Art Theft

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You may want to read this article about a victim of art theft: http://www.photosig.com/go/forums/read?id=238502 Someone stole an image taken by another photographer and submitted in a contest. Now the photo is being used in a worldwide advertising campaign without the photographer's consent! The photographer hired an attorney, and they sent notification to the company responsible for the campaign only to have their notice be completely ignored. Anyone who posts their photos online should be aware that this could happen to you! Other people can steal your work and claim it as their own and even profit from it! This is a real shame! You should be able to share your photos with anyone you would like and not have to worry about other people stealing them! You shouldn't have to stick a big watermark over your image to protect it, but the truth is that you have to. Art theft is a real problem. Every day I see people profiting off photos I know for a fact they didn't take. I think one of the best things we can do as artists is get the word out there that this is NOT ok! Stealing is a crime and those who are caught stealing should be severely punished! Photos that you find online are copyrighted and you cannot use them for whatever you please!