Sorry to hear others have been put in this unfortunate situation. I don't patrol the LA looking to find my images, but it has been my home page for 11 years(?) so I am on there several times a day looking at listings, bidding...dreaming...like most of us on this forum.
Yes, the damage is already done, in the reputation of the seller ...and the hard feelings created on both sides, theirs for when they get caught and I point it out, mine for finding my images being used without my permission. As a long time user of the LA I am aware of the Users Agreement as should everyone selling or buying on there and yes, I do know about contacting Mike. The point is... I shouldn't have to contact Mike, sellers should not be stealing protected images for their listings!
Rather than contact Mike last week, and cause seller #1 a problem, I thought it would be better to contact seller #1 myself first using the LA message system...give them the benefit of human error. Seller #1 apologized and promptly removed the image. I accepted their apology. Four days ago (two days after #1) I find seller #2 with an image from ATP cropped to remove the ATP watermark. Using the LA message system again, I contacted them...have not heard a word from them and the listing and image is still on the LA. Then this morning while sipping my coffee...I find seller #1 has new listings... and taken another one of my images from the ATP site complete with watermark.
So yes, I do think people are coming to this site, into the threads and database and stealing images to use for their personal profit. You may be asking yourself why is this a big deal. I purchased that plant with my $$$. Grew it, cared for it, made sure it was healthy and produced that pretty bloom. I then took my time to go out, cleaned the plant removing spent blooms, watched for those photo bombing ants, had the best light to show that bloom at it's finest and made sure distractions were at a minimum in the background of my image. I then downloaded that image from the camera to my computer...both objects I paid for...took the time to crop, upload and shared it for use within the ATP site. I know ATP can not secure my image so I posted it using All Rights Reserved and added a watermark. If a seller thinks using my image will profit them and wants to use my image on a website other than ATP to sell their product.... the least they can do is ASK me to use it.
I contacted Mike this afternoon, they have 24 hrs to remove my images or show proof they have my permission to use them.
