Have I now found an infringement of my copyright?
… and now what?
It seemed like fun to see what my photos would be used for
Since I started blogging on the blockchain I have of course got to know Pixabay like many others. And although I never want to use someone else's photos for my blogs, I thought it would be fun to post a small number (8) of my own photos on Pixabay. I wanted to see what my photos would be used for.
@katerinaramm reminded me
An account was quickly created. The photos were uploaded quickly, and after that I haven't looked back. I had forgotten its existence again. Until I was reading a blog by @katerinaramm in which she interviewed a photographer who had achieved 1 million downloads.
Reversed Image Search
I remembered uploading some photos to Pixabay as well and decided to run a reversed image search to see what my photos were used for in the two years they've been online. Whether they were downloaded at all. After all, not everyone is always interested in mainly dog photos, right?
Raising my eyebrows
I logged into my Pixabay account and saw that my photos were definitely downloaded. And one of the photos that has been downloaded over 2000 times is a photo of Rowan and Myla together in the snow. With the reversed image search I saw applications that I found funny, others that surprised me, and a few that made me raise my eyebrows. Funny to see at first… and my emotions made me think “WHAT FUN”, but that changed after the initial surprise had subsided into a, “Hmmm, do I like this?”
I thought I also remembered that the photos you post on Pixabay may be used commercially.
But that they should NOT be used in an UNALTERED form, nor on physical products.
To be sure, I went to reread the license of Pixabay, and as far as I can interpret that, this is indeed really NOT allowed.
Rowan and Myla are the December dogs for a calender
Intrigued, I searched again… but again I came across the same thing. The photo of Rowan and Myla that I am talking about is really being used in an unaltered form for a commercial product. It has been used as an image for the month of December in a calendar for the year 2021. And that is seriously NOT allowed according to the limited rules of Pixabay.
They are also on a mug
I came across the same photo on a commercial physical product during my search, but here they put a small frame around the photo and the photo was cropped, which would make it okay because the photo has been altered.
Another Reversed Image Search
This only made me more intrigued and I did a reversed image search on another photo I have on Pixabay. This time the picture of Gentle as a puppy. To my surprise, I came across this photo an awful lot of times in an unaltered form, on so many physical products. For example, I could order a duvet cover via alieexpress with that photo, a key ring, clothing, ... well, too many to mention. But everything in an unaltered form, and all physical products. OR would there be a catch in the sense of… You CAN get this as a physical product, but it is NOT YET on the website as a physical product?
Selling puppies?
I also came across the photo of Gentle on another website, which didn't make me happy at all. Namely a website that supposedly sells puppies?
https://breedersofblueeyespomskys.com/premiumpuppies
But hey, wait a minute… the use of that photo is misleading because the puppy in the photo is now a 10 year old dog and not at all for sale as a puppy. Still, she is pictured there in the "Premium Pups" category, priced at $ 3000 below her photo, and she is a "special order". What can I still do with this? That is totally misleading information that I would never have given permission for myself. And according to the limited rules of Pixabay, this is also NOT allowed.
And they seemed to have even COPYRIGHTED MY IMAGE???
Should anyone ever post photos on free stock photo sites?
I've seriously questioned if it is wise to post your photos on Pixabay and other free stock photo sites like Pixabay. Because no matter how nice it is, there are also disadvantages. That is evident here again. I would have liked it to receive the corresponding appreciation for the photo of Rowan and Myla, which is now just used in a commercial product like a calendar, which is just depicted on a mug… other people who make money by using my photo. Which I have placed on Pixabay myself, but with which I could have made money myself? And the commercial usage for what the photo is used for now, is NOT allowed, but who is going to keep an eye on that?
What way to go now?
What rights do you actually have if you post a photo on Pixabay with the limited regulations that exist. And who controls what happens to the photos you post to Pixabay. Because a lot is allowed, but some things are clearly not allowed. Where is the boundary? And perhaps even more important to know… What can you do about it if you see that your photo is being used for things that are NOT allowed?
It is a vague border, a shadowy world, many rights, and few rights… But what is wisdom?
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Damn gorgeous dogs you got
Lol ... That was the calendar company thinking too!
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😂 😂 😂
Wow
First of all, your images are really amazing and your dogs are indeed very cute (as @grindle mentions below)
Your concern is one of the reasons I was so skeptical too when uploading images on Pexels. But then, I am no photographer, so my photos are not really good to use for commercial reasons :) Even though I still need to do a reverse search myself to see more about where they are used
A few days ago, I saw a post on facebook's pexels community of a person asking what should they do because one of their photos were used inappropriately. The Pexels team immediately invited him to share the information in a private message. Maybe you could also contact Pixabay for that?
Please let us know any further actions/outcome and thank you for raising your concern here.
p.s. The photographer I interviewed has crossed 100 million views
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Thank you for your compliment about my photos. Very much appreciated. Yes they are almost 'too cute' you would think. Lol
I can very well understand your concerns ... but what I found out yesterday, and what worries me even more, is that one can not even remove the photos uploaded to Pixabay. I hope Pexels does have that possibility!
For now, I will wait until I receive the calendar with my dogs in it to have a hard proof. Then I will take further action starting with mailing Pixabay about all what I discovered with a reversed image search.
I will post once I know more about this.
And oops, I just missed a couple of zero's ... 😂
This is not right Hetty, I can understand why they would want to use your photos as they are beautiful, but to use them in this way when it clearly states that they should not. Can you let pixabay know? I am not so well versed in this area unfortunately. I hope you are well besides all of this xxxx
No it's not right indeed. Pixabay states that this kind of use is not allowed ... no matter how beautiful the photos are. Yes I'm going to wait until I received the calendar and then I will let Pixabay know. Besides this I'm very well and I hope you are too! Happy to see you again! xxxx
You know it's good when it's plagiarized :D
Glad you caught them.
Lol ... yes that's what they always say isn't it?
Hmmm I hope my wallet also will catch something out of this.
🤣
you know my opinion, see what you can do about it.. it may be worth it ;)
Hmmm let's see ... for the trouble I have to go through, it better be worth it. But yes, I'm going to go the Pixabay way, see what I can do about it, if they are going to help me with this and how ... I'm not done with this yet!
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