2. crisderaud24 June 2012, 20:45 GMT +02:00

Your image is also on this site: http://www.freepik.es/foto-gratis/mirlos-nido-abandonado_28451.htm

I can write the site and request the image to be removed. you can also make a request by writing to their contact link.

No telling how they got the images. They probably are not real careful about what they post and where it comes from.

If anyone else finds their images on 4photos.net let us know here what image and the page you found it on their site and we will write them to have them removed from redistribution on their site.

3. somadjinn25 June 2012, 2:25 GMT +02:00

Oh my, that doesn't look right, especially for a popular website like 4photos.net. I also see in their Abstract Section lots of copyrighted toon characters like Shrek, Looney Tunes, and the Simpsons, yet it says in their Terms of Use all their images are ok for commercial use. I seriously doubt the creators of these cartoon characters (like Disney and Warner Bros) would allow this.

I could not find any of my pictures on 4photos.net, but I discovered quite a few on freepik.es . I'm not quite sure how to proceed though, and how to make a tally of all the pictures they took from me. As is, I discovered about a dozen or so from Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, either taken from my sxc account or deviantArt. Also seems they translate all the keywords into Spanish making it harder to track the photos down with the standard English keywords I would use.

4. crisderaud25 June 2012, 2:58 GMT +02:00

Use Google "Search By Image" to find your pictures used on the web.
http://www.google.com/insidesearch/features/images/searchbyimage.html

It is also available as an add-on extension to Firefox and Chrome and allows you to right click any image to search the web or drag and drop an image from your computer to search.

Use Google translate to translate the page you found your picture. Write a letter to them and Google translate the letter before you send it to them.

The Alexa ranking for our site is much higher than 4photos.net or freepik.es which gives us the advantage sending a report to them.

5. xymonau25 June 2012, 10:41 GMT +02:00

Written in error

6. somadjinn26 June 2012, 1:36 GMT +02:00

I used Google Translate as you suggested, and I'm surprised at how many of my pictures they ripped off. Spent about an hour searching and I count well over 50 of my pictures taken from my sxc account. I suspect they rifle through people's galleries on sxc (and elsewhere) and choose to add the most downloaded ones to their own website.

I'd like to send them a letter to remove my pictures from their site, but best case scenario, I'm afraid that they would just remove those I include in my list, when other images of mine would be left over on their website.

That or they might hide behind the pretense that their image downloads refer directly to the original source. That's still not right in my understanding... I see it as a deceitful way to convey the illusion of rich content when freepik.es looks more and more like an empty shell hosting image previews from other sources. However, I'm not a lawyer and I'm not sure how I would go about explaining the situation to them, especially since Google Translate may not translate everything in a clear fashion...

7. xymonau26 June 2012, 2:40 GMT +02:00

I wouldn't get upset about freepik. It's a free image search engine, and the image can only be downloaded from the home site, from what I've seen. there are several of these sites around. they serve to lead people to your images on the original site, so I think that's okay. But what I do object to is that the thumbnails are large enough to be downloaded from their sites. In my experience, most of these sites will remove the images if you ask them. They have better morals than those simply offering downloads from their own site.

8. somadjinn26 June 2012, 3:34 GMT +02:00

You have a point. When I first started looking at freepik, I assumed they were hosting all the images too, but now I see they're pointing back to the source where I submitted them. I guess at least it helps to generate a little more exposure to my account on sxc.

9. wolliballa26 June 2012, 9:39 GMT +02:00

This might be tru for feepik, but definitely not for 4photos.net
I have already written to them ( the do not specify any postal adress etc) via mail and announced legala action, but no answer received

10. wolliballa26 June 2012, 9:44 GMT +02:00

11. wolliballa26 June 2012, 9:45 GMT +02:00

Apparently 'Edit' does not work ( it does not show 'Post'-Option). So here is the whois-information:

Domain Name: 4PHOTOS.NET

Registrant:
Cairo
Abdelmonem mohamed (abdoweb3000@gmail.com)
nasr city - 10 destrict
Cairo
Al Qahirah,11528
EG
Tel. +002.0110008861

12. xymonau26 June 2012, 10:04 GMT +02:00

Rainer, it's frustrating and it makes you feel helpless when this stuff happens. I can't get my images removed from a few sites. They think because they aren't English sites that you won't find them and if you do you can't possibly take legal action (which is often the case). You just have to be persistent for a while to see if they will comply.

