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Old November 12th 05, 09:46 PM
Reid Goldsborough
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Posts: n/a
Default Another approach to image theft

A few days ago I left a post describing how I complained to eBay about
how a replica maker stole an image on one of my Web pages and used it
without my permission to sell his replicas on eBay. eBay NARUed him
for about a week (I had expected them to just warn the guy), but he
stopped what he was doing.

A couple of days ago, not looking for it, I chanced upon another
example of a company taking a coin photo from one of my sites, this
time of a Lydian electrum trite, and using it to sell gold and silver
bullion. The page of theirs was on the history of coins. This was a
private site, not connected to eBay. In the past when this has
happened in a similar commercial setting, I've sent a cease and desist
email to the person or company, and that has worked.

This time I emailed an invoice for $100, including all of my contact
information. First the vice president of the company phoned. Then the
Webmaster, a guy with a British accent, phoned from Thailand. (!) The
company had farmed out the Web site to him. He said that he didn't
know that my image was copyrighted (I explained that all images are
and that there's a lot of confusion over this) and that Web copyright
isn't clear (I explained that it was clear and is no different from
print copyright though there's also a lot of confusion out there over
this). We had a nice five-minute chat, business-oriented and cordial.
He concluded by asking if it were all right for the company to send me
a contract for use of my photo, and I said of course. I mailed it back
today and am awaiting the check.

--

Email: (delete "remove this")

Consumer:
http://rg.ancients.info/guide
Connoisseur: http://rg.ancients.info/glom
Counterfeit: http://rg.ancients.info/bogos
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