They Stole My Work

It sure seems like Flickr is a hotspot for copyright thievery.  What is particularly striking in this particular case is that the alleged copyright thief is no other than a government agency!

The Department of Information and Public relation, Uttarakhand (a state in India) has allegedly used Subir’s photo for the publicity of MahaKumbh 2010 without his permission, using their own interpretation and caption for the photograph.

Whom would you approach if you had a bone to pick with a government agency violating your copyright?

The Times of India is a major English-language daily in India; ToI often claims to be the English newspaper with the largest circulation in the country, if not the world. They are a publication with great clout in the country and an individual can barely imagine taking on a legal battle with such a Goliath. But it seems like Arun Ganesh (PlaneMad on Flickr) has chosen to be the David who stands up for his work. In this photo on Flickr, he points out what he believes to be the proof of ToI’s transgression.His original photograph is here.

‘Thank you for Stealing My Work, Times of India’, says Arun. Wonder what the publication has to say to this allegation!

We feel completely outraged on behalf of the Sussex-based digital agency YouLove.Us for having been blatantly ripped off. We can’t even start to imagine how the creators of the original content must be seething at the sight of this mirror image of a website set up by someone who could not even be bothered to make an attempt at originality; look at this, a Punjab-based digital agency, apparently, YouLove.Us.Com.

There’s stealing someone’s work and then there’s this! Our heartfelt condolences to YouLove.Us for having their logo and brand stolen – hope you find a remedy to this situation!

The cost of a stolen startup idea is hard to measure. The potential revenues of an innovative business model, a technical implementation or a unique business plan lost due to someone sneaking off with your idea can only be imagined. A highly feasible idea once stolen could translate into millions of dollars lost.

You think this could never happen to you? Here’s a story of a very experienced entrepreneur who had his startup ideas stolen, not once, but twice! Luckily for him, he won in the end anyway but would you want to expose yourself to such a risk?

Many freelancers can probably empathise with David Thorne in this email exchange here – props to him for the most amusing way in which he retorted.

How many of you have finished work assigned to you on a freelance basis, submitted it to the client, only to find that you get nothing in return? Leave us a comment to tell us your story and we will feature it on this blog.

Have you had your work stolen? Now you have a place to vent. No holds barred. Coming back soon with what this is all about.