Yes, I've noticed that RGB is a bit buggy today. normally the edit works perfectly. Not sure what's happening there.

13. gesinek26 June 2012, 20:13 GMT +02:00

I'm normally not patient enough to search my images on the web, also I like the tool, Chris mentioned above, very much.

And yes, I found some images of mine in 4photo.net and in other stocks whichs language or much less the scripting I don't understand. And I' surprised when I find them and sit there with a mix of emotions. On one hand I'm proud someone likes my image so much that he/she wants to distribute it him/herself. On the other hand I think: You little a....hole, it is simple to ask me for permission why don't you?

But I'm not sure how to handle it. As long as I understand that they don't gain money with my pics, so what? And even if they do gain money... I haven't the time to keep watching my pictures every day to see what's going on. (And don't forget about foreign languages that we don't understand and Google delievers funny translations sometimes...). You can't controll www. Also Google can't.

I think we can only appeal to everybody to don't forget the rules we all learned as a child: Don't steal and be honest. Consequence: Try to get the OK from a pictures owner, if you want to use it or at minimum send him/her a message.

And if you are on the edge, write them as Rainer and a lot of you did before or demand a link.

14. somadjinn27 June 2012, 11:25 GMT +02:00

What makes me feel helpless is when I stumble upon these pictures by surprise. LIke Gesine, I'm usually not patient enough to search my images on the web... I much rather spend my time creating and uploading.

I've made a hard conscious decision as a stock provider, where I acknowledge most people consider stock photography as a technical trade... but on the side I still do what I can to demonstrate stock can also qualify as an art in its own right... and I don't think it's right if our pictures are ripped off on a website that generates revenue from third party ads.

15. dlritter28 June 2012, 21:26 GMT +02:00

Gesine,

Here is the reason to be concerned about random sites hosting your images without your permission.

While it may be true that they may not make any money from hosting your photos your photos are subject to the terms of use for that website (if the website bothered to create any terms of use). These terms of use may or may not respect your original copyright of your images.

Then you have the likely possibility of another image harvesting person looking for images that they can sell as their own or even burn a lot to DVDs and sell these commercially.

For these reasons I will no longer be uploading any full resolution images for users to download. I will reduce the resolution of my images so they are usable for casual website use but the resolution will be too low for the images to be considered for other (commercial) stock sites to use. I will keep the high resolution files in a secure online "cloud" storage account like Dropbox. This way if someone really needs the high resolution files they can ask me for them directly. I will put instructions to let people know about the high resolution files in each photo's description.

16. crisderaud29 June 2012, 4:40 GMT +02:00

This new site may be able to help:

There’s a new website up on Tumblr that is looking to help expose the people who are taking credit for other’s work, and in the process help to cut down on some of the blatant infringement many photographers deal with week in and week out.

The website is called Photo Stealers, a site that enlists the help of its readers to spot and point out copycats. If you see, or have seen, a website or Facebook page that you believe is using someone else’s work, send in a tip using Photo Stealers’ submissions form and help, if not stop, at least expose these people to the world.

http://stopstealingphotos.tumblr.com/

17. gesinek29 June 2012, 15:19 GMT +02:00

Dave
you are right. But I only look around for a few minutes in other stocks, if a new message comes out here in the forum. And if I see cyrillic, japanise or other letters I don't understand I give up.

And to be honest there are not so many of my pictures in other stocks.

But I bookmarked the link from Chris (http://stopstealingphotos.tumblr.com/) it is an interesting project but it is a difficult task I think.

18. xymonau30 June 2012, 9:54 GMT +02:00

Great site, Cris. I think they will be hearing from us. Rainer, I suggest you contect them if you don't hear from the other place.

19. wolliballa3 July 2012, 0:11 GMT +02:00

Done........... No info so far from 4photos.net

20. xymonau8 July 2012, 3:42 GMT +02:00

Then you're highly unlikely to hear from them. Maybe send them another letter, but I doubt it is worth the energy.

21. boogy_man4 August 2012, 14:48 GMT +02:00

Please check this deviant http://bywest.deviantart.com/gallery/
I've found one of my photos there and many of Scott's. Please check it out and see if you guys have photos as well. He has "buy print" options available, so this is clearly against rules.