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So the other day as I was scrolling through my news feed on Facebook, I came across a familiar looking image. One friend had posted a comment which was an advertisement by a Goan restaurant located in Kuwait advertising their Goan sweets for Christmas. Since it looked very familiar, I went & checked in my albums & was in for a total shock. My heart started beating faster & my hands began to turn cold! This could not be happening to me! But there it was, my image (click here to see my blog post featuring the image) which was a plate with Goan neureos & kormolas neatly & beautifully arranged & which was taken back in 2011 being cropped, stolen & used without my permission for commercial advertising purpose! After my initial reaction, once I calmed down a bit, I questioned my friend who posted it how did he get it, as I had searched the restaurant’s Facebook & website for this said advertisement & couldn’t find it. I needed to find out that this copyright infringement was really done by this particular Goan restaurant. It turned out that the restaurant had circulated the image through Whatsapp. I was stumped, how do I approach them when I had nothing in public visibility? I decided to sleep on it, consult a bit with some friend photographers & take a small break from it.

Now this incident started on the 1st of December 2014, as the next day which was 2nd December, was UAE’s National Day, I was disconnected from Facebook & enjoying the holiday. On 3rd December, in the morning, I decided to just send an email to this restaurant, notifying them that the advertisement being circulated on Whatsapp by them contained my image & was used without permission. However before I could post an email to them, I decided to recheck their website & Facebook page. The advertisement was up on 2nd December & gaining likes & a few inquiries of potential customers, thereby potentially generating income through advertising for 2 days. So thus began our email conversations..

I emailed them, informing who I am, giving them links to my blog post of my image, their advertisement on Facebook with my image, my blog post on photography copyrights & two more featured & page blog posts (one & two) which warn against using my images without my permission. I ended the email giving them two options:
Either take down the advertisement using my image ASAP & post a formal apology on their Facebook page acknowledging their mistake
Or continue to use my image for the month of December 2014 only, provided I’m credited on the advertisement & compensated for my image [inserted my demands for compensation if they wished to use my image].

I received a reply in roughly an hour’s time, thanking me for bringing it to their notice, mentioning they would need to verify the claim with their designer & inquiring which advertisement was I talking about.

I quickly sent an email back with the link of their Facebook advertisement again. About half an hour later that advertisement was taken down [luckily I took screen shots], no apology posted or email sent to me. I sent another email asking them which option would they be choosing.

I waited for four hours before sending a final warning email to inform me of their decision in choosing option one or option two, or that I shall presume they choose the first option & shall expect a formal apology on their Facebook page by the morning of 4th December (Noon UAE time), failing that, I shall deem it fit to write blog about this entire sour episode on my blog.

Noon came & passed & I saw neither an email nor a Facebook apology. I began drafting my blog on 4th December, but I took a small weekend break & was offline for a major part of the weekend. Anyway all this time I saw my blog stat views which showed me that they were checking my blog. Yes! I know you have been stalking my blog! And now everyone else knows that too! Hope you are happy that I am finally blogging & posting it today. You couldn’t do the right and professional thing & give an apology & just be done with it!

Anyway I made this blog post to create more awareness about images being taken through Google or any other search engines or social media sites & used without permission (in other words stealing images) & how photographers have to deal with such unnecessary sour incidents, wasting our time & energy to fight for our rights! We have to suffer stress which affects our moods, potentially adversely affecting our creativity! Now I do not claim to be a great photographer or anything as such, but sometimes I do create a few images that are really worthy. And this can be said of any amateur or hobby photographer. Also we may or may not be doing photography commercially. It does not mean that anyone can steal our images & use them for commercial purposes!

PS: I haven’t actually mentioned the name of this particular Goan restaurant (which is located in Kuwait) cause my main intention is to promote awareness of images thievery but just in case you need to avoid this unprofessional restaurant you can easily figure out which restaurant I’m talking about with the key words.

And just to reiterate, this restaurant used my image in their advertisement without my permission & potentially generated income through advertising, without any compensation to me! Two days Facebook advertising & an ongoing Whatsapp advertisement (which once you send an image you cannot take back, also other Whatsapp users sharing the advertisement).

 

Key words :
Goa
Goan
Restaurant
Kuwait
Image
Image Theft
Copyright
Copyright Infringement
Goan Sweets
Christmas Sweets
Goan Christmas
Photographer
Photographer’s Rights
Photography
Photography Copyrights

Finally the advertisement below

Goan Restaurant Located In Kuwait - Stolen Image

Goan Restaurant Located In Kuwait – Stolen Image