We have had a horrific time the last weeks with businesses, Ebay, etc taking our photos from the above sites.
Our photos are copyrighted. Our website copyrighted.
Copyrights on photos have been cropped, removed, covered, replacd )o;
Photos have been altered so to 'try' not look ours.
WRONG to do to a person. Let alone WRONG legally.
If wanting to use photos ..ASK! It is the LEAST you can do!
And do NOT crop the copyrights when sharing photos!!!
Stealing..'Using' Photos DG, PDB, and KCC Canna Site
They took your canna photos, Alice? Well, that is because you take a great picture! But how unfair. Esp. since you are in business to sell your plants and took those shots to help you in your business not to help them in theirs. Will ebay do anything against the corrupt sellers? If you tell me who they are I will email them to their ebay name and complain loudly. If enough did that they would realize it was not helping but harming their business.
Me too! I'm sorry you had trouble.
Ebay will take action and has a specific link to log complaints for theft of images. Images from my website show up pretty often on eBay and I've had good luck with them removing the listings and notifying the sellers NOT to do it.
Here's a link that might help:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/vero-image-text-theft.html
It helps to send them the offending listing and copies of your original images to back up your claim.
I've also had luck getting images removed from other commercial sites and private sites. There is one I haven't been successful with for several years and it's a UK .gov site for their library system. Go figure.
Oh Alice! Im sorry to hear this! You worked hard on those! The least they could do was ask! I agree.. contact ebay!
How do you guys find out that someone stole your pictures? Do you see them for yourselves? Just makes me wonder how many out there might still be out there that you dont know about. hhmmm, Im glad my picture taking skills really stink now.
Alice I am so sorry you and others have to go thru this. Its just unbalievable to me that someone would care so little about someone elses rights but care big time if they get caught. Stinky stealers.
If you have trouble getting somebody to remove your photos from their websites, find out who is hosting their website, relatively easy to do, and notify the web hosting company that one of their clients has stolen photos on their website. They will usually take action pretty quick when you do this.
That is ridiculous! I'll tell you what else I'd do...I'd post the seller's ebay name on this post or some other, so that DG'rs will not waste their time doing business with these thieves! Personally, I don't want to do business with people like that, and I do use ebay to purchase plant material!
I think this is one of yours... :(
http://cgi.msn.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2379269598&category=42207#ebayphotohosting
How rude for anyone to use a picture that doesn't belong to them. It isn't that hard to write and ask someone for permission and if they decline it, then you just don't use their picture, no way. Most people in business that sell something like cannas, should have their own pictures anyway, shouldn't they. Can't imagine stealing pictures for ones own gain.
Alice: I would go into that further, make them retract it.
Kaufmann ..
Thanks for that link. Yes, one of my 'Wyoming' photos.
Looking further, other Whoming photos there are mine, also.
This is Hirt's Greenhouse in Ohio. One of the major 'takers' of our photos.
They have quite a few for different cannas to use on their website, Ebay etc.
Have never asked permission. ALL copyrights each photo used have been removed.
I first noticed last year and they have just gone further and further this year.
Their thumbnail Tyrol even shows some of my porch and furniture. LOL
Kell, this has nothing to do with business. ..???
It does have to do with what belongs to a person. My photos are a part of my art.
Even though shown in a public place, they are still owned by the person they belong to.
Especially if copyrights in place ..they should not be just taken and used as one's own.
This message was edited Feb 16, 2004 3:53 AM
This message was edited Feb 16, 2004 4:03 AM
I'm so sorry Alice. I know how you feel. I always watch things on e-Bay for pics I have posted especially since I have public albums up at web shots. I had a lady e-mail and want to use my pic to make appliques for quilts she was selling. I said no. I have several thousands of dollars invested in my camera equipment and I didn't give my pictures away for the profit of others but gladly allow use of them to teaching oriented groups or non profit groups. Hirts is a bad seed seller anyway. He also has seedmart so watch out. I ordered expensive seeds from them and got seeds that had been expired for 2 years. He covers up the dates on the packages.
Alice: I'm so glad you shared with us the name of the perp. I just bought a few seeds from him and they were expired -- DonnaB you aren't alone -- Have resisted rating him because of that, and I hate to be ugly, but now I know what I will do. And, I will continue to keep my eyes open. I have a few nice pictures myself, and I would be furious if someone "helped themselves without my permission". Hang in there Alice!
no wonder my seeds from him never grew!! sorry Alice :(
Alice, it appears that Hirts is having their website hosted by Verio, http://verio.net/ I would write verio and tell them that this company has violated one of their acceptable use policies,
Quote straight from verio's website
Intellectual Property Violations -- Engaging in any activity that infringes or misappropriates the intellectual property rights of others, including copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade secrets, software piracy, and patents held by individuals, corporations, or other entities. Also, engaging in activity that violates privacy, publicity, or other personal rights of others. Verio is required by law to remove or block access to customer content upon receipt of a proper notice of copyright infringement. It is also Verio's policy to terminate the privileges of customers who commit repeat violations of copyright laws.
Send an email to abuse@verio.net and tell them what pages Hirts has copies of your photos, you may want to send them copies of the originals to prove they are your photos.
Oh dear. I won several seed auctions from them on Ebay recently. I haven't planted anything but the Ipomoea Andersonni seeds, which haven't germinated yet. The thing I wondered about when I planted them was the fact that that variety of seeds has little hairy things growing out the side of the sides. The seeds I got from them looked completely different, so I suspect they aren't even the correct seeds.
