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Theft of a photo?
I saw this while looking at a discussion today and had to ask....is putting a pic of someones knife up a theft or is it free advertising for the company?
TOPS is not the only company I have seen do this, it just happens to be the one I captured a picture of. They are fine company, with a well built knife and a well deserved reputation. I am just wondering because as a business owner I kind of adhere to the old saying about....put my name out there just make sure you spell it right!
so what do you think?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ken Spielvogel on
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I don't see anything wrong with it as long as the labeling is right.
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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on
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Thats how I feel about it Ken. Give credit to the maker or photographer and it is all good
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Permalink Reply by Jason Oncedisturbed Riley on
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Technically it is theft if you use the photo for portrayal of your items even more so as advertising, it breaches international copyright laws. This is the same for any photo displayed by an individual and someone uses that photo for other means without permission and is even penalised greater if it is used to generate income.
Only reason I am aware of this is that a business used photo's of my 4wd with lighting mods I installed and they portrayed it as their products etc which they weren't pays to it right the 1st time and don't hot link unless you are sharing the link to the original item without gaining benefits from it.
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FeaturedPermalink Reply by Craig Henry on -
I don't see a problem with using a picture if a person is just saying "Look at this knife" or "I want one of these". As long as a person isn't using it to make money. But, maybe I'm wrong. I WAS wrong once. LOL!
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Good to know Jason, I know I had to have a disclaimer on here that all photos are usable by iKC but I would never consider posting any of them as "mine". Thats where the line is for me, if I am just telling someone to go look at your product, on your page, I feel it should be ok.
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Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on
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So many of these companies are suffering loss of customers to bogus knives made elsewhere. They all are actively trying to stop this.
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That makes sense Hog, didnt think of that either. I guess if someone wanted to steal your design they would just go to your site
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Permalink Reply by Alexander Noot on
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Allright, some thoughts as I look at that text:
"Hotlinking is theft"
No it is not. The only actuall loss that a company endures as an image it hotlinked is extra traffic on their webhost. If they're not set up for the right amount of traffic the thing could crash. And yes that would cost them money. But otherwise someone displaying an image of theirs on another site it NOT THEFT. It's right along the same stupid line of thinking of the people who stated the "you wouldn't download a car?" slogan. It's dumb.
And yes, they should protect themselves again copies. But this is a stupid way to do it.
In fact, I had very little interest in the brand before I saw this. Now I have none whatsoever. I can't stand people who'll punish their customers or potential customers (like the one this was quoted from) along with the people who'll actually need to be punished.
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Permalink Reply by Chuck Parham on
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If you use an image that belongs to someone else without their permission, that is theft as long as the image's copy write is registered.
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Actually I believe that is only true when it's used for commercial purposes or when you don't acknowledge the source.
It all has to do with fair use: http://www.teachingcopyright.org/handout/fair-use-faq
Besides that.....it's just stupid since it's free publicity that they're punishing. It would be FAR more effective if the watermarked their photo's so that con-artists couldn't use them anymore.
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