Portraying Others' Work as Your Own

[jhu1321]

I'd say show a little integrity and don't do it!

This would not count for manufacturer stock photography that is approved for dealer use.

[Guest filmpeople]

I would have to say that if you dont watermark or do FLASH photos, you cant complain when other people steal pictures. I do however think it is wrong when they claim it is thier work in writing, thats just crappy.... but what about all those lame ole LLumar generic pictures I see on alot of sites...u know the girl with the shattered glass.....ect

That's exactly what I'm talking about. Even if photos of someone's work are not watermarked, it does not give you the right to post them on your website whether you claim they are yours in writing or not. Because the moment you post them on your website, you are inherently claiming that they are yours. That is copyright infringement.

This is a direct quote from www.copyright.gov:

"Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created, and a work is “created” when it is fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time. “Copies” are material objects from which a work can be read or visually perceived either directly or with the aid of a machine or device, such as books, manuscripts, sheet music, film, videotape, or microfilm. " For more information, please visit www.copyright.gov.

I'm not talking about stock photography and/or dealer/manufacturers' photos cleared for general use. I'm specifically talking about photos of original work that we create and put on our websites to show what we can do; and then gets stolen and used on other websites.

[Guest 1reddime]

I say just hang em!

[tint123]

It means their work is not good enough to use pics of cars they have done.

[Guest Sunlimited]

I'd be ripping pi$$ed, we all feel the same way, my work is my work, if you want to use it give me the credit. Alot of props to Custom though for keeping cool in that situation, I'd have been hearing from his lawyer for pain and suffering..

[matty cox]

we have a big vw show in our country, there was a tint company with a t4 transporter on there stand, tinted out front windows and rear barn doors and sides, it had there logos all over it, but I tinted it 2 months ago, since then sold on to the owner of the tint shop... my work , they were 'showing it as there own quality of work.

[Guest lordofthetints]

this kind of stuff has happened to us many times, I have seen many busisness cards with some of our work, even got some flyers from other stores with some our jobs. That´s messed up!

[flat rock stan]

here is a great example of people stealing My Words

About half the stuff on the site is written by me and has been on Visit My Website for ever. I see that it is a build it yourself site so they cant blame it on a web developer. These sites pop up all the time with my stuff. I guess I should take it as a compliment they want to copy me.