Nobody Is Happy With Rebekka’s Situation
It all started a few days ago when Rebekka announced that she discovered that her photos were sold without her knowledge. There are currently many posts and articles about this on the web. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are articles printed in newspapers and magazines about this whole thing.
Rebekka’s story
At the beginning if the year, Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir discovered that her photos were being sold by only-dreemin UK without her consent and knowledge. She took all necessary steps to take care of the matter. Namely, she did research and gathered evidence that only-dreemin UK was doing what she suspected them of doing. Apparently, the company gave her photos different names and they also made up a fake name for the photographer. According to Rebekka’s research, it also seems that the company doesn’t only sell her photography but other photographer’s as well.
It was two days ago that Rebekka shared all this with the world by posting an image on flickr. Unfortunately, Flickr has taken down that image, but she made a post about this matter on her blog.
The other side’s point of view
Only-dreemin UK said they were getting Rebekka’s photos from a provider, but that is the extent of their knowledge. When Rebekka let them know that they were selling her photos, all they did was take down the photos and apologized. Their lawyers told them never to contact Rebekka. So far, they haven’t given her any compensation since to them, everything was over after the apology.
Overall, what only-dreemin UK is saying is “Sorry, I didn’t know”.
Their whole story is posted here.
What I say
That might be the excuse of a kid. If only-dreemin UK is run by 5-year-old kids, I would forget the whole thing go, but I doubt it.
Everything sounds like an elaborate scheme. There were many ways this story could end up. One is the one that is currently developing. The other one is instead of wasting money on lawyers, only-dreemin UK could have taken that money and given it to Rebekka rather than sending a useless apology letter.
Has anyone on this planet ever been taught that actions speak louder than words?
A word about copyright
A few years ago, before I started doing anything in design, I wanted to know more about how whatever I do could be used by others. I found a lot of information which I know longer have.
A quick search just now is leading me to 10 Big Myths about copyright explained. It pretty much sums up everything I found out a few years ago.
Many comments suggested that Rebekka should have copyrighted her work. The thing is that it was all copyrighted from the moment the camera “clicked”. Your photos are also copyrighted from the moment your camera goes “click”. © is not required. The absence of notes doesn’t mean anything. The presence of notes doesn’t mean anything either. It’s all copyrighted. The copyright symbol was once required on copyrighted materials, but it hasn’t been required for a very long time. Now, it’s presence only serves as a reminder.
Every time I put the copyright symbol somewhere, I’m thinking “This is so useless and such a design killer”, but I still do it. Apparently, humans are idiots, they assume things. If something is there, they assume something. If it’s not there, they assume something else. Always assuming something. It never occurred to them that not thinking can be very peaceful, because part of assuming is thinking.
When using things for personal use, you should always acknowledge where it came from. When using things for commercial use, you make a deal with the source. Either way, the source should know about it. If along the way, you find out the source had another source, well, do something about that new information and get in touch with that other source.
Indeed, it’s all a pain in the ass, but in the end, it’s a much less horrific story.
