Photo Theft by usaorchids

[Gin]

Make a folder for photos to put on the web and a folder for own use . Copy the photo ,watermark or put your name on the one to post keep the other one clear ..

[Tom-DE]

L W Flowers also stole four of my photos(Den. unicum, laevifolium, victoriae-reginae, scabrilingue). They are in fresh cut flowers wholesale business and I don't totally understand why they have my photos on their Picture Library. Shame on them too!

[zxyqu]

Let's just end this with... From now on, watermark you're photos, therefore you at least get credit when/if your pics are used. That's about all you can do, as I'm sure if we keep looking we can find hundreds of these. We do post some good pictures, so it shouldn't come as a surprise, though it is annoying.

[Tom-DE]

For those who have used my photos for financial gain, please do take them off your website/Ebay listings. If I catch you, I will put your name up on wall of shame in all public forums.

Wall of Shame:

usaorchids
Seattle orchid
LW Flowers

[zxyqu]

Sounds Like a new sticky... End of Line...

[Tom-DE]

Originally Posted by zxyqu

Let's just end this with... From now on, watermark you're photos, therefore you at least get credit when/if your pics are used. That's about all you can do, as I'm sure if we keep looking we can find hundreds of these. We do post some good pictures, so it shouldn't come as a surprise, though it is annoying.

and why should we have to do something extra and ruin the photo quality? If we don't suport/encourage/buy from them, they won't do it again in the future, and perhaps they will learn to respect copyright.

[zxyqu]

Well to keep this simple so we dont start a whole new article, some people dont care. That's not to say they are right, but the average Joe (or Jane), might scavenge eBay for an orchid and just wants to see a picture before buying. Their assumption lies in the reality that the vendor is using their own picture, not a hijacked one. Obviously, we now know this may not be the case.
And sadly there are more average Joe's buying orchids online, than 10-15 of us boycotting the same vendor. We, sadly, don't reach the entire audience needed to stage such a proper boycott, so the best we can hope to do is contact those who offend so that the proper corrections are made, or watermark our photos to ensure we get credit.
There is no reason you can't use a full scale size of your photo and watermark it, Ray and others make that suggestion to encourage even less use as they wont blow-up right, but merely pixelate. That said, a bloom photo with my name across it in watermark, looks just as good (if not better), than one without. It also provides security

[Tom-DE]

Originally Posted by zxyqu

Well to keep this simple so we dont start a whole new article, some people dont care.

Well, while I value your watermark suggestion, but I can't ignore your comment in quote. I don't expect everyone here will really feel strongly about photo theft (for reasons). First of all, this didn't happen to them; Second of all, some people may not respect copyright, which that is why photo theft happens more often than you think.

If you feel I am dragging this photo theft thing too long and it bothers you, I don't know what to say to you but you know what to do.
FYI, I did contact them and wanted them to take my photos off their website/ebay listings.

[zxyqu]

Tom, I really apologize, as the way you read that was not my intention. I do care about this, as it is abusive, and I'm hopeful some vendors will tea this and review their policies. I was speaking more generally about the people buying the chids. They don't care where the pic comes from, they just want to see the photo.
Again, my apologizes for the clarity of that comment, but hopefully the vendors will hear us. Im just a bit doubtful of it

[camille1585]

While I agree that for most problems in general it's a good to see both sides of the story, when it comes to copying other people's photos, there is only 1 side to the story. It's very simple: You use a pic that belongs to someone else without getting their permission, then you stole it. The fact that the seller(s) used someone else's pics for their products is evidence enough that theft occured. You don't need to hear their story and excuses. And getting permission from someone is not a difficult thing to do!

A few years ago I printed orchid pics from an OB member here, and even though it was for my own personal use (an orchid photo wall to cheer up my dormroom) I did ask for permission. True, it's not for commercial purposes (which I think is far far worse), but copyright laws still apply, and I felt that it was the polite thing to do.

Tom, I hope you won't have too much trouble in getting the sellers to cooperate with you and remove the images. Sadly I think it may be a losing battle if your photos are so popular (they really are gorgeous!), others or the same people are bound to use your photos again...