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How can you tell when your images are being used without your consent?

In other words, How can you find your images being used in the real world?

I imagine the most prolific medium using images irrespective of copyright would be the web, then print, and so on... Are there ways you can detect your images' usage? If so, how do you go about it?

mattdm
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kacalapy
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7 Answers7

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I don't know about print, but for the web.. http://www.tineye.com/ is a reverse image search used for these kinds of purposes.

rfusca
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I've heard about a site called http://www.imagerights.com , it'll not only find your images, but it'll also help you to get paid (They take a cut, but it's not bad, so...) They'll let you use their finder service for free, they only ask that you use their recovery service as well.

PearsonArtPhoto
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  • WOW, "50%" is rather healthy cut (check the pricing page). Not saying its unfair, just a bit stunned. – rfusca Jan 19 '11 at 22:53
  • Well if you had never found it it would be 0%. Also, it allows you to get proper attribution, which is worth something. I think this service may be more useful to professionals than tineye because it limits its scope to websites that are profiting off your photo. Who cares if some small blog links to your photo? Tineye tries to do too much, and I think it does a poor job because of this. – rm999 Jan 20 '11 at 00:50
  • @rm999 - I didn't say it was unfair...just didn't expect that is all. – rfusca Jan 20 '11 at 02:34
  • Technically, if a small blog is stealing your photo, you can still sue them. It's a bit mean, but... I look at it like this though, 100% of $0 is still $0... – PearsonArtPhoto Jan 20 '11 at 02:53
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Other than Tineye - which doesn't work all that well - you can't. The world is too big, and you're too unknown for your fans or representation to realize that your work was used at to let you know.

Jędrek Kostecki
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I asked David Hobby (of Strobist) fame, who has had several recent high-profile cases of infringement. He replied:

Helps to have 500k pairs of eyes out there noticing things for you...

...which, I think, is a pretty good critique on the state of infringement detection for the masses. :-\

Craig Walker
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There is one service that I believe is definitely heading in the right direction, it adds a digital 'watermark' in to your images and then has a search engine constantly looking for them on the open internet. You simply 'watermark' them before first posting on the internet and then is "borrowed" then they can be traced.

This may not be perfect now, but if it grows then it's index of images will certainly be a basis for what is some sound technology. Obviously this is only good for digital format where the image is indexable on the web, it won't find printed material .. the only way there is the 500k pair of eyes mention by another post.

Starting at $100 for a year of service with 2,000 images watermarked and searched for it is certainly within the reach of most serious photographers.

https://www.digimarc.com/DigimarcForImages/

Barry Semple
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From my experience Google Image Search is more reliable and has wider database than TinEye. Click on the camera on the right side of the search field and either post a link or drag your photo into it.

Ivan Nikitin
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How can you tell when your images are being used without your consent?

you can't

There are many faulty systems that can check for image similarity, you've already got a variety of answers regarding their mixed results. Those systems don't take fair use into account anyway.

If you're hosting images on the web, you could programmatically check for hotlinking, but the damage is done. When you put something on the internet, you've lost all hope of ever keeping people from using your stuff,

and that's the beauty of it all.

That's what the internet is all about, sharing stuff you made and letting other people share it. To think that you can stop people is incredibly vain. Not everyone lives in your country, and therefor not everyone has to comply with the copyright laws of your country.

If you do find someone using your work, ask them nicely if they'll at least cite their sources. It's the polite thing to do, and polite people will often comply.

Community
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zzzzBov
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  • I love it when people downvote and don't explain why. – zzzzBov Jan 20 '11 at 04:04
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    Because it feels like a soapbox you decided to get on about the "sharing" of the internet and not a useful answer. – rfusca Jan 20 '11 at 05:47
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    First part is useful, second isn't... – gerikson Jan 20 '11 at 06:04
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    To say "you can't" needs a little more justification. For example, the Digimarc service seems to have some merit. As for fair use, the first step is to find where the photo is being used then you, the owner, can determine from the context whether it is fair use or whether you can condone the usage. As to the second part of your answer, while I support Open Source and the Creative Commons and therefore I am sensitive to the concept of creative sharing, you ignore the fundamental right of every creator to choose whether and how he would like his work to be shared. – labnut Jan 20 '11 at 09:28
  • @labnut, if you read the first part you'd realize I explained how to find where people have used your image, but then when you read the second part you realize that they don't necessarily fall under the same copyright jurisdiction as you do, and that the materials may or may not be "used without copyright permission". I gave justification in my answer. @rfusca, did you read the part about me explaining that you can programmatically check for hotlinking? that's not something that anyone else had brought up, which I feel is more useful as they're leeching bandwidth as well as materials. – zzzzBov Jan 20 '11 at 16:34
  • The Berne Convention covers International copyright agreements - it doesn't matter if you use a protected work in a differing country, if they were a signatory of the convention. – Rowland Shaw Jan 20 '11 at 20:13
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    Uhhh, OK @zzzzBov... argumentative smart@ss answers (and comments) probably wont get you too much play. The community tends to value sincere efforts to provide truly helpful answers without a lot of snark mixed in. Please feel free to try again, though! – Jay Lance Photography Jan 21 '11 at 05:54