I received this email last night from photographer Don Bersano:
It has come to my attention from other photographers and models that you have posted one of my photos on your site of Jamie Eason without permission. To make matters worse, it appears the copyright stating Bersano Photography was cropped off as well. It's pretty balsy to make a statement that you noticed the models photo's on Johhny Croslins site, add a link to his site and then utilize one of my photos for your article while removing the copyright with no mention of the photographer. Remove the photo immediately or face the possibility of legal charges. There is a reason photographers utilize copyright laws. It's not for sites such as yours to use other photographers and models photos at will. There are laws.I am willing to pursue this matter further if necessary.
Don Bersano
And responded this morning:
Oh, calm down.
First off I didn't knowingly crop out any credit - I didn't notice any credit and I no longer have the original to verify that there was one. Had I known it was your photo I certainly would have credited you, which is something I commonly do. It certainly wasn't my intent to slight you because I had no idea who you are. Secondly there's this thing called "fair use" in copyright law which means, for practical purposes in this situation, that I can use a small version of the image, which is what I'm using, without your permission. The image is 150 pixels wide, just like Google uses for its thumbnails of your images. Maybe you should send a nasty, threatening email to Google, too?
If you'd contacted me in a civil fashion - "Hey, Lingster: I am the photographer who took that photo of Jamie Eason on your site and I'd appreciate it if you credited me appropriately" - I would have apologized, put your credit on it immediately and perma-linked your site. You could have made a nice contact and gotten some quality link love. But given the hostile nature of your email, I have done just as you asked and removed the photo. I will also post your email and my response to Amaz0ns, so that the approximately 3000 people who read the site every day can avoid making the mistake I did.
Have a nice day. In the future try to remember that you catch more bees with honey than by acting like a jerk.
You tell him Lingster. Bersano is such as asshole, you were clearly within the law.
Lingster
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Ok, Ok...
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Super Administrator
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2006-09-06 14:37:44
...let's not insult the man. I'm willing to extend the benefit of the doubt that he just got carried away.
kuner
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Registered
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2006-09-06 16:39:05
i'm really intrigued to see how he reacts
best thing would be to apologise
Fett
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Registered
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2006-09-06 20:27:34
This is funny as hell. "Oh, calm down." Hehehehehh
Rick
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Registered
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2006-09-07 01:53:04
I can see his point, but he did react in the wrong way.
and your responce was spot on 8)
Jack X
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Registered
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2006-09-07 14:05:57
Go, Lingster! Still, I do feel sorry for photographers when people take advantage of their work on the net. He should have picked targets that deserved criticism, though - not only have you been completely blameless, you've taken an admirable anti-piracy stance that he should be thanking you for. It helps protect the work he's so concerned about, after all.
Lingster
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Yeah...
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Super Administrator
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2006-09-07 18:40:40
I made a similar mistake about a month ago when I credited a photo to Gene X. Hwang that was actually taken by James Cook. Now, the two of them work together so it was an easy mistake to make. But James mentioned it in the course of an unrelated email thread and I apologized in email and corrected it immediately. I want to promote photographers and models, not steal from them. And I think it's pretty obvious that Amaz0ns promotes people rather than steal from them, so I don't really understand where he's coming from.
Tigersan
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Registered
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2006-09-07 19:13:38
LOL - Burned!!! hehe
Tigersan
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Registered
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2006-09-07 19:18:00
Its simply coming from forums like Saradas that STEAL content. It's fairly popular, photographers and models have bad opinion on such places because of ppl on Saradas and other websites that actually do steal. I HATE THAT
tilly
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Registered
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2006-09-08 16:14:28
served
UnnDunn
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Um, what did this accomplish?
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Registered
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2006-09-09 08:35:38
What was the point of posting this? To embarrass a photographer because he didn't ask you to take down one of his pictures nicely enough?
I'm sorry, but I feel this is something that can and should have been confined strictly to email. Creating a spectacle of it, no matter how small, shows a lack of tact.
My 2 cents.
Lingster
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re: Um, what did this accompli
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Super Administrator
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2006-09-09 22:59:12
UnnDunn wrote:
What was the point of posting this? To embarrass a photographer because he didn't ask you to take down one of his pictures nicely enough?
If he's embarrassed by this exchange then it's his own email that's the cause of it, not anything I wrote.
In my experience when someone attempts to threaten or bully you with a lawsuit or prosecution for something groundless or trivial, you give 'em a good hard smack to let them know it's not going to wash. That's the purpose of this post.
Having extended no tact or courtesy, he was owed none.
