This thread may have portent for many of us that use the internet to show our
photos.
I belong to three professional forums for interior designers who fabricate
window treatments. We have photo galleries much like this OM forum for
displaying our creativity.
Recently a new company has opened a web page on which she will be selling
patterns and they are using pictures from our galleries, only slightly
altered, and saying that these pictures were fabricated using her patterns,
which obviously they were not. I don't think I actually have a problem with
her claiming the design, as, just as in architecture, it would be difficult,
once posted in the internet domain, to claim the design as one's own. But ot
represent that she fabricated the treatment shown in the picture is
fraudulent in my opinion.
1)Would you please look at one example? You can see the original picture
(Evelyn's) and the slightly altered shot...rotated, window panes deleted,
colors tinted a bit differently, etc. in the second (Lisa's). I think she
just went into an image-altering program and slightly altered the pic. I
would love to know what you guys think...if I were good enuf I'd make htem
the same size, rotate one and overlay to see how they line up, but alas I
have not learned how to use Photoshop that well yet. To see the pics go to
the below thread, hen scroll down to the post from "Merlyn" that shows the
two pics.
2) If you feel the picture has been altered, do you agree that representing a
product to sell using a picture of a totally different product is fraudulent?
What would YOU do if one of your pics wer used, altered, and then used to
market a product? Are we lessening our "implied copyright" by posting on the
internet? I have no actual knowledge of the legalities...but common sense
tells me something could be done about this.
here is the url to see the two pictures (again, scroll down to
Merlyn..Evelyn's version is the original) :
http://professionaldrapery.com/vbull/showthread.phtml?threadid=17104
I am sure this will abound as the interent grows, but it's time for us all to
recongnize the possiblities and how we would handle this! I will eagerly
await your comments!
Susan Steele
Virginia USA
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