Pbase Photos Stolen or Given to Polyvore?

[soenda]

There is a clothing website called Polyvore that invites customers to submit photos to be screened onto T-shirts. There are many, many pbase photos there. Once someone opts to use your photo, it gets added to the collection for others to use as well.

Apparently if you see an unauthorized use of your photo, you can ask Polyvore to take it down.(!) But the onus is on you to object.
Here's where to look: http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/search.things?query=pbase

It goes on for page after page.

Obviously, it's possible that many Pbase members may have given their permission for their work to be used this way. But I doubt that all those pbase photos got there legitimately. More likely that visitors co-opted them for use.

[genghis45]

[rileypm]

Thanks, I found one of mine just 8 pages in. It seems they have a form to submit to have copywrited photos removed, but there are sure a lot of pages to look thru.

[noearlybird]

I found one of mine too (thanks to Dan for alerting me to this). I submitted the copyright form but haven't heard yet. My kid on a t-shirt??
http://www.polyvore.com/hot_beauty/set?id=3968527

[bclaypole]

There are a lot of images from pbase members - Yiannis Pavlis, LeeG, etc. I didn't find any of mine which is ironically madding for the opposite reason!

[happypoppeye]

Hmmm,

Not only photos but certain members have their own page with a link back to pbase to search for more photos.
That's interesting. From what I take out of it, polyvore is advertising that you can pick a photo out of pbase and use it.

Here is what polyvore says:

How can I get my images removed from Polyvore?
Polyvore takes copyright issues very seriously. If you find your copyrighted images on Polyvore and don't want them there, please let us know and we will take them down within 1 business day. To make it as simple as possible, copyright owners can submit takedown requests directly through our online form.

To file a copyright infringement notification with us, you will need to send a written communication that includes substantially the following (please consult your legal counsel or see Section 512(c)(3) of the Copyright Act to confirm these requirements):

Identify in sufficient detail the copyrighted work that you believe has been infringed upon.
Identify the material that you claim is infringing the copyrighted work listed in item. You must include URLs for the material you want taken down.
Provide your full name, address, telephone number, and email address, so that Polyvore can contact you.
Include the following statement: "I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above as allegedly infringing is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law."
Include the following statement: "I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed."
Sign the notice, proving that you are a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
You may submit the above using our online form or send the written communication to the following address:

DMCA Complaints
Polyvore, Inc.
903 Castro St.
Mountain View, CA 94041


Or fax them to (866)-651-6243.

Please also note that under Section 512(f) any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity is infringing may be subject to liability.

[prinothcat]

How in the name of whomever you shall chose, would one go about searching that site?... I'll try tineye to start, but to manually go through and hunt anything down? hmmm

[soenda]

Once you get to the place that has all the images, it's as simple as typing in "pbase" and your screen name. I recognized several shots from pals, typed in their names and up they all came.

[sheila]

Thanks Soenda for the heads up on this. I have found one of my images on the site and have filled out the copyright infringement notice. I have also sent them a stiff email suggesting to them that they would appear to have no idea of the legalities of posting images which infringe the rights of photographers.

Sheila

[sandiwhi]

Thanks for the heads up! Did find one of mine at the very first of the pbase shots, and yes, it was stolen. Will be getting after them today.

[lady_d]

There is a petition to close this site down. It might help if all Pbase sign it'

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/cop ... ement.html


Cheers, Jess.

[amoxtli]

I found one of my images on Polyvore by putting my PBase user name in the search box. I don't know if there are more of my images on the site, but I'm not going through the whole site page by page.

I also signed the petition.

[sheila]

I wrote an indignant email responding to a previous email from them, advising them that they did not seem at all concerned that they were infringing the copyright of photographers, many of whom were from PBase. This is the response I received two minutes ago

We certainly understand and respect your concern and would like to ensure you that we do comply with DMCA.
Also, in response to the concern of photographers, we've blocked the ability to clip images from pbase.com.

I am now going to respond to that email by suggesting that they contact ALL PBase photographers whose images have been infringed asking for their permission to use their images. I'll keep you posted.

Sheila

[zainabdullah]

I found a photo of mine there

Actually what this website is doing is obviously an infringement of the copyright. They should ask for permission from the photographer first and foremost and it is not the photographer who has to search their website for his or her image!

Thanks soenda for bringing this to our attention and thanks Sheila for communicating our disapproval to them.

[ralf]

Actually what this website is doing is obviously an infringement of the copyright. They should ask for permission from the photographer first and foremost and it is not the photographer who has to search their website for his or her image!

According to their ToS, the onus is on the user only to use images in which they have rights (Polyvore basically demands all rights under copyright except for actual ownership of the copyright, and the user is supposed to have the right to grant them those rights). Of course, we can probably count the number of their hundreds of thousands of registered members who have actually read the ToS on one hand....

The collages that users create can be Fair Use if they're more than just putting images side by side, but Polyvore definitely shouldn't be leaving around all the source images in public.