So I try not to start witch hunts where I can help it, but this guy has some serious balls. Stealing images from another website, editing out the trademark/copyright notices and then putting your own in takes some serious nerve, as well as just spitting on the original author.
Anyways, Maddox Woodhen showed little remorse and that annoyed me. I sent him a polite Flickrmail telling him to take down the image I spotted, and he did so. On spotting a second image that was stolen, I sent him another message telling him to take down any stolen images he had up. Alas, he’s gone quiet so with the help of Ryker Beck and Stephen Venkman, we’ve traced back many of the original images from which he’s stolen his work.
Below is the image that was the first one I spotted (and was removed when he realised he had been rumbled):
Copyright is copyright, and the original image (below) was not available on a creative commons license. But this guy didn’t care.. I can’t see exactly what gain he was getting, or what his objective was by doing this. It’s beyond my head..
I can talk about copyright theft and IP rights until I turn blue, as I’ve suffered at the hands of thieves on numerous occassions. But I think the fact that this guy has had an example made out of him is enough to warrant off anyone thinking of doing the same..
You can see the other rips done by this fool over on Ryker Beck’s Flickr stream.
Bailey Longcloth on September 14, 2008
Don’t folks realize that if they steal something and then stick it out in public someone is going to notice?
I don’t know what is more stupid, stealing it in the first place or putting it back out in public as their own.
Landsend Korobase on September 14, 2008
Well they appear to have left Flickr now, either of their own accord or otherwise. I can only assume the pressure you guys applied is directly causal. So that’s one for the good guys
Felony Fabre on September 14, 2008
I hope this loser pays a greater price than having his Flickr account terminated. Simply being allowed to walk away from this just does not seem severe enough as a form of punishment.
Raul Crimson on September 15, 2008
Sadly this is not the first time i see something like this, and sure it won’t be the last time sadly.
I can’t understand why someone does that. Sometimes i think all this is caused becuase some people can take Flickr as a popularity contest. This “contest” exist, one can choose to play it or not. The BIG problem if when you choose to play it in a “bad way”, like this guy. I’m not trying to justify the acts of that guy, just trying to understand the reasons to act that way.
Most of us had to face issues of this kind, personally i had two bad ones. Once someone downloaded one of my images and uploaded as his with no edition in Flickr, as simple as this, i was quite upset and finally all was fixed. Other time a guy downloaded one of my pics and used it in SL to advertise a sex club, that time i was even more upset, because my image was been used for what i considered a “commercial use”. Finally all was fixed too, thankfully.
Commons Sensible - Metaversally Speaking.. on September 14, 2009
[...] else may say, taking other people’s artworks and making out they’re their own is in no way a new trend, as me and Ryker Beck found a year ago today on this very blog. In fact, it’s been going on much, much longer than that.. way before SL even got going with [...]