How To Address Facebook Picture Thief

Business By CakeryBakery Updated 6 Mar 2013 , 9:53pm by howsweet

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CakeryBakery Posted 8 May 2012 , 1:35am
post #1 of 24

normally I am happy to see that others love and admire my creativity, I don't mind if someone even makes a cake identical to mine. HOWEVER I do have a problem when someone "shares" a picture of my work on their Facebook page to get their customers to order from them without giving me credit for the creation. To me, that's stealing!! How would you address it?? Not only was there 1 picture taken directly from my page, but several pictures.

23 replies
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Polarcakes Posted 8 May 2012 , 1:46am
post #2 of 24

Facebook has a feature 'Report This Photo', and it has a section on what to do if you are the copyright holder/creator. You could also ask them kindly to take down the photos.

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CakeryBakery Posted 8 May 2012 , 2:11am
post #3 of 24
Quote:
Originally Posted by Polarcakes

Facebook has a feature 'Report This Photo', and it has a section on what to do if you are the copyright holder/creator. You could also ask them kindly to take down the photos.


Thanks! I think I resolved the issue by posting WHO actually completed the Cakes (advise from my son)
Thanks again for the suggestion

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cowie Posted 8 May 2012 , 2:38am
post #4 of 24

Some people can be so rude. icon_sad.gif

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jason_kraft Posted 8 May 2012 , 2:56am
post #5 of 24
Quote:
Originally Posted by CakeryBakery

Thanks! I think I resolved the issue by posting WHO actually completed the Cakes (advise from my son)



Doubtful. People reading the post won't know if you are telling the truth or not, and in any case this person could simply remove your post.

The best way to resolve this is to file a claim of copyright infringement here:
https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/?id=208282075858952

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Polarcakes Posted 8 May 2012 , 3:30am
post #6 of 24
Quote:
Originally Posted by jason_kraft

Quote:
Originally Posted by CakeryBakery

Thanks! I think I resolved the issue by posting WHO actually completed the Cakes (advise from my son)


Doubtful. People reading the post won't know if you are telling the truth or not, and in any case this person could simply remove your post.

The best way to resolve this is to file a claim of copyright infringement here:
https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/?id=208282075858952




Have to agree. It is much too easy for them to delete the posts, accuse you of lying/slander etc. Your best option is to do the copyright/trademark scenario.

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wespam Posted 8 May 2012 , 11:34am
post #7 of 24

Whoa, this was my experience yesterday. A past client sent me 5 photos of cakes that she got off the internet that she liked to show me ideas of how she wanted her cake. She sent it to my home email account instead of my business email address which also goes to my Ipad. When I got home from the shop I looked on my business facebook newsfeed and there was one of those photos saying it was shared from my husbands facebook account, I am listed as one of his friends, from some facebook social networking thing that I had never heard of. I opened an account in his name to use myself several years ago before I opened my business one but have never posted or updated anything on it. He works on a route all day and does not use the computer. I went in and closed his account so it will never happen again. My point is what else is facebook doing without your knowledge using your photos or information gathered from you computer or my Ipad. This is really scary. I'm thinking facebook may not be such a great advertising tool afterall if they can take info from you home computer or Ipad and post it without you knowing it.

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writersblock15 Posted 8 May 2012 , 5:04pm
post #8 of 24

It should be common courtesy to give credit to the owner of the picture. But, unless your picture was actually registered with the US copyright office, you would have a hard case to prove as they could claim it was their picture first.

I have had personal experience in this with a training manual I wrote.

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jason_kraft Posted 8 May 2012 , 5:07pm
post #9 of 24
Quote:
Originally Posted by writersblock15

It should be common courtesy to give credit to the owner of the picture. But, unless your picture was actually registered with the US copyright office, you would have a hard case to prove as they could claim it was their picture first.



You don't need to prove anything, under the Safe Harbor provisions of the DMCA, Facebook will typically automatically take down the offending image if all the details are filled out.

http://brainz.org/dmca-takedown-101/

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writersblock15 Posted 8 May 2012 , 5:14pm
post #10 of 24
Quote:
Originally Posted by jason_kraft

Quote:
Originally Posted by writersblock15

It should be common courtesy to give credit to the owner of the picture. But, unless your picture was actually registered with the US copyright office, you would have a hard case to prove as they could claim it was their picture first.


You don't need to prove anything, under the Safe Harbor provisions of the DMCA, Facebook will typically automatically take down the offending image if all the details are filled out.

http://brainz.org/dmca-takedown-101/




But CakeryBakery would have to prove she owns the copyright to the picture and unless it was registered there is no proof. Without proof the other person could claim it was their picture and CakeryBakery stole it from them. I know this as I took someone to court over something similar and I won. I owned the copyright to a manual, someone posted more than 30% of it online word for word. I sued. I won.

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jason_kraft Posted 8 May 2012 , 5:21pm
post #11 of 24
Quote:
Originally Posted by writersblock15

But CakeryBakery would have to prove she owns the copyright to the picture and unless it was registered there is no proof.



