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Originally Posted by ITSFAST
re: digital downloads
Could they not buy a picture and do the same? I don't know, I'm just asking.
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It is possible to do that with a print, but it is much more difficult and/or there are quality issues. It's hard to get a magazine quality scan from an 8x10, even if the source picture was 8mp like what I use. So that's some sort of protection from image theft.
Here's a case in point on digital downloads. I shot some promotional pictures for recently signed Arrow kart driver Shelton Wright (
www.sheltonwright.com) in return for being one of his sponsors. I gave him the digital copies of the pictures under the condition that wherever the photos are used, the credit "Photos Courtesy of Huntsville Car Scene.com" needs to appear.
Shelton was interviewed by the Decatur Daily and they did a huge article that appeared on the front page of the sports section on a Sunday. The article appeared without any credits for the photos. The Decatur Daily didn't ask for any photo credits, and acted like they weren't even going to use the shots that Shelton gave them. Even so, it is still their responsibility as publishers to make sure the images they are using are legal.
Huntsville Car Scene.com lost out on MAJOR exposure, and Decatur Daily made a profit from this. In my efforts to work out some sort of deal with Decatur Daily where Huntsville Car Scene could gain the exposure it deserved, they simply ran a correction and aren't willing to do anything more without me taking them to court.
Frankly, they don't really care that they violated my copyright.
If people are going to have this attitude, then Huntsville Car Scene will not put itself in a position where it will take a loss by offering services such as digital downloads. It would be better for Huntsville Car Scene to close completely than to take continuing losses at the benefit of someone else.
You could also get a copy of a purchased print from places like wal-mart, but that's illegal without permission from the copyright holder. So it's possible that I can sue them for damages resulting from copyright infringement. It's a real hassle, but there is a case in Alabama where a photographer got $100,000 in damages for each picture that was illegally duplicated.
Bottom line, it is possible to do anything, especially with the technology that is available today. But the divide between digital and analog can be used as a fairly effective way to make this a real hassle, which is the current stance that Huntsville Car Scene.com takes to protect it's created content.
So where's the poster now?
