mailonfurs Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 These guys are so irritating http://www.rusmagazin.ru they've stolen our photos, removed MAILON from the tags and we called them (as their email address is not written on the site) and they said "the images are free on your website and we did nothing wrong taking them, and if someone buys we will make this coat in our own atelier" 1st) First of all our images are NOT FREE This is why our site does not allow right-clicks and saving of images. Nor our ebay listings do. However anyone with more than basic computer skills can actually steal those images. 2nd) If they did nothing wrong, why did they remove the MAILON brand from the tags? 3rd) Sure they can reproduce those items and sell them if they can, but those photos are our property. If they want they can reproduce the items, photoshoot them and add them to their catalogue without having to steal ours 4th) I'm pretty sure they are not capable of reproducing all those items. They have added a huge catalogue that includes braws, dresses, furs etc... so I'm pretty sure they do not have the ability to reproduce everything and that would make them fraudsters and thieves 5th) If I, the legal owner, ask you to remove our photos then YOU HAVE TO REMOVE them!! No questions asked. If I never bother you then leave them as they are I'm thinking of taking legal precautions to those guys. And apparently watermark (something we avoided over the years for aisthetics reasons) is the only solution Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKcoyote Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Kostas, I agree fully with your outrage about this situation. And while I also agree that watermarking is aesthetically undesirable, it is about the only way I am aware of to prevent such theft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Fox Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Kostas I hope everyone here agrees with you. I certainly do, and if anyone ever asked us to take a photo down it would be gone within minutes of the time I got that message! Maybe someone here will have the knowledge to tell you what chances you have to go after them within the law, etc. Hopefully someone can help you out a bit. W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Worker 11811 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 I'm thinking of taking legal precautions to those guys. And apparently watermark (something we avoided over the years for aisthetics reasons) is the only solution There is digital watermarking. You can embed information into the picture that the human eye can not detect but can be read with a computer. This information is very hard to remove. Even if you printed the picture onto paper with your printer then transferred it back into the computer with an image scanner the digital watermark still remains intact. Secondarily, there is something called "metadata." This is information written into a specific part of the computer file which tells a potential recipient specific things about the file such as the kind of camera, the program used to edit the photo and a whole lot more. Metadata can also contain the copyright statement from the owner of the image. For instance, I see a photo of a young woman with dark hair and sunglasses wearing a blue, waist length coat. According to the metadata, the photo was taken on July 20, 2011 and the time was 15:59:46. It was taken with a Canon EOS 550D camera. It was edited with Microsoft Windows Photo Gallery 6.0. You could have also embedded the phrase, "Copyright © 2011 - Mailon Furs - All rights reserved. - No use without permission." Those crooks are so stupid that they never bothered to look and see what was written into the metadata. Your copyright statement would still remain. In any legal inquisition, you would have them red handed. There is also another technique you can use known as "jujitsu." In the martial art of jujitsu, one forces his opponent to use his own strength to defeat himself. In digital jujitsu, you force a potential thief of your pictures to give you free promotion. Take a look at any photo taken at a fashion show or a public fashion event. I guarantee that you'll find a large sign or a backdrop showing the name and graphic logo of the event or the company sponsoring it. Anybody who steals an image from that event will unknowingly advertise somebody else's product or event. Go ahead. Let them copy. They'll only do you a favor! By the way, if the people stealing your images actually make a coat and sell it, they are not only stealing your pictures but they are stealing your garment designs too. If they steal your designs you can sue their asses off! I think these guys are just crooks. Not because they took your pictures. No, I mean that they are thieves, taking people's money. I don't think they have any intention of delivering product to people who think they are buying goods from their site. I think they'll just take the money and disappear. If I was in your shoes, I would pursue them legally. You would not only be stopping a copyright violator but you would be helping to prevent innocent people from being ripped off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 The Russkies have no ethics Why I will never do business there and several other countries. OFF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 This is terrible. I deal regularly with people who attempt to steal my intellectual property, and I know from experience that the best way to handle it is to not even try to talk to the perpetrators, as they always deny the theft and proffer excuses. I find it works out best to deal with it legally, and promptly. Rather than try to reason with a thief, go above their heads by looking up the host of their website (http://www.whois.net/whois/rusmagazin.ru), next, send the host legal DMCA notification (a legal cease and desist letter) immediately. In most cases, the host will take care of it promptly, in my general experience usually within 48 hours. Here is a link to an example of a DMCA notification, which you can use to form your letter to the host of the perpetrators: http://labnol.blogspot.com/2007/09/dmca-notice-of-copyright-infringement.html - make sure to fill in the important parts such as where the ORIGINAL file is located on your site (not to mention the design is also your own), and mark the date your site has been online, show them the duplicated image on the site which stole it from you. You can show them how long these images have been on your website by directing them to view your url via the internet archive. For instance: http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/http://www.mailonfurs.com as compared to: http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/http://www.rusmagazin.ru/ Also, yes please do watermark in the future, it will help. Use a transparent layer, which you can put directly through the center of the image, making it near impossible for them to use your image. