Re: Tracing origin of a graphic?

Paul,

I don't know of such a thing but it's obvious that graphic "theft" is
getting worse and the best way to find out if something is available for
your use is to ask.

Just a couple of days ago, the woman who runs the graphic forum that I
belong too, discovered that some woman in Germany had stolen her
PhotoImpact tutorials.  The forum is well recognized by Ulead and our
fearless leader has been writing tutorials for PhotoImpact for years along
with books for the different versions, so we're not just talking about an
amateur here. Needless to say, she was furious as were the rest of us.

How did she know they were stolen ? ...this bright spark had taken the
entire pages and translated them into German, put them up, claimed them as
her own and even had the nerve to put a copyright mark on them and is/was
offering them for sale and to be included in a book that she is
writing...sheesh!!  She didn't even have the brains to alter them in any
way other than the translation. On closer inspection, we found graphics
that she had also taken from one of our other members and claimed them as
her own.

All of us put stuff up for people to take and use, me included, but our
sites make it pretty darned clear as to how the graphics may or may not be
used and this sort of thievery is just way beyond everything.

Needless to say, she has been warned in the sternest terms, to remove every
trace of stolen work or she will find herself up to her armpits in legal
doodoo.

Unfortunately, every graphic out there is available to anyone that really
wants it and there are some folks who mistakenly believe they will never be
caught. This woman has said she is sorry, but my guess is, she's only sorry
that she got sprung.

Most folks are pretty nice about you using their graphics in one way or
another as long as you ask first and make sure that you fully understand
the terms and conditions of use.

I won't mention the site in question, but this woman also has tutorials and
stuff for Paint Shop Pro up that she says are hers too, so if any of you
use PSP and you would like more information, email me.

Kym

At 08:45 AM 5/12/2000 -0500, Villano, Paul wrote:
>How do you find the origin of a graphic?  There are so many graphics out
>there, that if you run across one, how do you know it's not copyrighted (in
>the sense that someone is collecting royalties off of it, I know once
>something is created it is covered by US copyright at least in the US,
>automatically).  I've received great background images I'd like to use, but
>one is never really sure where they came from and whether they're safe to
>use.  Is there some sort of public repository of known
>copyrighted/chargeable graphics out there we could check against?
>
>_______
> Every breath is a beginning.  Every moment is a miracle.  Use them well. -
>Paul Villano 

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