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| This photo used with permission from Wikipedia Commons |
Such a scary prospect to get sued for using someone elses work without permission. Of course we don't think of it that way, at least I didn't. My thinking was that if it was on the internet, it was up for grabs as long as you gave proper attribute/credit. NOT SO! I strongly urge you to read Roni's blog post, if you haven't already, to find out how much trouble she got in. She also has links for searching for FREE photos on the internet. To my way of thinking, she sort of took one for the team. Umm, thanks Roni?
Speaking of copyright and trademark issues, Jack Daniel's totally rocks! When Indie author Patrick Wensink’s book, Broken Piano For President, was published recently, the cover was discovered to have a striking resemblance to the Jack Daniels artwork. And by resemblance, I mean the artwork was exactly the same. So what did Mr. Corporate Daniel's do? He sent the nicest cease and desist letter, ever. He not only asked him not to use the cover on the next reprint, but offered to help with the expense of the new cover if Mr. Wensink would agree to change the cover now.
Seriously, how classy is that?
I don't mean to take anything away from the photographers/artists by posting this. You all so deserve to get paid for your work, obviously. I blame it on the global nature of today's media, where everything imaginable can be had at the click of a button, and because it's really so new, as users, we don't really know the laws and ramifications.
But really - Jack Daniel's could have crushed this guy beneath their feet, but they chose to take the high road.
Do you have any copyright stories? Can you share?
Now that was a decent thing to do!
ReplyDeleteFirst, I love the new look, Gwen. Second, I need to go through and do that (take care of those copyright issues)...but I haven't yet. Hopefully, I'm not popular enough for anyone to care. :)
ReplyDeleteI bought a domain several years ago but didn't use it right away. Someone else registered it as a trade name. Then I went live with the site, I got the letter. Once I offered to be nice about it, they were nice and offered to more than cover my domain costs.
ReplyDeleteI only had a handful of pictures but it was quite a pain to find them.
That is a nice story to read after visiting Roni's blog. A lot of people have likened what she did to someone taking a writer's story and posting it without paying. Yeah, it is like that but that doesn't mean you have to sue over it. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. The Jack Daniel's corp really went above and beyond on that issue.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to buy a bottle of Jack Daniel's today! (:
ReplyDeleteAlex, yes it was. It's a shame we don't see more of it.
ReplyDeleteLinda, Thanks. This blog is still a work in progress. And I'm not that popular, either. I have no idea how many followers Roni has. I just found her through this one particular viral post.
Tonja, it was nice that you were able to work it out:)
Jeanne, the internet is really so new. I guess they'll come up with a way where you can't "take" something if you're not supposed to.
Elise, have one for me:)
I always liked Jack;-) I mentioned that copyright post on my blog today too--so paranoid now!
ReplyDeleteJamie, Jack is awesome ;)
ReplyDeleteGood post and reminder Gwen. I've done the google picture search n'copy and not thought much about it(especially if I give a source credit). But this IS a good heads-up to not do that anymore. Like Linda, I'm probably not big enough to be a threat to anyone yet, but it's a warning duly noted.
ReplyDelete