Be on the lookout! Someone stealing NHRA photos online and selling them on ebay! (1 Viewer)

[Steve]

He's already sold a bunch of mine, so I figured I'd put the word out because if you have pictures from NHRA events online, this thief may have stolen them and sold them on ebay.

Here's the ones he's stolen of mine:

ebay number flickr url of my photo
-------------------------------------

110310351760 Funny Car driver Ashley Force (81237477) on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
110334875669 Pro Stock driver Dave Connolly (81237330) on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
400014317223 Pro Stock Motorcycle driver Peggy Llewellyn (81237489) on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
400005265403 Pro Stock Motorcycle driver Peggy Llewellyn (81237285) on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I hoping that by posting this here I might be able to find some of the other photographers that have been taken. Drop me a private message if you find your photos on there. I'm at at minimum wanting to get his "power seller" account shut down on ebay and then try to get the profits he's stolen given to a charity or something (I'm not really interested in selling my photos... I just take them because I know people like the folks here like them).

-Steve

 

[d'kid]

Okay, I'm at a loss here... but....
Why would someone buy a picture on e bay?

Just asking

d'kid

 

[Gipraw]

could you get him for mail fraud since he is shipping them somewhere after he sells them?

 

[Steve]

Okay, I'm at a loss here... but....
Why would someone buy a picture on e bay?

Just asking

d'kid

Yea, I know. I'm amazed people buy them. The ones he stole from me were at most 1024 pixels wide. He's printing them as 8x10 so that's 102 dpi. OK for screen but horrible looking prints... yet people leave good feedback. He's got over 2500 positive feedbacks in the past 6 months and as far as I can tell most of those are sales of prints that he stole off the internet.

Trust me, I'm just as dumbfounded as you...

 

[Stormin']

You could try to get him on copyright infringement. Also set your copyright so no one can copy your pic's off of Flickr.

 

[.]

Tom Compton is behind it.
Graham Light is selling them.
Right?

I mean, everything else points their way......

 

[scooter]

This might be a dumb question,but why don't you put a watermark on them.

 

[Steve]

This might be a dumb question,but why don't you put a watermark on them.

I did on some. He cropped it off. I don't want to put a big one across the picture.

And yes, I could make them so they weren't downloadable, etc. But I post them to give back to the racing community. So fans can enjoy them. People can use them as backgrounds, etc. I guess if I do that, I shouldn't be surprised that someone steals them. Doesn't make it right though and I'll be fighting him every way i can. It's just really disheartening that someone could be that low and scummy.

 

[Kelly]

Just contact ebay for fraud. They would pull them so freakin' quick it would make your head spin!

 

[None]

Tom Compton is behind it.
Graham Light is selling them.
Right?

I mean, everything else points their way......

As long as they get their cut. No harm no foul.

 

[yoda]

Just contact ebay for fraud. They would pull them so freakin' quick it would make your head spin!

Kel's right... this seller "retired*from*nitro" (a "Power Seller" ranking too..)could be looking at a lot more than just getting his EBay selling rights yanked... It's obvious that you can prove that you A) took the photo- I'm sure you have the digital stamp in your 'puter, and B) can prove that your copyright symbol and signature were cropped off for his profit, proving he willingly committed some sort of theft or fraud..

Contact E Bay with what you've told us and let us know their response... Could be interesting to see who's side of the fence they line up on..

 

[Dave]

Steve,

You need to contact the intellectual property rights dept. at ebay: Reporting Intellectual Property Infringements. We have had a number of ebay sellers stopped that have stolen our images from nhra.com and other places.

Also, just FYI, an 8x10 from a 1024 image is 100dpi, not 10dpi.

 

[Steve]

Steve,

You need to contact the intellectual property rights dept. at ebay: Reporting Intellectual Property Infringements. We have had a number of ebay sellers stopped that have stolen our images from nhra.com and other places.

Also, just FYI, an 8x10 from a 1024 image is 100dpi, not 10dpi.

Duh. That's what I get for staying up too late trying to track this thief down.

 

[Big Sexy]

I had this guy take the handout card for my NFC (Don Schumacher's Stardust) and sell it as his work. One of my friends bid $15,000 for it and sent him some e-mails. I sent him an e-mail as well as e-bay and they pulled his auctions. Sucks for the people that he took for money, my cards are free!

Justin

 

[Nick Name]

I had this guy take the handout card for my NFC (Don Schumacher's Stardust) and sell it as his work. One of my friends bid $15,000 for it and sent him some e-mails. I sent him an e-mail as well as e-bay and they pulled his auctions. Sucks for the people that he took for money, my cards are free!

Justin

Great. I can't wait to pick one up at the March Meet.

Jay

 

[NHRADeuce]

Steve,

You need to contact the intellectual property rights dept. at ebay: Reporting Intellectual Property Infringements. We have had a number of ebay sellers stopped that have stolen our images from nhra.com and other places.

Also, just FYI, an 8x10 from a 1024 image is 100dpi, not 10dpi.

I would do this, but before I did this part, I would pay a lawyer a few hundred $$ to file a lawsuit against the guy for copyright infringement. Take a page right out of the music industry handbook and nail him for an amount that doesn't make sense to fight, particularly considering he is obviously in the wrong. Maybe hit him for the max small claims will do in your state.

 

[Dave]

That would probably be a complete waste of time and money. First of all, you don't know how deep his pockets are, assuming he has anything at all. Secondly, under existing copyright laws, unless each image has been registered with the copyright office, you can only sue for actual damages, not punitive.

 

[Nitrohaulic]

Spend the money to get a judgement. It's still up to you to COLLECT on the judgement. When you already know he's crooked enough to remove your watermark? Why would he pay that bill?

A patent, copyright, or trademark is only worth what you're willing to spend to enforce it.

Maybe see if you can get a prosecuting attorney to take up the charges for you. Someone I know in South Carolina did that for damages done to their RV by a repair shop not far from here, including that the owner let his dogs live in it and trash it! That was done as he was doing warranty work to replace an incorrect, too small for the RV engine that he fraudulently put in, in the first place!

Whether that makes a difference in your ability to collect anything?

I wouldn't make anything publicly available, online or anywhere else, without the expectation that someone might try to sell it.

 

[clwill]

I would do this, but before I did this part, I would pay a lawyer a few hundred $$ to file a lawsuit against the guy for copyright infringement. Take a page right out of the music industry handbook and nail him for an amount that doesn't make sense to fight, particularly considering he is obviously in the wrong. Maybe hit him for the max small claims will do in your state.

Others are right, don't file. But spending a $100 for a nasty letter from your lawyer would be worth doing, just for the fun of it....

 

[FEDowner]

Post an auction of his and we'll al complaint to EBAY about selling copyrighted material!!