Carl T. BergstromWell this sort of sucks. An online vendor is using my photographs in their "Crows" 2024 calendar without permission.
Also, the second photo is a raven, not a crow.
Update: I contacted the vendor, who apparently was misled by a third party site about the licensing. They have removed the photos.
All”s well that ends well.
Pseudo Nym@ct_bergstrom Brilliant. So happy to hear when it works. Now about that licensing site...
@CharleneTeglia@ct_bergstrom Oh good! Now you can make your own crow calendar, full of tips for befriending crows through the year.
Gordon Dewis 🇨🇦 🌻☁️🔭☃️😷💉💉💉💉💉💉💉@ct_bergstrom except for the fact that they’ve made money from your photos. I hope they’re compensating you for this.
George Girton@ct_bergstrom yes! And now I’m inspired to make a crow calendar of my own… I would have to call it “Blurry Birds 2024 “though🍸😹
Nonya Bidniss 🥥🌴@ct_bergstrom Holy shit.
Bob Davidsoncheck in with @alexwild this happens to him frequently with his bug pictures.
@wa7iut @Nonya_Bidniss @alexwild
Would love to hear your tips, Alex.
I don't care about the money side of things — there's no money to be made here. But it does annoy me. The vendor is not based in the US, and appears to do this at scale.
@ct_bergstrom @wa7iut @alexwild perhaps a campaign of people commenting and reporting on sites such offering the calendar
Alex Wild@ct_bergstrom @wa7iut @Nonya_Bidniss
That’s so annoying. I’d send a DMCA takedown request to the web host. Even though DMCA is a U.S. law, in many countries they honor notices anyway.
Failing that, you can send copyright notices to Google and Bing, and they’ll block the pages in their search results, which also hurts the SEO of that domain.
Bruce Mirken@ct_bergstrom I believe the technical term for an appropriate response is, "Sue the bastards."
Yusuf Toropov@BruceMirken @ct_bergstrom don't see why you wouldn't, assuming they are unwilling to make you whole
El Jefe "
" 
@ct_bergstrom ya that's bad. 😠
Mike Cato@ct_bergstrom
So the level of criminal sophistication, or the search engine they used, isn't very good.
So the level of criminal sophistication, or the search engine they used, isn't very good.
James Guilford@ct_bergstrom Not “sort of” but *really* sucks! As creator of the stolen material I hope you are able to succeed in reasserting control of your work and either get paid or cessation of their unauthorized use! Good luck!
Dr. B Learned Hand@ct_bergstrom
Ask for a thank you letter and include in your merit review at uw. But don’t hold your breath.
. I would be excited to have this happen.
Steve's Place@ct_bergstrom I love that you've corrected them. If they're making $, they owe you. Copyright attorneys always need something to do to keep them from hanging out under streetlights at night, whispering, "Psst, buddy. Wanna buy a tort?".
Rich@ct_bergstrom When you post the photos online do you use any sort of license (i.e. is it legal for them use the photos without payment)? Is this a US company and do you have a friend who is a lawyer? 😃
Kathy E. Gill 🇺🇦Words, music and images are copyrighted in the US on creation. Pretty sure Carl wouldn’t bring this to our attention if he was using a CC license that released rights. :-/
Bodling@ct_bergstrom Nice photos, though! (seriously)
Karen Wilcox, PhD (she, her)
GirlCroosh@ct_bergstrom Wow. That’s incredibly shitty.
LillyLyle/Count Melancholia@ct_bergstrom Many photographers I know quite simply send an invoice when they discover their work being used in the press or elsewhere. Surprising how many pay up.
Zeb Palmer (Syringa Admin)
Louis Cyphre@ct_bergstrom https://www.rocketlawyer.com/sem/cease-and-desist-letter?id=1411&partnerid=103&cid=15321781379&adgid=135589382128&loc_int=&loc_phys=9005935&mt=b&ntwk=g&dv=c&adid=435641283107&kw=free%20cease%20and%20desist%20letter&adpos=&plc=&trgt=&trgtid=kwd-298618357585&gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwgqejBhBAEiwAuWHioL65x009bJLCogct9591i2A440l61pVxz97qtFXL93yg8q5EXOsm-hoCrroQAvD_BwE
Tony Cava@ct_bergstrom I cannot like this toot.
Gareth Harmer@ct_bergstrom ok, I did some digging. I found the site and looked up who was hosting it.
Place a DCMA takedown request with VULTR, who are the hosting provider for the site in question. https://www.vultr.com/legal/copyright/
In the request, specifically assert the rights you own, the applicable laws, and links to the works if online elsewhere.
Inform them that the outlet seems to be performing multiple infringements of other works due to the nature of the products they sell.
@Gazimoff Thank you. I'll do that. I appreciate the advice.
WndlB@ct_bergstrom @Gazimoff And then, if that does not solve the problem (they’re still selling them elsewhere regardless), ask around for a good local plaintiff’s side IP lawyer to write the Threatening Letter.
Robert@ct_bergstrom that sucks - there’s so much copyright theft on some of these stores 😢
Mike Mayak@ct_bergstrom Sue them.
Infrogmation@ct_bergstrom
DMCA takedown time.
DMCA takedown time.
SeaTea@ct_bergstrom Stealing a dozen crows is nothing short of a murder. 😡
@ct_bergstrom the worse ones for this are Getty images. They've got loads of mine.
My camera shoots fascists@ct_bergstrom
😡😡
If you would have otherwise been willing to license them, send them a big fat bill.
Otherwise, see if you can find who the fulfillment house is and what e-commerce platform they are using. Sometimes this is really obvious in the code inspector.
If you really want to go after them, scroll through and see if you can do reverse image look ups on some of their other products and see how prevalent copyright violations are. If it's too rampant, you may be able to get their DNS and web hosting ganked by presenting the evidence to their registrar and web host. Get them booted off their e-commerce platform and maybe out of their fulfillment house as well. What payment gateway do they use? Present the evidence of copyright violation to them as well and maybe you can get that shut down. Before you do all that, place a fake order and screenshot every step of it as evidence.
Saying this because I did a similar level of takedown to a fake automobile auction site. I need to write it all up.
Christo@ct_bergstrom
That's called theft
That's called theft
skuaInspect their calendar.
Then in a clean room make your own 2024 Crows Calendar and tell us here where we can download a copy and for how much.
If each month could be used separately as screen wallpaper that would be nice too.
michi@ct_bergstrom Hoping you teach them a lesson.
@ct_bergstrom Reparations should be forthcoming!
karin Sorenby@ct_bergstrom yes...sure does...sorry to you....those are so beautiful photos too...😮
Hulk Smash COVID@ct_bergstrom lots of good ideas in this post response.. maybe you could put them in a certain order, like first send an invoice, if no response, a cease and desist, 3rd post comments on the calendar telling customers they are using stolen art, 4th get a lawyer, or something like that...
Kapo@ct_bergstrom that's not on .
@ct_bergstrom
Insist on a quid pro crow
Insist on a quid pro crow
@ccount or a quid per crow.
Ged|Net@ct_bergstrom A fat lump sum or royalties would have also been welcomed, maybe?.
Also a credit on each snap.
Also a credit on each snap.
Asiny@ct_bergstrom give us an address and we can write/text in a kind of dam to stop people buying?
@ct_bergstrom You've contacted them, I assume? Did you get a reply?