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07/16/2010 12:10:30 PM · #1 |
Hey all ... has anyone looked into this? or Read anything about it?
https://www.imagerights.com/index.php
I haven't signed up yet ... I was just tooling through another photo website and they had an article on it.
Here's the article //digital-photography-school.com/imagerights-international-offers-free-service#more-16360
Message edited by author 2010-07-16 12:11:51.
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07/16/2010 12:15:11 PM · #2 |
Looks like the same type of software used by Tineye.
Am I correct to assume they just find the image, but not do anything to defend it? |
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07/20/2010 05:12:06 PM · #3 |
I was just coming here to post a link to the same site & article! Found this post while searching to make sure it wouldn't be a dupe.
ImageRights.com looks really nice -- it's been an available paid service (and somewhat pricy) for some time -- now (starting this month), they offer a free service also.
The difference between paid and free services is primarily the payout difference for litigation of claims of copyright violation. Paid accounts receive a 65/35 split, while free accounts split 50/50.
I've just found it myself, so I'm doing more research -- but this looks like a VERY useful service, and at worst an alternative/addition to tineye.
Would love to hear what other DPCers think of the service, especially if anyone has been using the paid service before, and/or have filed any claims for lost revenue. |
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07/21/2010 01:11:33 AM · #4 |
| One little late-night bump 'cause I'm really interested if anyone has used this service... |
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07/21/2010 05:09:30 PM · #5 |
| I've signed up for the free service and uploaded about 70 images, several of which are specifically licenced for use on several sites online (and even a couple I have here on DPC). I'll be very interested to see how the reporting works and see how many it finds. From the documentation, it looks like reports on sent on a weekly basis, so I may not have any data until some time next week -- but I'll report back here with how the report turns out. |
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07/21/2010 05:24:24 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by cdrice:
... but I'll report back here with how the report turns out. |
Excellent -- having an idea of how it works in the real world will be great.
It was confusing to me as to what you get with the paid services vs free -- do they sue for infringement on your behalf for a cut of the (potential) award, or do you still have to sue the infringer yourself?
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07/21/2010 06:18:10 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by GeneralE:
It was confusing to me as to what you get with the paid services vs free -- do they sue for infringement on your behalf for a cut of the (potential) award, or do you still have to sue the infringer yourself? |
I'm a little fuzzy there now also. It appears that the "revenue recovery program" is a process you can follow once imagerights has located a copyright violation. I'm not sure how to actually engage that process, nor how it differs from any litigation you might persue outside of the imagerights site itself.
I've forwarded my questions to the support staff asking for clarification. They were quick to reply to an earlier question I asked regarding specs on image uploading -- hopefully they'll send me a detailed answer soon. Again, I'll certainly share whatever I find/figure out...
ETA - From what I gather from the docs on their site now -- the revenue recover service is the same for free or paid accounts, but the split of recovered funds is different (65/35 for paid accounts, 50/50 for paid accounts, so you "get more money" with the paid account). That doesn't address the greater question of how the process actually works, though -- so hopefully their support staff will shed some light on that.
Message edited by author 2010-07-21 18:22:12. |
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07/22/2010 05:49:21 PM · #8 |
Okay, I just spent nearly 30 minutes on the phone with one of the co-founders of imagerights and I'm VERY impressed.
There will be an official announcement / press release being made some time on (or hopefully before) August 15, so I don't want to steal their thunder, but here are some brief details of what they will be providing with the revenue recovery service:
Once you find an unauthorized image use, imagerights will send demand letters to the offender, requesting accounting information / usage of the image(s) in question, monetary valuation requests, collection info, etc. If they do not reply, imagerights will make a series of collection phone calls, essentially hounding the offender just like any collection agency would. Depending on if you have registered your image officially (via the standard copyright registration process), they may also provide attorney referral and provide full evidence gathering.
Also, imagerights will be providing a third-party copyright registration service -- so instead of going through the trouble of registering images yourself, you can both register *and* protect your images via the imagerights web site -- making it a "one-stop-shop" of sorts for image copyright registration and enforcement.
Nothing is for free in this world, of course, so the registration would require a nominal fee, and the revenue recovery service works on a percentage basis (higher percentage taken out for free accounts, lower for paid accounts). You can use the initial revenue recovery service for free until you find a violation, then switch to a paid account to obtain a higher claim percentage -- so you really can "try before you buy" the service.
So, again, official terms and conditions will be announced by mid-August, but in the mean time, if you do find an actionable image misuse, you can contact imagerights by phone or email, and they will begin a revenue collection action for you -- so the staff and infrastructure is already in place on their side.
Also, if you have identified a misuse yourself (regardless of if you've uploaded the image to imagerights yet), you can start a recovery claim with imagerights and they will follow the same processes outlined above.
Overall I'm very excited. From our very detailed and friendly discussion, it really sounds like they have a sound business plan, and are breaking new ground for a much-needed service for the "small" photographer businesses. (Some services like this already exist, but they are MUCH more expensive, and require very high numbers of image registrations -- so they are really best geared for heavy/large stock shooters and agencies).
I say check them out and give it a shot. It's a free service to try out -- and the terms of service of the site VERY clearly lay out that they will not use or redistribute your images themselves, nor even allow anyone to view your uploaded images.
Any questions or opinions, feel free to post. I'll be happy to take anyone's questions back to them myself, or you're welcome to contact them via their phone or email addresses on the imagerights site. |
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07/22/2010 06:10:18 PM · #9 |
Thank you for an excellent summary -- that sounds great.
It's that collections part of the operation that none of us have time/resources to do (except maybe  DrAchoo, who found a really flagrant violation!), and local professionals (lawyers) can't really afford to do it "on spec" for us the way these folks are setting themselves up to do.
One thing I anticipate being difficult is determining whether (for example) an image posted here and also at a microstock agency is being used legally or not. Are they prepared to first send a polite letter inquiring whether the found usage is licensed or not? With royalty-free licensing, the photographer has no way of knowing who has licensed an image ... :-( |
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07/22/2010 06:42:21 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by GeneralE:
One thing I anticipate being difficult is determining whether (for example) an image posted here and also at a microstock agency is being used legally or not. Are they prepared to first send a polite letter inquiring whether the found usage is licensed or not? With royalty-free licensing, the photographer has no way of knowing who has licensed an image ... :-( |
I'll forward that question along. My gut feeling is that determination really needs to be up to the photographer -- the engagement of the revenue recovery service really hinges on the photographer's good faith belief that an image is being misused. In the case of royalty-free stock licencing, as you mention, it would be nearly impossible to determine if an image is being used via a stock sale or not. My feeling there would simply be there is no way to tell, and thus no good faith assertion there was misuse.
I'll run it by them and see if they have considered that specific situation, though, and find out their thoughts... |
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07/22/2010 06:53:27 PM · #11 |
| Maybe they can work out an arrangement with the stock agencies where they can check and see whether a photo has been legally downloaded from them or not -- and seems like the stock sites would want to promote the heck out of this service for their submitters ... |
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