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Worker 11811 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 I can remove visible watermarks from nearly any image. Anybody who has Photoshop can. Visible watermarks only deter lazy thieves. Visible watermarks don't deter theft but they detract from the ability to view the image. Visible watermarks only inconvenience honest people. Use invisible digital watermarks. Make sure you fill in all the electronic metadata in all files you post. Use visual jujitsu. Trademarks in the background are more difficult to remove without detracting from the image itself, especially if the background is complex. Metadata can be removed if you look for it and make the effort to do that. Most people don't Invisible digital watermarks are almost impossible to remove without destroying the image. In fact, done properly, digital watermarks won't even be noticed. One thing that can be done is to post only small, low resolution versions of your pictures. Even if people do steal them, they won't get much. Still, that doesn't change much about the truth. Anybody can copy anything posted on the internet. If it can be displayed on my computer screen, I can copy it. There is no technology that can prevent that. If you don't want something to be copied, don't post it on the internet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auzmink Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Once you look at the site you can see how many other images have been ripped off from other sites.....quite a lot. Kostas, perhaps you could bring others into the action against them as proposed by CP. i'm sure other manufacturers who club together with you will add some clout. Go for the throat.....Auzmink Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mailonfurs Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 Thank you all for the help its been really helpful. Some of great information on this thread, we have some experts here I think I will contact their host at first and then for future reference I will add digital or visible watermarking... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Fox Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 To me the info here should be stored in our "Library". However, I don't have time right now. Hope someone else has... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mailonfurs Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 Dear CAPITALISTIC BLONDE, it seems the email message did not have any results... I'm thinking of my next step Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Mailonfurs, did you contact the host, Jino.ru? Make sure you send the DMCA notification to the contact email for their host: [email protected] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mailonfurs Posted April 22, 2012 Author Share Posted April 22, 2012 yes thats where I did send it. I've forwarded it once again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReFur Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 I think one of the reasons flash is now being used instead of pictures is this reason. It cannot be copied as pictures, is that right? When I had my fur business, only if you have special password from the manufacture do you have access to photos which could be copied. Linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Worker 11811 Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 No. I Flash can be copied just as easily. In fact, because the pictures are now packaged all in one file, it is possible to copy them all in one fell swoop. Then you decompile the Flash file and save all the pictures to your hard drive. If it can be displayed on your computer screen, it can be copied. Period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mailonfurs Posted October 31, 2012 Author Share Posted October 31, 2012 OK, so I did what I had to do after considering your opinions too, so I placed a small watermark on each website photo, plus they are all now digitally watermarked. I would appreciate if you would remove any older photos of our products from thefurden gallery and replace them with the new watermarked ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul2809 Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 Mallion, I can tell u this that being that the pics r urs.... Ur covered under the united states patent office therefore U posses the legal rights under anyyhing written, photos being Taken.... Who ever this is thats doing this to u can goto jail for copy write Infringement.. What im saying us that u can legally pursue this guy and take him to court for theft And sue him.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKcoyote Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 Paul, Yes, that applies if the thieves are in the U.S. However, if they are located elsewhere the applicable laws might be different. As far as I know, watermarking images is about the only way to prove ownership and copyright. Basically anything posted on the internet can, and probably will be, misappropriated by someone without permission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReFur Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 Kostas, I am so sorry that you have to deal with this. Times are tough enough as it is. God bless, Linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Fox Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 The one thing that might get round this would be some type of photo recognition equipment. i.e. place your pictures into a file and ask your computer to check the net for them. Time involved would be HUGE. But who knows. Something like that might become possible one day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Worker 11811 Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 Photo recognition? Like Tin Eye? http://www.tineye.com/ Very cool service! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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