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What To Do About CC License Violations?
An anonymous reader writes "In the past, I've seen my pictures used by big commercial companies despite the Creative Commons license that clearly limits them to non-commercial use. I just let it slide because a friend who's a lawyer says that all I can do is sue. They've ignored emails and comments. Today, I saw two other examples that show this is pretty rampant. These big commercial corporations are some of the most tech savvy publications around, but they just grabbed the image. One, BoingBoing, even reprinted the 'non-commercial' clause, warning others to stay away. But they've got their ads from Cheerios, HP and Mazda running alongside. Does anyone care that we've gone to all this trouble to create new, more flexible licenses? Does it even matter when very smart people just flip the bird to the license? Is the only alternative to sue? I wouldn't mind asking for $150k and settling for $1 for each copy made, but that seems a bit crazy. I hate to type out DMCA notices but their attitude is that only uncool people complain about this and I should be happy about the publicity. Then they can be happy about not sharing their ad revenue with artists or photographers. What can I do?" Update: 08/30 18:39 GMT by T : (Very belated; mea culpa.) Cory Doctorow writes: "The anonymous submitter is not the creator of the photo. The creator of
that photo is Jennifer Trant, a friend and colleague of mine who has no
trouble with my use of her photo. I have just gotten off the phone with
her and confirmed that she did not submit the story and also that she is
happy to have this photo on Boing Boing." The photo has since been added back to BoingBoing.
He said that he hates to do it. I said that it would likely work. There is no implied contradiction here.
Receiving the news that what you hate to do is what the situation likely requires is not fun; but it can be informative...
...check out the list of CC Friendly Lawyers at creativecommons.org. Somebody might be able to offer advice that doesn't involve suing the infringing parties.
mmmm...forbidden donut
"Wow did you even read the summary?"
In other words, the original poster wants to do something about a problem he is not willing to do something relatively easy about, unfortunately.
File against them in small claims court for the maximum allowed. They will probably not bother to show, so you will win. With a judgement, you have legal permission to do all kinds of creative nastiness to them. Garnishing wages, filing liens against their property, even having a sheriff by your side as you take some of their property to fulfill the judgement.
I am obviously not a lawyer, and the details will vary with jurisdiction.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Information doesn't want to be free. Some people want other people's information to be free, but that's about as far as it goes.
I found the original quote in its entirety to be a lot better at describing our trade off:
On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it's so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other.
It became some sort of rallying cry for some folks about some ideals. But if you really think about it, personifying information is quite idiotic. Information doesn't want to be free. It can't want anything. If there were no humans around information wouldn't do a whole lot. Certain kinds of information like DNA seem to have some unknown motive and mechanization to persist and mutate but the way we view information (as a product of other humans) is something that we want to be free and that we don't want to have to pay for. And really, the producers of the information want it to be expensive. They want their reward back for their work. And the consumers are still wanting it to be free. So the speech did an interesting job of boiling it down into one thing -- one thing that has both these very strong forces pulling on it. But then you have the legal system of most nations pulling it to be more expensive and litigious while at the same time technology pulls it paradoxically the other way. It's a capital tug of war game with the rope of information and when you say "information wants to be free" you're only talking about one side of the rope.
My work here is dung.
They bill the companies - and if they do not part with their brass, sue.
http://www.bildkunst.de/
maybe there is a similar org where you live?
Agreed. If they don't pay the bill make sure that you sue them in small claims court. Depending on jurisdiction it should be under 25k, but it also is loaded towards the small guy (you).
There is a CC-NC license variant that provides a fixed rate for commercial users (i.e. free for non-commercial use, $n for commercial use). In this case, you can send them an invoice for the commercial fee then take them to the small claims court. It's not a copyright issue in the small claims court, it's a non-payment of an invoice, which is exactly the sort of thing that this court is for.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
On the assumption the objection may be from the photographer--we haven't heard from them directly, as far I as know, though Cory's on vacation and not available--we've removed the CC-licensed image. We support the Creative Commons and will always do our best to honor the creator's interpretation of non-commerciality. We haven't really thought through CC non-com stuff on pages with advertising at BB as a matter of policy--it's on each poster's conscience. But I know that Cory often seeks permission directly from photographers on flickr, and that other editors do likewise. Thanks, any many apologies if we have err.
boingboing has removed it and one of the editors put this note on the original article:
"Update: We've removed the CC-licensed image as it appears the photographer is unhappy with our usage of it here. We support the Creative Commons and will always do our best to honor the creator's interpretation of non-commerciality. - Rob"
Wax on, wax off baby!
and somebody on BoingBoing was monitoring or got alerted to the problem. The photo has been removed with an apology.
