Someone's selling my orignal graphics on Ebay!

[Dmeads]

It's come to my attention that someone is selling original graphics that I created, and depend on for my primary income, on Ebay.

One CD she is selling is a collection of Dog Clipart and on it she includes graphics that she took from my site, www.internetclipart.com. This site site is a general digital imaging clipart site covering many categories, and all the graphics are original, created by me with the help of my trusty Nikon 990 digital camera. The graphics are free for anyone on the net to use on their websites in exchange for a link back to my site. I do ask that if anyone wishes to use the graphics for a business venture off the net as printed graphics that they join the site for a one time membership fee of 20.00. This site, www.internetclipart.com, is mostly for fun and only brings in enough income to pay for it's own costs. So, although she is going against my copyright notice, I'm not to concerned about her use of my dog clipart.

My second website, however, is an income producer and I am greatly concerned about her selling my images from this site. www.realestateclipart.com offers close to 3000 of my original graphics to the Real Estate Profession. It is a subscription site, with 100 graphics for free in exchange for a link back to my site, and the rest available to members who join for a fee and login with a password. The copyright on my site, at the bottom of nearly every page, CLEARLY states that NONE of these images can be used in a collection of clipart, either one or off the net. This includes both the free clipart and the membership clipart.

Since Realestateclipart.com is my main source of income, I could be hurt greatly financially by her selling of my graphics. However, I understand that I can't sue because I've never officially registered the graphics. I had looked into registering it, but I would have to send a printed copy of the graphics to the copyright office, and printing the whole collection from the net is very cost prohibitive for an individual like me. And on a home inkjet printer it would take forever to print them. They weren't intended for print, they were intended for the web.

I suppose all I can do is write her and tell her to stop, but there is no way for me to be able to follow up on whether she does, except to purchase her CD's to make sure they don't have my graphics on them, and that could get expensive keeping a watch on her that way. And since I was told she's been doing this for quite awhile, what about all the CD's with my graphics she's already sold and the members I've already lost who didn't join because they were able to purchase a CD for less money then the membership to my site cost?

I also suspect this person is stealing copyrighted images from all over the net, as my graphics aren't the only ones she has on her CD. If she stole mine, you can bet she stole others. I can't beleive she has the guts to do this and then sell them on Ebay. Guess you have to admire her spirit of entrepreneuralship.

Can anyone give me some advice on how to handle this situation?

 

[ChicagoLawyer]

you can still seek registration of the works, as long as it is within 5 years of publication. Then you can sue and seek damages pursuant to the US copyright laws. You may want to do this now, if the time frame (5yrs) is right, as it provides for statutory damages and other goodies if the infringement is wilfull.

I would be very concerned about any images allegedly used without consent. Why acquiesce to certain infringements and not others?

As far as policing in the future is concerned, you are right. You must police your own copyrights. No one will do it for you. It is work, but look at the alternative, someone else is making money off your images.

This response is intended as general information only and does not constitute as legal advice or form any attorney/client relationship.

 

[Dmeads]

But...

Thanks for your reply....

Question, how do you prove infrindgement is willful? Could they just say they did not read or understand the terms of usage of the graphics?

Another question... how do you apply for copyright on an internet collection of images. When I read about applying for copyright it indicated that you had to apply on each image individually. That really quelched the idea of registering my clipart. There are almost 3000 web images in my collection and if I had to pay for copyright for all of them I'd be in the poor house. They also want you to send them a copy of your works. My images don't print well as they are low resolution images for the web. Even if I did print them, It would take hundreds of pages to print them all off and that too could put me in the poor house, not to mention the time involved. I think I'm between a rock and a hard place when it comes to getting my images registered according to the registration process, which leaves me no alternative that I see but to write to the girl who's selling my graphics and hope she stops selling them.

Even if I could get my images copyrighted, I don't have the money to hire an attorney. I do make an income off my site, but only enough to meet my regular household bills. I guess I just posted on this forum because I was upset.... it's nice to air your thoughts when you're upset at someone. Thanks so much for taking the time to answer! It's just nice to know I could sue if I had the resources. This is a great site!

 

[ChicagoLawyer]

What is wilfull? The statutes and caselaw define it. Generally speaking, where the defendant/infringer knows that an image or work is indeed copyrighted and he/she goes right ahead and uses it without permission, that is wilful. Example: counterfeiter of designer handbags.

How do you file them? You could possibly file the whole shebang (sp?) as a collection/potrfolio, much like a photographer would file his portfolio as a collection. Also since it is Internet Content, you could file it as such, much like you would a web site. One fee could (and I repeat Could, because I don't know your specifics) cover the whole lot of images.

As far as the not being able to afford an attorney is concerned, well you could do all of this yourself (filing, monitoring for infringement, enforcing against infringement, suit, etc etc) but it is a lot of work, and if you do it wrong, well, you may lose, i.e, not get a Federal copyright, etc. The copyright laws provide for recovery of attorney fees in certain instances. Not that many lawyers take such matters on contingency, but suffice it to say that your fees could be part of your recovery. Just food for thought, talk to someone.

This response is intended as general information only and does not constitute as legal advice or form any attorney/client relationship

 

[Dmeads]

Thank you ChicagoLawyer, for all your advice. It is greatly appreciated. Right now I'll just write to her and tell her that she must delete all my images from her CD or I will followup with legal action. Hopefully that will stop her. In the meantime, I'll follow up on how to get my clipart as a collection copyrighted. Thanks!

 

[Chroprozis]

On a quick side note – You haven’t mentioned contacting eBay about the seller yet. If you haven’t already, please consider doing so.

One link from their help area is:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-copyrights.html

If you follow the 'Contact Rules & Safety' links, you will eventually get a list of topics with a 'Contact Support' button at the bottom of the page.

 

[CaliCat]

You took the words out of my mouth there with contacting eBay. I'm an eBay pro practically.

Don't write a mean e-mail at first. She may be more resistant. Write a nice e-mail stating that you realize she probably did not mean to infringe on any copyrights, but she has, that you would appreciate her not using your graphics on any future CDs. It would be nice to let her sell the rest of her supply, but don't say this or she may make a bunch more. If she does not reply or responds with something snooty, then go ahead and threaten legal action. Still don't try to be mean. Gradually get more threatening or you will put her on the defensive. Bid on one auction and use it to get her contact info and call her on the phone as well.

Only really press the ones on the Real Estate clipart site. You are right to not be concerned with the free ones. What site has the dog clip art? I would love to find one of a red Siberian husky to put on my site with a link back to your of course. My dog is here: http://www.scarlettspuppies.bravepages.com/index.htm Long, yes, but really meant for the people who have my sweetie's puppies.

 

[Dmeads]

Charolette,

Good advice, thanks! Your Siberian Husky is a sweetie! ;-) I don't know if I have any red Siberians on the site, but you can look at www.internetclipart.com and click on the dog clipart section. I do know I have an I Love Siberian Huskies graphic but I don't know if it's a red one.

Dustie

 

[CaliCat]

She is spoiled rotten! Just turned three and still like a puppy, all bouncy and a bundle of energy! Do you make the clipart or just find it? That'd be cool to have one made of her!