Thats crap Dan. Wont be buying anything from him.

Jason

Yeah, it is just total BS that people take others pics because they are so monumentally incompetent that they can not grow and take pics of their own plants. Honestly, the price being asked for this tuber as well as the Amorphophallus albus this seller was offering before using my pics is silly high and I can not believe anyone buys them anyway. I suppose there will always be thieves out there trying to make money off of others work :o) Dan

His prices are really steep for the common material he sells. I think the "mix" of things he sells is quite comical as well, amorphophallus and regular phallus!

People need to complain to ebay about it and spread the word about people like this. Alert any gardening forum you visit/use.

So does Florida Hills Nursery Dan! I found several of my photos on eBay yesterday as well as on their website. I filed an official complain with eBay as well as took retaliation on my website. Neither is likely to do any good in this world of everyone thinking they can take anything they want without even asking but at least I get the satisfaction of a bunch of people reading about them in RED INK.

My copyright is listed on every single page of the website as well as embedded under the photos. All anyone has to do is run their cursor across the photo to see it.

My homepage receives about 1/4 million hits per year so if they don't take all my photos down I plan to put the same warning on the homepage! I sent them the links.

Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: One of my photos stolen by Florida Hills Nursery

Hi Steve, Yeah, there are useless thieves everywhere that are of such low moral character that they will use what they want to make a buck. I was shocked when I posted this to the amorph-group on Yahoo and actually had responses that started by saying things like "If you dont want people to use them then dont post them an the net. Any thing on the Internet is free game." Of course, this person also went on to prove they are a biggot and homophobe with another off the wall rant so I suppose that clarifies how their mind works. I will not post who it was, but if you want to see just how shocking some people are with regard to this please feel free to visit the Yahoo Forum.

Fortunately, I had others defend my point of view similar to you which I appreciated and still do. I have notified several companies from which this person seems to have taken pictures (although, perhaps they are his and he has liscensed them to several retail outlets) so with any luck a few lawyers will get involved and put him in the poor house....we can only hope :o) Dan

All they need to is to read the US Copyright law. A photo is the copyrighted property of the creator at the second the shutter is clicked. However, it is up to the Copyright owner to protect themselves and few of us are willing to spend the cash to hire a lawyer to do it.

There is also some complication since in order to sue your copyright must be clearly noted as I do by embedding the copyright beneath the photos on my site. The other problem is in order to collect legal fees for commercial use you must file the photo with the Library of Congress and pay a minimal fee. You can actually file thousands of copyrights on a single sheet or sheets of photo paper at a single time for the same fee.

A few years ago I had a photo that was created for a swim suit client. The maker of the chairs the girls were sitting on thought it would make a great advertisement and asked my agent about using it. They did not like the price so they hired another photographer and three girls to recreate it. When I first saw the ad I could tell it was not my photo but it was an exact duplicate. They went so far as to have the girls place their fingers in the same exact positions! Copyright includes the illegal duplication of a copyrighted work!

We filed suit in Federal Court and in 39 days my lawyer received a check for $5000 as an out of court settlement. The offenders lawyer had advised it they could be out a great deal more in both payment and legal costs since we had legally filed the photo with the Library of Congress. Three times since then the same photo has been "borrowed" without permission and every time I received a check once the lawyer made contact.

I often allow people to use my photos free of charge PROVIDED they ask first. In this case, I am considering turning a copyright lawyer loose on these people if they don't take my photos down right away. Legally, Copyright infringement is not "theft" but it is still illegal.

And I detest it!

You can see the photo I just mentioned at the link below. It is the one with the three girls on the chase lounges.

Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: Copyrighted photos

Dan, I sent a direct letter to eBay and today received this response. I would recommend you download the form and fax it directly to the guy that signed this note.

I am determined to have my "borrowed" photographs removed.

Steve

Dear Steve,

Thank you for writing eBay in regard to a member who is using copyrighted images from your website without your permission. I understand the concern in this matter, and I appreciate the opportunity to provide an option to help resolve this situation.

When it comes to removing infringing items, I want to assure you that we are committed to protecting the intellectual property rights of our members and third parties. For this reason, and in order to provide a
safe place to buy and sell, we have created the Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) Program, which enables intellectual property rights owners to identify and request the removal of allegedly infringing listings.

The many benefits of participating in VeRO include:

- Direct access to a support team dedicated to addressing rights owners' requests and processing Notices of Claimed Infringement (NOCIs)
- The ability to request the removal of listings that infringe your intellectual property rights by using the NOCI form
- The ability to request detailed contact information for sellers who post listings that may infringe your intellectual property rights

How to File a NOCI Report
The first time you file a NOCI, you will need to download, complete, and submit the document to eBay by fax. If you need to submit subsequent NOCIs after your initial fax has been processed, you will be able to do so online.

-- Note --
To view and print the NOCI, you need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. If you don't already have the program, you can download Acrobat Reader for free from Adobe's Web site. To do so, go to:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

To download a copy of the NOCI form, go to:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/NOCI1.pdf

Please be sure to complete all sections of the form, sign, and fax the NOCI to:

eBay Inc.
ATTN: VeRO
(408) 516-8811

Here is a link that might be useful: eBay copyright removal form