"Update: We've removed the CC-licensed image as it appears the photographer is unhappy with our usage of it here. We support the Creative Commons and will always do our best to honor the creator's interpretation of non-commerciality. Please accept our apologies. - Rob"
No. No one pays BoingBoing because this image is there. They're not offering it for sale, or charging to view it. But BoingBoing benefits because they're not out of pocket, yet they can show the image. In the end, more money in BoingBoing's pocket because their status quo as a content site is maintained, without recompensing the artist. An indirect financial benefit consequent to the artist's work.
Likewise, typically no one pays an individual for stealing music for their own use; but the individual benefits because they're not out of pocket, yet they have the product. The individual's status quo as a "hip, I heard that" and a "happy, I enjoy that" individual is maintained, without recompensing the artist. In the end, considering the music is in hand, more money in pocket: an indirect financial benefit consequent to the artist's work.
There is zero ethical difference between these two; in both cases, the artist creates, the art is used, and the artist's payment is weaseled out of. There is zero ethical difference between taking a digital product against the producer's wishes and stealing a vase out of my company showroom.
When someone creates something, it is theirs to decide what to do with it. If they want to sell it, as a consumer, you get to ethically vote with your wallet: Buy, and support them; don't buy, and don't support them. However, if you take the a product that is not offered freely without meeting their terms... that's just stealing.
It's mildly entertaining to watch the excuse train pull up and unload the same tired arguments, but in the end, it is stealing. BoingBoing is no less and no more guilty of stealing here than any cluetard who steals commercial music of software products. The degree that they are financially and reasonably liable is probably very little (same as an individual downloader) because odds are no one can show that they did any more or less business because that image was there... but ethically, they shit the bed just as badly as someone stealing jewelry.
If you want free pictures, you can start by going and visiting my flickr account. I don't use CC; I claim copyright only so I can specify that the rights are handed out, and allow unlimited use of any kind. If you want free software, go where the software is offered for free. I write free software, too (really free, not GPL [free unless you redistribute, then must do what we tell you.]) There are many more like me.
If free is your price, then that's where you should be looking: Products that are intended to be free for the uses you will make of them and explicitly say so. If you want a product that the creator deems only available for a specific exchange, either (A) make that exchange or (B) become a thief. There are no other options. You can, of course, add the "I'll make excuses" flag, but you're still firmly in column A or B.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
hey everyone -- it's my picture of "Cory's Hammock" that appeared on boingboing: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/07/27/gone-fission----see.html i release most of my pics and academic writing under CC-BY-NC-SA, which is the license that was reproduced on the post. but when i put these pics up on Flickr after Cory sent the hammock [yes, there is some irony there. it is his hammock!] i gave him permission to use them if he wished. and he has. and it's ok with me. as some of the comments in this thread note, the definition of "non-commercial" is the most problematic thing about CC licenses: see http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Defining_Noncommercial for background from the Creative Commons. however, in this case [and IP infringement decisions are based on specific circumstances] that definition is inconsequential, because my permission was granted. remember, CC licenses are non-exclusive, and the same content released under CC can also be licensed in other places in other ways. whoever started this thread didn't check with me [i'm not that hard to find] or with BoingBoing about the circumstances under which my image was used. my picture was 'Used with permission". i've suggested that the rights statement on BoingBoing be updated to make that clear. thanks for your help, everyone, but this damsel is not in distress! /jt
I'm the Boing Boing editor who posted the image that the OP claims violated the Creative Commons license.
Read the OP closely: he's not saying that it was *his* image I took -- rather, that he was affronted on behalf of the photographer.
Except that the photographer in this case is my friend and colleague Jennifer Trant, and I used the photo with her permission, and then reproduced the entire CC license so that other people would know what terms they could use it on.
So, anonymous poster: how about the next time you decide to smear someone for infringing Creative Commons in the name of defending someone's copyrights, you actually make sure that the creator hasn't authorized the use?