[published also by the A21group, although it is originally a ...]
Stock Asylum Staff Report [... and therefore cited completely]
An Israeli company that specializes in advanced image recognition
software is making it easier for image suppliers to police copyright
infringements, especially on the internet.
Founded just a year ago, PicScout already counts a number of top stock
distributors as clients. It is working with StockArtistsAlliance, a
stock photographers' organization, and plans to roll out an affordable
service for individual photographers early next year. Currently,
PicScout is scouring the internet for some 1.5 million images,
according to a company spokesman.
"We're looking at servicing the whole market," said Ze'ev Rozov, PicScout's vice president of sales and marketing.
The stock industry's move to supplying images over the internet made
legal stock transactions much easier and faster for designers,
advertisers, print publishers and web developers. It also made
copyright infringement easier by placing the images in the hard to
control internet environment.
Many industry observers believe unauthorized uses of stock photography
and illustration costs distributors and image creators hundreds of
thousands of dollars a month, if not millions.
To make matters worse, wholesale infringement undermines distributors'
ability to guarantee the publishing history of rights-managed images --
a situation that hurts the most lucrative stock product.
Previous attempts to control the problem met with mixed to poor
results, with some infringers even bragging about rights theft on
public bulletin boards and in internet chat rooms.
PicScout's approach promises a higher level of success and stock distributors are already giving it very positive reviews.
Based on technology developed for the Israeli military, PicScout's
approach compares images from distributors' archives with images found
on the internet, said Rozov. He said the company will start checking
images printed in paper publications soon.
The sophisticated computer algorithms often find matches even when
images have been cropped, colorized or otherwise altered, the company
vice president said. He noted one case where an image match was found
even though an object held by a model had been digitally removed and
replaced with another object.
"It is a real quality service," said Haim Ariav, President and Chief Operating Office of SuperStock.
"We are highly satisfied with the results so far," adds, Zefa
spokesperson Annette Schneider. Zefa and SuperStock are among 15
companies now using the service. Both already receive reports and both
are collecting fees from willful infringers and companies that
inadvertently continue using images after legitimate licenses expire.
SuperStock has hired a copyright enforcement manager to follow-up on
leads generated by PicScout, said Ariav. The employee has experience
collecting child-support checks for a local court, "so she is used to
hearing all kinds of excuses," noted Ariav.
Ariav said his company gets regular reports from PicScout about
SuperStock images found on the net. "They do not make an assumption
about whether a usage is legitimate or not," he said.
Upon receiving the reports, SuperStock checks its own records to see
which image uses are legitimate, Ariav said. Superstock then contacts
all apparent infringers.
"The most common response is, 'I had no idea that we had to pay for
these images,'" Said Ariav, "But, there are a few people who basically
say, 'Sue me.' We do." SuperStock has hired a law firm to handle these
more troublesome cases.
"Most people respond quickly," Ariav said. "Often they take the image
down, but they still must pay for the time it was used." He said
SuperStock routinely bills infringements at four times the fee charged
for legitimate uses.
Ariav noted that most outright infringements show up on small
companies' web sites. Often, he said, small web developers swipe the
images without telling the end user. In one case, a web site owner paid
a young developer $1,000 to build a web site, Ariav said.
"Now he is faced with a much larger bill for the images. He didn't know
that there was a problem. In the end, he liked the images and decided
to keep licensing them," said Ariav.
Ariav and others note that PicScout does turn up problems with uses by
larger companies, frequently involving expired image use licenses.
"Much of the time it is a genuine oversight on the part of a stock
license buyer and they normally acknowledge and license right away,"
said David Neilson, who heads Amana's European and U.S. operations.
Photonica, one of Amana's stock brands, started using PicScout in
December.
Like SuperStock, Photonica charges a premium for willful infringement.
However, Neilson added, "If it is a loyal client and the reason is
acceptable, as is often the case, we are normally cool about charging
them the standard amount, free of an unauthorized use premium."
Schneider said that Zefa is finding about 60 percent of infringers pay
quickly and about 20 percent try to negotiate. The remaining 20 percent
receive a legal letter. She said a few have continued to resist and the
German agency is starting legal proceedings against these.
"A lot of people seem to have the attitude that this is the internet so
everything ought to be free, " said Ariav, who estimates that
SuperStock alone is losing several hundred thousand dollars a year to
infringement. "The internet does make it easier to do something that is
immoral."
Adds Amana's Neilson: "I'm hoping for two things. First that this will
focus our more disorganized clients towards better housekeeping -- that
they will treat imagery more carefully and ensure that they have really
licensed what they are using. Second, that Amana (or others in the
industry) will catch and prosecute some of those engaged in willful
infringement so that such activity ceases among less reputable
commercial organizations."
