if you are then you are granted the copy rights on any and all work you create.

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Weird. I've never heard of this. It actually sounds a bit off to me. I can't see how there would be a legal correlation between someone's degree and their ownership over a photograph that they took.

Oddly enough - my degree actually is a BA in Graphic Design.

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Ok. Did some Googling. Based on my skimming of the US Copyright Laws - Specifically Chapter 1 (http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html) section 102 clearly states:

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102. Subject matter of copyright: In general

(a) Copyright protection subsists, in accordance with this title, in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. Works of authorship include the following categories:
(1) literary works;
(2) musical works, including any accompanying words;
(3) dramatic works, including any accompanying music;
(4) pantomimes and choreographic works;
(5) pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works;
(6) motion pictures and other audiovisual works;
(7) sound recordings; and
(8) architectural works.

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Basically - if you create something unique that fits into one of the above categories, you own it. Period.

There are provisions for fair use - but none of those extend into the commercial sector.

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Originally Posted by mk2tmr2

Weird. I've never heard of this. It actually sounds a bit off to me. I can't see how there would be a legal correlation between someone's degree and their ownership over a photograph that they took.

Oddly enough - my degree actually is a BA in Graphic Design.

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The way they are teaching it at is, you have payed the money to goto college and get this degree, there for by doing so anything you have created using what you have learnt while obtaining this degree is soley under ownership of you and has to have expressed permissions from the owner or owners to be reused, or distributed any in way or form. As I said this is what they are teaching in the colleges now and that is why I stated that way.

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Originally Posted by amdman

The way they are teaching it in the colleges now is simply, you have payed the money to goto college and get this degree, there for by doing so anything you have created using what you have learnt while obtaining this degree is soley under ownership of you and has to have expressed permissions from the owner or owners to be reused, or distributed any in way or form. As I said this is what they are teaching in the colleges now and that is why I stated that way.

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And this is correct. Design students do, indeed, own the rights to their designs and it is illegal for other people to copy them without permission. It just doesn't have anything to do with the degree they are working towards.

A high school student who loves photography can take wonderful photos and would own the copyright to them.

I work with a lot of professional photographers who do not even have college degrees. They also own the rights to every photo they take for their own pleasure.

Anyway - back on topic - I wrote one of the folks on the "contact us" list for that website and told them to be careful because it looks like a whole lot of the photos on their site are grabbed off message boards.

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Originally Posted by mk2tmr2

A high school student who loves photography can take wonderful photos and would own the copyright to them.

I work with a lot of professional photographers who do not even have college degrees. They also own the rights to every photo they take for their own pleasure.

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Hmmm see this I didn't know.


Well none the less I still say those are nice rims.

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Originally Posted by amdman

Well none the less I still say those are nice rims.

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Thanks :)