Forum Moderators: phranque
Needless to say, I'd like to sue these people, or at least force them to stop using my images. But they are based in Russia (it's a .ru site). What can I do?
third... just out of curiosity... how many that are bashing me actually know how to copyright their work?
*sigh* I do believe I recall posting that I'M A WRITER. OF COURSE I know how to copyright my work, and btw, the stuff on the site, while useful info, is not the be-all and end-all of copyright. THE MOMENT YOU CREATE SOMETHING AND ATTACH YOUR NAME TO IT, IT IS FULLY COPYRIGHTED TO YOU THE CREATOR. (This is US usage, I don't honestly know how this works outside the US as yet.)
When you publish your copyrighted work there are further things you must do, but that still does NOT obviate the original moment of copyright to you as creator, which is the INSTANT OF CREATION as long as you have signed the work. You are not even required to attach the copyright statement or icon now, as any attorney versed in copyright law will be happy to tell you - assuming you want to pay himmer $250 an hour to hear it.
As it happens, I've protected a copyright myself, a piece which was NOT published but which WAS copyright TO ME, since I'm the one who wrote it. It cost me money to enforce my right to copyright, of course, but that's okay. My attorney successfully sued the offender, a judge found in my favor, and my copyrighted material was removed from not only the net but from a print market.
[Y'know, I'm pretty sure this topic should have been moved to forum 44....]
Just because you make something, doesn't make it copyrighted to you.
Yes, it does.
You can sell the rights to someone else, and if you don't register your copyright (which is what the link you posted refers to) you may have difficulty defending your copyright in court (leading to lost legal cases which you mentioned), but...
..."because you make something" is precisely WHY it is copyrighted to you.
(At least in the US. ;) )
[edited by: mivox at 11:03 pm (utc) on April 22, 2004]
--
That copyright applies only in countries that have some kind of agreement to an international treaty. What is that treaty I do not know.
That if the country hosting the infringing material is not part of this group - then there is nothing you can do about it. Maybe you could go after the ISP's who transmit the information back to the US? It must have been tried.
There is no such thing as international law. Just a group of cooperating countries that try to make look as though there is. Mostly western countries.
--
Advice: or what I would do if this was my content.
In this case I would fire and forget - the company is not a competitor (unless you also have a russian site); write to them - cease and desist - in simple terms saying that you've contacted Russian lawyers. Use email and snail mail. Also the hosts, and anyone else involved, travel agents on the site, affiliates whatever.
Then forget it. The risk of getting involved in a legal system that you have no knowledge must be huge. How can you trust the lawyer you have contacted? Unless you get a very good response I would just steer clear.
--
Other things: stuff that would cross my mind but wouldn't necessarily do.
Pay hackers to take down the site.
Copy all their content place on a free host somewhere, write saying that you'll remove your copies when they remove theirs.
Look to see where they are linked - get a page in Russian SEO'd saying they are unreputable and beating them on the keywords they go for - ensure it comes up everywhere they do, searchers usually look in a couple of places before making an expensive purchase.
--
Feel free to flame these suggestions... feeling flippant at the mo ;)
hope you are not using any of my material.
...Now back to the REAL thread...
I have tracked a few hits from images.google (mostly due to my frame busting script) and all of the IPs are russian. Funny thing is that I have not searched for the image names yet. Maybe they just don't like my work... :o(
It would be easy to prove infringement with over 90 images taken. If I was you I would tell a lawyer that he could claim all damages (less 10%) if he would handle the case. I'll bet you would get some lawyer chomping at the bit!
Good luck!
known as the "Berne convention" ...
Now instead of displaying our lack of knowlege ( and I dont mean you Gethan )and then posting anyway could we get back on thread and try to suggest practical ways to help as opposed to demonstrating our ignorance of certain areas of International laws and treaties ....
I don't blame anyone for not knowing something but posting about subjects you know nothing about is assinine ......and missinforms the general public which reads but does not post in these fora ....
Getting a Russian lawyer to deal with folks in Russia will cost you more and drain your energy.
Get new pictures and put a visible watermark on everything from now on. It deters others from using them. If people still use them, it's free advertising.
Sobbing over the pictures and demanding retribution will cost you more in the end.