She wouldn't have to prove anything unless the other party contests the DMCA takedown, which is unlikely in this case. Registering a copyright for every picture of a cake you take is overkill, if the takedown is contested a time stamp in the metadata of the picture should probably be enough for FB (although FB has its own time stamp showing who posted it first). It is extremely unlikely this issue would end up anywhere near the courts.

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MadMillie Posted 8 May 2012 , 5:32pm
post #12 of 24

Everyone should use caution with today's technology, be aware of your account settings. My little girls, 10 and 12 googled their names and you wouldn't believe the pictures that came up of them. All of which were taken on Apple products and automatically posted on the Internet. I have also noticed on my Facebook a track of sites I have visited, mainly through Pinterest. Of coarse there are people who are not as tallented as others and use the works of others as their own.

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CakeryBakery Posted 6 Mar 2013 , 4:01am
post #13 of 24

It's easy to prove, it was taken with my camera... she took it from my site posted it on hers and put the following statement "wouldn't your hubby or boyfriend love to receive this cake for his birthday, just call us with your ideas, or we can create something special for your man. Whatever you want we can do".    

Not just one picture taken, she reposted 6 cakes of mine and never once gave me credit.    It would bother me if she had even stated these cakes were not created by our bakery, but we can create similar designs.      

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Annabakescakes Posted 6 Mar 2013 , 4:29am
post #14 of 24

hahaha! I love how you waited 10 months, almost to the day, and picked up the conversation again, like it was yesterday ;-) I am not being sarcastic, or mean, I am serious! 

 

What happened? Were they removed? Do you check her page? Does she have talent?

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cazza1 Posted 6 Mar 2013 , 5:32am
post #15 of 24

Anna, how would you know by looking at her page if she has talent.  Every photo there could have been stolen from someone else!
 

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scrumdiddlycakes Posted 6 Mar 2013 , 5:39am
post #16 of 24

I watermark all my photos, my dad's a photographer, it's one of those things that was just ingrained in me, lol.

I was a bridesmaid last year, and the bride was showing me her bakers 'portfolio' online, she had a Ron Ben Israel cake in there. smh

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AZCouture Posted 6 Mar 2013 , 5:42am
post #17 of 24

Get thee a watermark! Even if you can't afford to have one custom made, you can just pick some fancy font or something and type out your business name, overlay it with an online picture editor (Ribbet, PicMonkey. etc.) and adjust the opacity so you can still see the cake thru the watermark.

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Annabakescakes Posted 6 Mar 2013 , 5:44am
post #18 of 24
Quote:
Originally Posted by cazza1 

Anna, how would you know by looking at her page if she has talent.  Every photo there could have been stolen from someone else!
 

True, true! I hadn't thought of that!

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AZCouture Posted 6 Mar 2013 , 5:45am
post #19 of 24

 I just made this in 5 seconds at www.ribbet.com

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Annabakescakes Posted 6 Mar 2013 , 5:50am
post #20 of 24
Quote:
Originally Posted by scrumdiddlycakes 

I watermark all my photos, my dad's a photographer, it's one of those things that was just ingrained in me, lol.

I was a bridesmaid last year, and the bride was showing me her bakers 'portfolio' online, she had a Ron Ben Israel cake in there. smh

 

 

 

I do actually get brides that upload a picture to my Facebook, to ask for a quote, and it shows in my albums as "Pictures of The ******* *****" when it is most certainly not, and I haven't represented that I did it myself. I generally wait a couple weeks, for politeness to the bride, if she comes back, but then delete it. Sometimes I forget, and will delete it months later. I always comment that it is a gorgeous cake, or inquire as to the name or business of the original baker. So, I am just saying it could happen innocently ;-)

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Brettley Posted 6 Mar 2013 , 6:03am
post #21 of 24

Hey Everyone,

 

If you do not have a logo or watermark you NEED to go and check out my dear friends' Etsy page, link is below. Quick Pick logos are 20.00 CND and as soon as one has been purchased, she removes it and makes a different one. So it will not be the same.

 

She designed my logo and watermark and I could not be happier. (Logo is below and watermark is on my recent photos) She is SUPER easy to work with and is incredibly familiar with the industry.

 

There are a few cake logos on here

 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ckphotography?ref=si_shop

 

 

This is her facebook page as well. If you want a custom made logo/watermark she is the one to talk to. Very reasonably priced and very professional.

 

http://www.facebook.com/cynthiakormanphotography?fref=ts

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Brettley Posted 6 Mar 2013 , 6:18am
post #22 of 24
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Relznik Posted 6 Mar 2013 , 8:00am
post #23 of 24

Nowadays, I NEVER approach the person on FB directly, as it can get nasty very quickly.

 

I simply report the photo under the copyright infringement and I have to say that FB remove it VERY quickly.
 

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howsweet Posted 6 Mar 2013 , 9:53pm
post #24 of 24

I've had this happen twice. You just take a screen shot showing what they did, and explain that you have pictures proving it's your cake (like other angles) and send a link to your website if you have one and that's where they stole the pic from. Sometimes the pics have embedded info like date you weren't even aware was there that can also help you prove it. But just reporting it to Facebook was enough in my case.  Just be very clear that there's no question that the cake was yours and that you can prove it.
 

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