I’m celebrating some recent successes in the constant battle against copyright infringement. I was chatting with a young photographer recently who believed that image theft was an inevitable downside of work…
Suddenly, it no longer feels like I'm hitting my head against a brick wall when I chase up businesses that have stolen my images
This image of Castlerigg Stone Circle near Keswick is one of those that is lifted the most
I’m celebrating some recent successes in the constant battle against copyright infringement.
I was chatting with a young photographer recently who believed that image theft was an inevitable downside of his work – and, worse still, that there was little he could do about businesses simply lifting his images and reusing them on their own websites without paying for them. He seemed able to shrug his shoulders and ignore it – and, in the process, give away his products for nothing.
I’ve occasionally chased up cases of copyright infringement in the past but it’s a time-consuming process and rarely seems to be worth the effort. Sometimes, it’s felt like I’ve been banging my head against a brick wall, but I can’t just shrug it off and pretend it doesn’t matter.
Here’s my good news though… Thanks to a tip from a colleague and with help from advice notes published by the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild, I recently started using a copyright enforcement agency called Pixsy.
It works on a no win, no fee basis and takes a whopping 50 per cent commission but, for me at least, the results have been worth it. For very little effort on my part, I’ve received payments totalling about £800 from two cases in the past few weeks. It’s not enough to start planning my retirement, but at least I feel there’s an alternative to that frustrating brick wall.