I've contributed a lot of images to the West Seattle Blog since my first one in 2007. Though many of those photographs were paid assignments from the editors, the vast majority of the images I have contributed have been produced without compensation simply as a public service for WSB readers and because I believe in what Patrick and Tracy have built from whole cloth.
For every fire, car wreck, water rescue and police action that I've gone out to in the wee hours of morning (usually in the cold and wet), there are dozens of instances that have turned out to be nothing. No photograph. No story. Shooting hard news for the WSB is often interesting and challenging. But in comparison to my paid work for magazines and for fine art images it can sometimes be a tough slog.
As anyone who puts their images on the web will discover, the Internet has made it easy to steal copyrighted material. From time to time I have discovered some of my images that had been downloaded from the WSB and reposted to other sites. In most cases these were just individual bloggers who were probably just a bit thoughtless. I'd usually send a polite request that they take down the image and they generally comply. No harm, no foul.
But something happened recently that was quite different. While doing some research on commercial properties for sale in West Seattle I stumbled upon one of my photographs being used in a six-figure commercial real estate listing. The image had appeared on the WSB shortly before the business had closed and been listed for sale. Five months had elapsed since I stumbled upon the image which I assumed had been in use all that time. My photograph had apparently been downloaded from the West Seattle Blog story and re-posted to the listing. No one had ever contacted me to ask for my permission to use the image. Much more odious was the fact that they had posted a copyright "flag" on top of my image and were representing it as their own.
I immediately sent an e-mail to both the listing agent, Laura Miller of Catalyst Commercial Partners, and to the webmaster for the website where my image was listed. The webmaster responded almost immediately with a polite apology and removed the image from the site within 24 hours. She told me that the listing agent, Ms. Miller, was responsible for uploading the image to the listing and had knowingly ticked a box verifying that she had permission to upload the image. She pledged to follow-up with Ms. Miller regarding the violation.
Despite my attempts to contact Laura Miller about this matter she has chosen to simply ignore the situation. She apparently seems to think that mistakes (including decisions of questionable ethics and legality) can simply be ignored. I probably only ever expected a simple apology from her. But feeling cheeky from her failure to take responsibility I mailed her an invoice for the comparable value of the image she had used without permission. Unsurprisingly, she ignored that too. I've seen her name on big-time commercial real estate listings all over Seattle so I'm guessing she's either too busy to deal with me or perhaps has some sort of philosophical problem with Title 17 USC (the US Copyright law that protects copyright holders from having their work appropriated by commercial interests).
Stealing copyrighted material off of the Net for your own financial gain is clearly not as dramatic as smashing a car window and stealing a bunch of someone else's property to sell or pawn. But I'd argue that they are akin to one another. What incentive do artists have to create if their work can be commoditized for the financial gain of others with no recourse or responsibility? Why should some commercial clients pay me for my images when others can just take my images for free and use their value for their own profit?
I have never met Ms. Miller personally and have never had any business dealings with her. However, I wanted to post my experience as a caveat for others in the community who may cross paths with her.
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