My only reason for using the photos to begin with was because I thought they were such beautiful examples. I certainly did not intend to try and pass the work off as my own.
This is a great start! He should tell this to the person whose work he copied and used. He seems to recognize the mistake - just say this kind of stuff.
Yes, it was probably wrong to not ask permission first, but I really didn't think anyone would mind that much. I certainly did not expect the vitriol I received and some of the remarks on the forum are bordering on defamatory.
The problem here is that, once informed it was copyright infringement, he should have taken care of it in a way that showed that he was concerned - rather than wait for someone to be nice after the fact. Ignorance of the law...............
I'm trying to imagine the scenario:
Judge - I know that I should not have used someone else's work to demonstrate possible artwork that could be created from equipment that I sell, but I just didn't think they would mind if I didn't take the time to find out who to credit or if there were any laws that I should know about.
Judge responds: I understand. I appreciate your concerns and your sincerity. Pay the plantiff $1000.00.
I would have gladly given everyone credit, but since most were threatening litigation and demands of removal from the start, I had no choice but to pull the listing.
Oops - and then relist and say rude things.........
It is an unfortunate circumstance that I think has been blown out of all proportion. I would have much preferred to give credit captions on the photos and promote the makers work had they simply asked like yourself.
Two things - first, the fellow needs to assume some of the responsibility for blowing it out of proportion by responding in an inappropriate way. Secondly, he wrongly assumes that giving credit is the answer. If he profits from the use of copyrighted material, the ethical, moral, and responsibly legal thing to do is to offer a percentage and hope that they person whose work was "stolen" (even without understanding) would simply offer to allow for credit to be given rather than payment. That assumption is not reasonable.
It's getting to be a very harsh world we live in these days, people tend to shoot first and ask questions later, and everyone gets aggravated. The Internet and Ebay are a minefield of rules and regulations.
With good reason. Despite good intentions of many, there are lots of people in the world who will steal someone's work and profit from that work. Napster comes to mind. Being a professional musician and educator, I become a bit non-plussed when people want to copy my commercial CD instead of purchase a copy. Imagine my surprise to receive a copy of a Music Education Quarterly that contains an article I wrote and submitte online - without permission. Worse - I get kind of crabby when folks plagerize my writings, articles, etc. without giving credit or, worse, a percentage of any profit that they might make from my work. Our university kicks studenets out of school for serious plagerizing. Someone has to let these folks know what is right and wrong. If they still don't get it - there are laws that exist specifically for these reasons.
If I get caught doing 85 in a 65 and I was doing it purposefully (which of course, I would never do [
]) and I was pulled over by a cop, I wouldn't get mad and be short with the cop for doing his job. Despite the larger ticket I might receive, it just isn't mature!
I thought my explanation was reasonable in the disclaimer and did apologise in the new listing, apparently it was not good enough for some and they are still baying for blood.
Not baying for blood - but there isn't anything wrong with discussing on a list such as this that some poor, uninformed soul was wrong and should take responsibility and make ammends. I'm looking for an, "I'm very sorry - I made a mistake." No judge or jury is going to do anything to someone who acts that way - and most people would say - hey - thanks for recognizing the problem - I'll look for you to take care of it online.
BTW - this isn't a rant - but I might go jump in a lake anyway.
Best,
Roger Garrett
