Ebay seller using copyrighted Book pictures

[goamules]

This guy most of us know is a clueless flipper. He is slowly learning what lenses are valuable, after several years of buying common rapid rectilinears and unmarked Petzvals on Ebay for $100, then immediately relisting them as "rare daguerreotype lens" for $1200. I never have seen him make a sale.

But now he's going too far, using Corrado D'Agostini's book, "PHOTOGRAPHIC LENSES OF THE 1800'S IN FRANCE (ISBN: 978-88-8341-491-6) graphics in his auction. I don't know the laws, but Maurits or others that are over in Europe, can you notify Corrado?

221655573067

[steveo]

Click report item on the left of auction header. You may have to pretend that its your copy right that is being infringed.

[goamules]

I contacted him first, to see if he'd just remove the book photos. I told him I didn't know if he had permission to use the book, but that I knew the author and was informing him. He chose to be "funny" and said "you mean you know my Uncle?" As we know, the author is in France, I've met him. And the ebay seller is in NC. I've met him too. They are as opposite as the Mona Lisa and a box of rocks. Anyway, I've dropped it. The author can do the ebay reporting if he wants.

[BrianShaw]

Well at least you didn't tell a fib and represent yourself as the author!

[Dan Fromm]

Fair use? I'm not an IP attorney but I suspect it is.

[Oren Grad]

Fair use? I'm not an IP attorney but I suspect it is.

IANAL either, but I doubt that using the material in an advertisement qualifies as "ciriticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research".

Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair.

• The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
• The nature of the copyrighted work
• The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
• The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work

http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

[BrianShaw]

So what do you guys think "The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work" is? Translated... what or how much would the damages be? Generally that's all a lawyer cares about since it determines the lawyers cut. Lawyers really don't seem to care much about "ethics" or "righteousness" or "internet discussion forum outrage/disapproval" in a situation like this. It's all about money as it impacts them or their client.

[Steven Tribe]

Arrived late to the party, sorry!

No doubt that this is a breach of copyright.

I am responsible for the lister giving up his first listing. I don't recall seeing the lister before. I asked him whether the cells were bayonet, rather than screw-in. So he discovered they were. I then told him what the lens was and that he could find information on certain pages in Corrado's book. My view was that this was the remains of a early (no serial number) "à foyers multiples et lentilles additionelles" casket set. Witha later adaption to the Waterhouse system. He asked what it was worth and I wrote something like "up to a $1000 or so in an auction). I didn't post any photos/page from the book to him - he has his own copy.

His new listing is a lot better than the first listing, although he doesn't really say it is modified. In his defence, he does give the details of where the pages come from. BIN price is unrealistic in my view.

Corrado's book is, I guess, a very agreeable result of what is called "vanity publishing" from the days when amateur poets in the 19th century got their efforts into hard covers. Corrado has taken the initiative with a printer/publisher to produce something which Corrado thinks gives a better coverage of 19th century French Photographic optics. A great success, but the absence of an editor is very apparent. It is not a commercial publishing product and Corrado will be hoping to get most, or perhaps all of this own investment back - depending on how many of the first printing are sold.
The "copyright breach" this is, is in Corrado's world, quite a fine advertisment for the book, if he still has some left.

[neil poulsen]

Report him to EBay. If you can refer them to the book, they'll deal with him. Let them deal with the question of copyright. Whether or not he has the author's permission, which is doubtful, they'll be interested in the fact that he's using these images to "sell" lenses.

[Timothy Blomquist]

Sometimes you can get even with these people, and have some fun at the same time. A year ago, I had someone use copyrighted pictures of mine. I had posted them on another forum and they were hotlinked to my Photobucket account. The thief had a website and instead of copying my images for use, he just used the hot link back to Photobucket. So there were my images, being used on this guy's website. Here's how I got even. I went into my images and changed them, and included big red words offering various sexual favors, all while keeping the link address the same. It took him a while to figure it out, but there were most likely people calling him and e-mailing him for sexual favors that were offered in these pictures. Payback can be fun!!