Copying Just A Form Of Flattery?
June 9th, 2008
>I don’t think so.
Ever since I redesigned artist-at-large.com and started using the Futurosity theme for the regional sections of the site, I’ve been getting great comments about the site. I think the theme is just perfect for the way I envisioned the site to be - an online magazine that never goes out of date, where the readers can come to it and flip through the stories and find their way around the world.
It’s working so well for me, that a few people have written, asking that I send my files to them so they can use them on their own site. One guy in India assured me that he would be using it for a completely different topic! I told him how much I charged per hour for WordPress theme hacks and I haven’t heard back from him.
Yes, WordPress themes are free, but having someone hack them for you is not. It’s a lot of work. A lot of work, to get a theme to look just right for a particular project.
I found someone this morning who has copied some of my work from view page source (I think) and I’ve politely written and told him my photographs are under copyright and that he should take them off of his site immediately.
I think this is a good time to talk about what constitutes stealing on the internet or the web. If you take a photographer’s work without their permission, and post it on a public section of your own site, giving the impression that you took the photo, then you are setting yourself up for some trouble, or, if the photographer is ornery enough, a lawsuit. Always read the copyright in the footer and follow the link, if there is one, to get details of what that copyright includes. My copyrights include not reproducing or hotlinking to my work without permission and once permission is given credit as the photographer must be included. I also charge real money for the use of my photographs, so if you use them without permission, even via a hotlink, expect a hefty bill if they aren’t taken down in a timely manner.
If you want free photographs to illustrate your site, go to Flickr. It’s full of free photos and some of them are even good.
