# Instagram situation



## KMH_86 (Dec 26, 2018)

Haven’t encountered this before and wanted to get some thoughts. I took a photo of someone and passed it along to them. The person’s face is not shown in the image. That person then posted the photo on Instagram and gave me credit. A company on Instagram saw the image, took a screenshot of it and posted it in their IG Stories. The photo disappears after 24 hours. The photo was edited by them, slightly giving it more contrast. In the story they posted a handful of other personal accounts and a typed a quote. How would you proceed?


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## jeffW (Dec 26, 2018)

KMH_86 said:


> How would you proceed?



First thing I would do is set up a way to automatically place your watermark on all social media images including any quick snaps you might do straight from your phone.  This does two things first any sharing that happens even if it's not consensual advertises your name.  Second if they remove this and you do decide to go to court I believe you have a much better case in the eyes of a lawyer.

You could take screen shots, ask them to credit you, send them an invoice for social media usage, talk to a lawyer, etc...  but understand if you haven't submitted the image to the Copyright office you are going to have to shell out a bit of coin to fight for your rights.

Do I like this? No but is the battle worth the win knowing the cost to fight it?  In my opinion all advance photographers, amateur or pro, should be placing their watermark on all internet images if for no other reason than to state "I value this piece of work"

The watermark need not be overbearing just something tasteful so you feel fine giving the image to your friend to pass around.


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## KMH_86 (Dec 26, 2018)

I did not post the image. I sent the image to the person in the photo in a personal text message. I’m not going to watermark it in that situation. That person then used the photo on IG, then a company stole it off of my friend’s account.


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## jeffW (Dec 27, 2018)

KMH_86 said:


> ... I sent the image to the person in the photo in a personal text message. I’m not going to watermark it in that situation...



why not?  Yes I am being completely serious, you must've had the foresight your friend is most likely going to post it so why not have a small watermark auto incerted on all images you release?  Unless you're a VP with an international banking institution and have the money to fight (recent case you can google search) what advice do you want?  Do you know how many times I've found my images stolen - I've even found my images stolen by other photographers! And yes there is some licensing money that I truly could use at times - life sucks for artists (big news there)

You come here looking to whine either lawyer up and fight the good fight or do something you can actually do.


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## KMH_86 (Dec 27, 2018)

Looking to whine? lol Please tell me more about how you could use licensing money and that life sucks for artists. No, I don’t know how many times you’ve had images stolen. I received some constructive advice by a fellow photographer regarding the situation so I’m glad I asked around.


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## jeffW (Dec 27, 2018)

KMH_86 said:


> ... I received some constructive adviced...



oh please share


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## tirediron (Dec 27, 2018)

Under what conditions did you "pass it along".  If you simply said, "Hey Bill, here's a photo you might like." and nothing else, than you have only yourself to blame.  Assume that images placed on social media are going to be stolen, and assume that images given to others will be placed on social media.  Can't say I'm a fan, but it is the new reality.  The vast majority of the world's population doesn't regard taking an image from an on-line source as theft.


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## Braineack (Dec 27, 2018)

KMH_86 said:


> How would you proceed?



I wouldnt.

nor should you.


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## KMH_86 (Dec 28, 2018)

Thanks for the replies. After getting some advice since my original post, I filled out the Instagram infringement form. They got back to me in a couple hours and after providing proof of ownership of that image and a quick email enhange, IG disabled access to the content. Pretty easy to get taken care of. Thanks again.


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## otherprof (Dec 28, 2018)

jeffW said:


> KMH_86 said:
> 
> 
> > How would you proceed?
> ...


As I understand it, a creative work is copyrighted automatically as soon as the "pen leaves the paper." One sends items to the copyright office to make it easy to establish when it was created and therefore copyrighted. Time stamps on the image could serve that purpose. That being said, I agree that in a case like this it is not worth the trouble. Doesn't Facebook own Instagram? 'nuf said.


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## KMH_86 (Dec 28, 2018)

It wasn’t trouble from my experience. Quite easy and swift actually.


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## Braineack (Dec 28, 2018)

KMH_86 said:


> Thanks for the replies. After getting some advice since my original post, I filled out the Instagram infringement form. They got back to me in a couple hours and after providing proof of ownership of that image and a quick email enhange, IG disabled access to the content. Pretty easy to get taken care of. Thanks again.



it already disabled itself after that initial 24hr period....


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## KMH_86 (Dec 28, 2018)

I didn’t run back to the forum to update everyone as soon as it happened. It was resolved by the afternoon yesterday. So while the story was up for about 18 hours or so, it did in fact get removed and that account was notified by IG about what’s going on.


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## WalterRowe (Jan 1, 2019)

I think you did the right thing. Nothing legal is reasonable (in terms of involving the court). You would be unable to demonstrate significant "damage" or "lost revenue" in this situation. If it disappears within 24 hours regardless of you filing a DMCA with IG, then the loss is minimal at best.


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## zhounder (Jan 1, 2019)

KMH - Just so you’re aware, beyond what you did is about all you can do, and you got lucky they did anything in your favor. The fact the matter is that the TOS that you agreed to gets you to completely give up all rights to your images when posted to IG.

Now in your case you didn’t actually do the posting of the image, which is probably why they actually acted at all. However, if you had been forced to seek legal action, you would have needed to actually sue your friend, not IG or the violating company. 

According to the TOS of IG the company has the right to use the images they get off their site.  In fact a couple of years ago a major suite was brought against a person who took IG images, with the text, and blew them up poster sized. He then printed and sold them for millions. When the original posters sued him, they actually lost.

First, when you share ANY image to anyone for any reason, expect it to be stolen. Second, count yourself lucky this time.


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## WalterRowe (Jan 1, 2019)

zhounder said:


> KMH - Just so you’re aware, beyond what you did is about all you can do, and you got lucky they did anything in your favor. The fact the matter is that the TOS that you agreed to gets you to completely give up all rights to your images when posted to IG.
> 
> Now in your case you didn’t actually do the posting of the image, which is probably why they actually acted at all. However, if you had been forced to seek legal action, you would have needed to actually sue your friend, not IG or the violating company.
> 
> ...


We grant Instagram the rights necessary to make their service perform as advertised. We grant IG no rights that allow anyone else to use our images.

Here are the Instagram Terms. Look for the section titled "Permissions You Give to Us".
Terms of Use | Instagram Help Center

The case you cite against Richard Prince who made posters from other people's Instagram posts  is not related to rights we grant Instagram. Richard Prince blew up other people's image posts to poster size and sold them. As an aside, he is currently in the middle of multiple law suits and most likely will ultimately lose on all accounts (see here).

The Richard Prince case is relevant because one person cannot misappropriate another person's image and that is what is he charged with doing (copyright infringement). A successful copyright lawsuit would have to prove intent and that you incurred damages.


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## Trever1t (Jan 1, 2019)

As you’ve found, FB and IG are both responsive to unauthorized use of copyright materials. I’ve had very similar experiences with similar results.


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## Dikkie (Feb 3, 2019)

I've had photos stolen and reused by others before too.
Oh well... it's not worth to put in much energy to do what exactly... until someone else steals it again?

Anyway, see it as a good compliment for your photography work, no one wants to steal bad photos, no ?


What often occurs is that people who steal it, they somehow mess with it and crop it a wrong way and totally f*ck up your image and thén put it online again. That's aweful... and really a pity.


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