Precinct Omega
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Well ain't that kick in the wallet
🕑 Added 2024-04-05 06:54:04 +0000 UTCAs some of you know, I take intellectual property rights quite seriously. But when I was first starting out, I wasn't as well informed as I am today and, like many bloggers, did occasionally treat anything on the Internet as public property.
I'm much better behaved, these days. But it was a bit of a blow to get a demand for £370 for the use of an image in a blog post I made back in 2020.
Fortunately, thanks to recent strong sales following the release of Midnight Dark, I'm not in too bad a situation for such unexpected expenditures. But it's still a chunk. But it's not a scam. It's a proper, legitimate business representing Reuters and I undeniably used a Reuters photographer's photo without permission. And that ought to have consequences. So I've gone back with a somewhat lower counter-offer in the hope that they'll agree and let me off for some of the figure.
I mention this mainly to say that in the off-chance you have any interest in my website blog, you'll see some old photos disappear as I tidy up. And from now on I'll be much more proactive about either using my own photography (the best solution!) or royalty-free images from Pixabay. I also mention it, though, for those of you who have your own blogs and websites. Don't be a Robey. Pay artists their licence fees or don't use their work without permission!
Comments
Precinct Omega
I've done the due diligence I can. Whilst there is definitely some dodgy practice at play, they are definitely representing Reuters and the claim appears to be legitimate as far as I can tell.
Jonathan Lupton
Sounds like Copyright Trolling to me. There's a whole industry around it, and Patent Trolling/other forms of IP trolling. At work I sometimes get involved in Patent claims against my company. Normally trolls trying to claim something that isn't true in the hopes of getting some money. It's basically become a cost of doing business, even fighting the claim costs time and money.
Gavin Thorpe
Careful. There’s a whole dodgy legal business similar to ambulance chasers that trawl the net looking for this kind of thing. Cory Doctorow write about it a couple of years ago.
