Contractors Claiming My Photos As Their Work

Mark Daniels

Did some searching on Google images today to see who is using pictures of my work. Maybe yours too?

Contractors
http://alsremodelingsf.com/ - both these are mine with about 6 on his “our work” page!
http://www.elytehomeservices.com/-Tub_and_Shower_.php Picture of my son included!! TileMan of Va. Has a few as well.
http://www.freemanconstructioninc.us/11.html scroll down for 3 of my bathrooms pictures.
http://carpetandfloorcoveringinc.com/About_Us.html !Reputation!

Spam Sites
http://www.zimbio.com/Bathroom+Remod...eling+Pictures I talked to them once about credit or taking them down.
http://www.squidoo.com/Organizing-your-Small-Bathroom third picture down no credit
http://www.bremodeling.com/bathroom-...odeling-photos at least they link

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Mark Daniels
Bathroom Remodeling Fairfax Va.
Recessed Shower Shampoo Soap Shelf
Shower Shampoo Soap Tiled Niche Niches

festerized

I wonder if any of these theives use pay per click ads
START CLICKING

SLSTech

Watermarks is all I can say to make it tougher on them

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skyhook

The thieves should be captured, drawn and quartered.

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bockcorp

Bill Mason Of Chicago IL. was our website designer. He has stolen over 5 contractors money around the chicago land area. My credit card was also used to pay for a few other items paid for online by Bill. All of my pictures are on some canadian home remodeling web site, along with some companies from around here. I posted all of this mess about 6 months ago on contractor talk to warn everybody about him, and we are still fighting with him. I did leave another threatening message earlier today so maybe he will do SOMETHING! Again sorry to Mark for this whole situation.

Dan Bock

Mark Daniels

Dan,
Sorry you got hooked up with a bad website designer. I hadn't considered this possible scenario. Hope it straightens out soon. Mark

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Mark Daniels
Bathroom Remodeling Fairfax Va.
Recessed Shower Shampoo Soap Shelf
Shower Shampoo Soap Tiled Niche Niches

karunnt

You seem to know what you are doing with a camera. So why not write a book for contractors on how to take good pictures. Charge 19.95 and sell 10,000 copies.

You can start with this storyline about how everybody is copying your pictures ...

Or even get a photograper to co-write it with you and split the profits. There is definite need for this.

HomeElements

If any of the photos are on your own website it IS copyright infringment. Demand they remove they or you'll sue.

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www.homeelements.us FD sales www.builderelements.com

cbscreative

Dan, when I read about your situation, I suspected it went further than that. These kind of scum also steal content. I can't say for sure where yours originated from without further research, but my suspicions proved correct that the content is not original.

Compare the content of these pages:

http://www.bockcorp.com/page10.html

http://earthgroupconstruction.com/in...d=33&Itemid=61

If you were to go further reseaching, I'm sure you'll find your entire site is lifted. That makes you vulnerable to copyright infringement.

Does this scam web designer have a site? His material is probably stolen too. You can get him shut down for that.

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Steve Chittenden
Web/SEO Geek • Graphic Artist • Writer • Marketing Guy
One reason I know so much about the web and marketing is that I don't have to know as much about construction.

480sparky

If any of the images are a direct link to the URL of the images on your site, just change the image on your site to one that states:

"I steal photos of someone else's work without their permission! I take credit for their hard work, skill and professionalism."

Then sit back and watch how long it takes them to catch it.

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Site : the area or exact plot of ground on which anything is, has been, or is to be located.
Sight : The power or faculty of seeing; perception of objects by use of the eyes; vision.
Cite : To mention in support, proof, or confirmation; refer to as an example.

bockcorp

Yeah we were surprised when we first saw our site because not one piece of info I gave him was on the site. It was like he just copied and pasted all this stuff out of a book. What's really good is we don't even do roofing, drywall or paint but we sure do have it all over our site. My site is the exact same as two other contractors this guy took. All he did was change the company name for each site!

Times are hard as it is, let alone having to deal with thieves trying to take you when all your trying to do is make a honest dollar.

angus242

Maybe a dumb question, but how did you check the entire internet for others using your material?

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Angus
L+M+O+P=C
"Promise only what you can deliver. Then deliver more than you promise"

Vince_B

Just copy and paste a sentence from your site into Google. Try the first line of this thread "Contractors claiming my photos as their work" and it will show up.

Ebbo

This is a great site here for checking to see if any photos you have posted on the net are being used anywhere. You can either upload the image from your computer or paste the url from another site to see where else they are or have been used.

www.tineye.com

Read this first to find out about tineye.
http://www.tineye.com/faq

HomeElements

LOL... I love this idea , however many useres do not hold the curser on the image long enough to see the alternate text.

I stick with my solution, demand they remove your photos or you WILL seek legal action....

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angus242

I believe he means to create a new image with the same name that says, "I steal photos of someone else's work without their permission! I take credit for their hard work, skill and professionalism."

You could then rename your original picture and update your website to show it. The old image, now with the wording from above will sit on your server but will not be displayed on your site, only theirs!

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Angus
L+M+O+P=C
"Promise only what you can deliver. Then deliver more than you promise"

Zinsco

The cost of suing someone in another jurisdiction and conducting a civil trial can easily exceed $30,000. I hear contractors on this site always saying how quick they are to sue people but I wonder how you guys finance all these law suits.

You guys should know that when someone receives a letter threatening legal action, authored by a construction worker, they chuckle quietly, ball up the letter and toss it in the waste basket.

In the real world, far away from construction sites, letters threatening legal action are always sent by licensed attorneys, not drywallers.


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cbscreative

Threats of legal action are not even needed, and I agree with Zinsco about the waste of time they are for the most part. Since the hosting company of anyone stealing materials has policies against the theft, all you need to do is make the hosting company aware of the violation. The site will get shut down really quick unless the hosting company is located in a haven country that could care less about the DMCA.

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Steve Chittenden
Web/SEO Geek • Graphic Artist • Writer • Marketing Guy
One reason I know so much about the web and marketing is that I don't have to know as much about construction.

ChrWright

Lawsuit, no.

But if someone refuses to remove content they've stolen from me, I'll make damn sure anyone searching their name online knows they're a thief. If they belong to a trade organization (NARI, NAHB, ETC.) someone's going to hear about it on their ethics committees.

The hacks are certainly less likely to care, but anyone who goes to the trouble of building a website is more likely than not to care about their name turning to mud online.

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Christopher Wright, CR: President @ WrightWorks, LLC/President @ Central Indiana NARI, Named to the 2010 REMODELING Big50
www.WrightWorks.net - Facebook - Twitter - Carmel Remodeling
Indianapolis Kitchen Remodeling Contractor - You Can Get There From Here

cbscreative

Chris, I'm glad to see you chime in here after that fiasco you just went through. And your point about exposing them as a fraud does work because people do use that to research. I know my name and company name (often even domain name) are used frequently as a search term, which means people do check.

For those here who don't know, Chris not only had his content stolen, when he confronted the thief, it was taken down as it should have been. What's really incredible about the theif that stole Chris's content, is he had the gall to steal someone else's content and post that after removing what he stole from Chris. I'm pretty sure a wise customer checking up on this dirtbag will discover that whole story.

The subtitle of this thread should be to use the Internet and research before buying services.

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Steve Chittenden
Web/SEO Geek • Graphic Artist • Writer • Marketing Guy
One reason I know so much about the web and marketing is that I don't have to know as much about construction.