It appears that social network widget service ZingFu (which was just acquired by ProfileBuilder) does not acknowledge Creative Commons licenses when it comes to photography. They took one of my photos of Om Malik and Michael Arrington, cropped out Om and used it for one of their greeting cards to promote TechCrunch 40. In doing so ZingFu violated both the attribution and noncommercial aspects of my Creative Commons license for that photo.
Here’s the ZingFu page that features the greeting card with my photo, which you can either embed or send to people. The page also includes a photo of Guy Kawasaki where the original photographer is not credited.
Here’s my original photo on Flickr. Not only does it have a Creative Commons license associated with it, I even went the extra step updating the description to reference the CC license and list how I want attribution.
I don’t normally write posts like this, but this is becoming such a common occurrence with startups, that I felt that something needed to be said about it. Also, every other day either one of my photos or those of a fellow photographer are being used without attribution, often for commercial purposes.
UPDATE 1: It looks like ZingFu has already removed the image, of course not before I was able to grab a screenshot of it:
TechCrunch also posted a screenshot with their write-up on the ZingFu acquisition by ProfileBuilder.
UPDATE 2: ZingFu Co-Founder Bob Ralian has left an apology in the comments.
Here Are A Few Related Posts You Might Enjoy:
- Creative Commons Salon Photos
- Creative Commons Version 3.0
- Creative Commons’ 6th Birthday Party in San Francisco
- Creative Commons: A Shared Culture
- CC Salon SF / Creative Commons Fundraising Campaign
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Looks like it’s been removed.
This just plain sucks! You put the photos out there with CLEAR licenses on them and yet here is a company ignoring it.
I’ve had this happen a couple of times, but never by a commercial company. I really hope they admit their mistake and do right by you.
It’s just SO flipping easy to fix it’s shameful.
The “careless” actions by individuals/web/companies/publications violating CC licenses makes me steaming mad.
I wrote ZingFu a complaint, and appreciate your twittering/posting about when your CC license hasn’t been honored. The more vocal CC-advocates & others voice their complaints–even when the work @ stake isn’t theirs–*hopefully* the less the problem will arise.
Just the other day, I got into a conversation with two other photographers about watermarking images. I haven’t been doing that, but think I might start. I’ve had my photos stolen and used on websites. People who I’ve shot at events take my photos and use them on their profiles and sites with no consideration for the work I put into it. I’ve had people become hostile with me when i explain that they need to ask to use my images, and possibly pay to use them. I don’t think most people have any clue of the time, effort and money a photographer puts into their work. It’s digital, so it must be free, right?
Let’s say ZingFu continued to use the image. You could sue them for what this particular image usage is worth. Of course the amount might be less than 1 hour of a lawyer’s time. And the CC license has not been tested in U.S. court.
If you registered the image with the U.S. Copyright office, you could sue for the usage cost plus damages. Copyright registration provides you with a proven stick to fight image theft. Worth considering for anyone who is tired of seeing their images ripped off.
More info on how this works here:
http://www.joereifer.com/words/?p=117
Best,
Joe
You’re right and we apologize. This was a mistake fueled by ignorance. While ZingFu is a parody site, that’s no excuse for neglecting the simple responsibilities of using Creative Commons content. Photographers, like yourself, with the generosity to use this license should be treated with greater respect. As you’ve noted, we have taken down the photo. We apologize to you and the Creative Commons community.
Sincerely,
Bob Ralian
ZingFu Co-Founder
bobzingfu.com
Just send them an invoice.
Just send them an invoice for $1k and spend it on beer….. :)
startups will behave like startups. that said, the main problem, i’m guessing, is edumacation. licenses and licensing are extraordinarily complex, so the solution for most people is to just ignore any/all copyright.if the new generation grows up having some clue as to what CC is all about, maybe an attribution won’t be far away.
http://www.attributor.com/
there are lots of other technological things that can and will happen – hopefully companies like attributor can help. (no affiliation)
maybe microformats or something like it can help – a little ‘attribution’ descriptor element embedded in the image itself would be cool, too – like modifying the png header format or something geeky like that.
Could you have the makings of a lawsuit with this infringement? Might be worthwhile taking a legal avenue with this. You’d be protecting yourself and setting prescedents for others that follow.
ZingFu should at least try to make up for their mistake, by paying you or making a donation to cc, rather than just apologize.
I have to agree with JT, it’s so easy to go ahead and use whatever you want and then just apologize and remove it when you get caught… but without some sort of penalty what is their motivation to do things correctly the next time?
What would the world be like if the penalty for theft was just to return the stolen items when and if you’re caught?
An apology is more than others would give. I think they did well by manning up to it instead of making excuses.
Do you seek releases from the people you photograph before you publish the image?
I don’t know enough about cc or non music issues. However, if it was music and they used it in parody that would be o.k. Right? Perhaps part of fair use – i don’t know. Three other things – 1st, you have a very hardy smile (good bone structure) 2nd I am getting some sick pleasure from using your comments feature as a forum and lastly, it appears that you did not take the picture – why did they apologize to you if Scott took the picture
You can thank Google and Yahoo image search for that, no copyright info gets displayed so if I download an image from a search engine, I may never know.
I hate this sort of stuff. I don’t know how I would feel about something like this. On one hand they are using your stuff and getting it out there, but on the other hand it’s the principal of asking for the permission and discussing of it’s use.
“Fuck apologies! This is America; there is only one way you say thank you or I'm sorry and that's by cutting a check.” – RudyTorresRocks.com
That's also the reason I don't use flickr, don't get me wrong its great to share pics with your friends but not for pros that expect to be paid. If your a pro you're better off staying off them sites. I don't care about credit or publicity, just pay me.