I also have wondered why mine didnt sprout last year..
Its SUCH a shame, they have such (what seems to be) nice seeds. A good selection anyway. And to hear all this.. glad Im part of DG.. I would have kept buying seeds and thinking I was doing somthing wrong when they didnt sprout.
Here I am from Ohio. Never heard of them!
LOL Gloria! Looks like you were lucky then!
Oh, I am sorry Alice, I misunderstood. I thought they had taken the pictures you had taken for your online store and shown on there, for you canna business. Well, regardless of where they got them from, it is wrong. Your pics should not be used to sell their plants without your permission. I hope you get satisfaction when you complain.
Mary, you are full of useful info!
This message was edited Feb 16, 2004 5:27 PM
Well, for what its worth, I gave my two cents worth in '80 characters or less' at ebay seller rating. Stated that they were using stolen photographs. I don't know if it will help, but maybe it will at least open this guy's eyes! Besides, its also wrong to sell outdated seeds. I was really excited about the Pink Velvet Banana seeds... They've been in rockwool about 10 days and nothing. After reading all this, I'll be surprised if I do get a sprout, and if so will wonder what it really is, probably not a Pink Velvet Banana!
I just won an auction of Andersonii MG's seeds from Ace Seeds, they have the fuzzy fringe around them.....Minigrannie you should say something to them if you don't think it's the right seeds....
I feel terriable about this, I have done business with Hirts in the past. I sure hate to hear that they are using photos without permission....
Dee
Dee: Not only are they doing that, but they are using stickers to cover up the expiration date on seed packets and selling them as fresh! I received two packages of 2002 seeds from them last week. The "banana" seeds were not commercially packaged, so who knows where they came from or what they are!
I was going to bid on a blue dahlia. Now i guess I won't! But the dahlia sure looked interesting.
well I guess this jerk won't be pleased about the rating he receives from me, I just got seeds in the mail from hirts and am going to plant them this afternoon to see what happens. I only ordered 3 packages because normally until I deal with someone I don't order much the first time, but I am really upset to think that he is stealing photos and sending outdated seeds!
I checked my packages and all look current with the possibility of one, so I will see what happens. I paid enough money for them that they had better be good.
Anyone who has gotten outdated seeds from him should let ebay know. They really do not condone customers being cheated!
I am really sorry that this guy got any of my money just because of the picture issue.
hmmm, looks like I'm going to have to learn to watermark my images.
This is one of those things that would REALLY me off.
drew
hmm, thinking back.
If you are really interested in getting justice done.
Call the Ohio ag dept.
Ask if they have on record a place called "hirts greenhouses"
chances are they have not, I would imagine they do not have a nursery license, and are shipping plants over state borders.
a $5,000 fine and the inability to get a plant license in the future might help them see the light.
dp
What is hirts seller ID on Ebay, want to be sure I avoid them.
here are some of the links -- they use more than one name...
http://cgi2.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=seedmart&items=25&page=11&frompage=921&item=2376148884&de=off
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2381694112&category=42207
http://cgi2.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=bulbmart&item=2381694112&frompage=284&de=off&fromasq=1
Well by looking at their feedback, I do not think they will miss us too much!
Ebay's feed back is a joke! Most will not give honest feedback because the seller just retaliates!
Mary it is Hirts Greenhouses
Kell, you're right about Ebay's feedback. Out of all the buying I have done on Ebay, I have 2 negatives and 1 neutral. The 2 negatives were from Sellers that sent junk merchandise nothing like their descriptions and I left negative feedback for them. The retaliated by saying I was a very difficult customer to deal with. The neutral feedback was from a lady I sent my payment to twice, and she said she never got either of them. When one of the payments came through my bank, I emailed her and she said she had just gotten it, even though it was 3 wks. later. I don't know if there was really that much problem with the mail both times, or if she just misplaced them. I even gave her good feedback, but she said I was a slow payer. I just know I mailed my payment after I won the auction. What happened after that, who knows? I discovered later that both of the Sellers that left me negative feedback because of my comments also used several Ebay names, because of all the negative feedbacks they had received. I guess you just take a chance when you purchase from Ebay.
Well, if I end up with negative feedback, so be it. I'm not planning on buying anything else there anyway. If I want a brug, I plan on buying it from a member seller or from Kathy Kort...
I just sent one of those Hirt people an email with a piece of my mind! I told them I would never buy from someone who was a thief!
I used to buy a lot of vintqage items from Ebay. I collect from about 1880 to 1940's. Of the last 10 items I got, 9 were bogus for one reason or aother.
Ho ironic I stumbled on this thread as just today I noticed one of my photos of a Versicolor Peach gracing someone else's listing! I did a double take when I saw it. I immediately fired off a message to remove my image from his listing at once. It's not only unethical, I have to believe it violates some eBay policies.
It is against eBay policies and the seller should be reported. Just contacting the seller privately doesn't help much, if they will do it once, they will do it again. eBay does keep track of sellers that continue to use images that belong to others.
Here's the link to report content and/or image theft:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/vero-image-text-theft.html
Mainfrog, was it this person who was using one of your images?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=20529&item=2382168234
That image is definitely not a versicolor, lol, I assume that is not your image, and they took down your correct image and tried to replace it with something close.
Mary, that pic looks so familiar to me! But I can't place it.
This message was edited Feb 23, 2004 8:24 AM
I found this web site that addresses your problem. I'm not sure if it will be of use to you, but here it is. I really sympathise with you.
http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=000lNH