Dealer using photos of horse when I owned her .

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morrismob

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Please can anyone advise as to whether I have any right over these photos. I sold a lovely mare to a family home that I thought and they thought would be a forever home. They placed a wanted ad in Horsequest. Things didn't work out and I have been around long enough to know this can happen :(

I knew that they were trying to sell her on but only because we saw the ad. They have now sent her to a dealer, who I don't know and could be fantastic but the dealer is using 95% of ridden photos of the horse when she was owned and ridden by my daughter. These photos have been taken off my Facebook. A couple of these photos are of them schooling and are very personal to my daughter. I have sent an email asking the dealer to remove the ridden photos.

This mare is lovely and does not deserve to end up in a dealer no matter how good they are. Maybe that's why I'm so cross. I am still in contact with the mares 2 previous owners and would hate them to see her in this ad. :confused::confused:
 
Maybe the people who bought her saved those pics of her working nicely, and when asked by the dealer for decent pics felt those showed her off the best? So its possible the dealer does not realise they were not their photos to give, but they are still yours and you have the rights to them.

That's a shame it hasn't worked out anyway :-(
 
I am sorry to hear about your horse. It is really upsetting when you get further annoyances because people do not do the right thing.

The copyright belongs to whoever took the photos. If the dealer does not take them down in response to your request, get on to whoever is the web presence provider because they too are breaching copyright. You can find the owner through Whois.

Someone did this to me and gave me two fingers when I requested the pictures be removed. I found out who provided the space for the man's web page using Whois, phoned them up (it was a German company and they spoke perfect English), and said I would be sending proof that the pictures were mine, which I did. The photos were removed and there was a nice blank space on the web page where they had once been! Very gratifying!:D
 
morrismob said:
Please can anyone advise as to whether I have any right over these photos. I sold a lovely mare to a family home that I thought and they thought would be a forever home. They placed a wanted ad in Horsequest. Things didn't work out and I have been around long enough to know this can happen :(

I knew that they were trying to sell her on but only because we saw the ad. They have now sent her to a dealer, who I don't know and could be fantastic but the dealer is using 95% of ridden photos of the horse when she was owned and ridden by my daughter. These photos have been taken off my Facebook. A couple of these photos are of them schooling and are very personal to my daughter. I have sent an email asking the dealer to remove the ridden photos.

This mare is lovely and does not deserve to end up in a dealer no matter how good they are. Maybe that's why I'm so cross. I am still in contact with the mares 2 previous owners and would hate them to see her in this ad. :confused::confused:
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I'd probably assume that the current owners copied your pics and gave them to the dealer to use.... Still completely out of order, contact dealer and tell him he does not have permission to use them and that they are infact your property not that of current owners.
 
To access your FB photos they must be your friends or you have poor permissions......perhaps sort out your status.
You sold the horse - it is now bing sold on again -so surely good that they are using good recommendations - i.e. your photos....to reinforce that the horse is a nice one?
Not really sure what your problem is here??
 
dressedkez said:
To access your FB photos they must be your friends or you have poor permissions......perhaps sort out your status.
You sold the horse - it is now bing sold on again -so surely good that they are using good recommendations - i.e. your photos....to reinforce that the horse is a nice one?
Not really sure what your problem is here??
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I was Facebook friends with the owners I did unfriend them when they decided to sell her. They bought her and within a few months their instructor rang me to say that the girl wasn't riding her and they were going to sell her. I offered then to buy her back but then it all went well and they were keeping her. Then an ad come up for her which we saw. Since then the mare is now at a dealers. What is my problem: Lots to do with the above if I'm honest but also the photos the dealer is using are personal photos taken on my camera schooling xc and sj as well as prof photos taken at BE events. It just doesn't feel good, someone should have asked if I minded, I would still buy the mare back but my offers are not accepted.:confused:
 
Wouldn't bother me to be honest. It's a photo at the end of the day. If they were on Facebook then it's really not that hard to see them. It's a shame things haven't worked out though.
 
FreddiesGal said:
Wouldn't bother me to be honest. It's a photo at the end of the day. If they were on Facebook then it's really not that hard to see them. It's a shame things haven't worked out though.
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I know its silly and shouldn't bother me, usually I'm very straightforward and take it as it is but seeing all the photos just upset me and I don't see why they can just use personal photos without asking. Off to bed now but thanks to all replies. Hopefully the dealer will remove the photos and use their own.
 
morrismob said:
I know its silly and shouldn't bother me, usually I'm very straightforward and take it as it is but seeing all the photos just upset me and I don't see why they can just use personal photos without asking. Off to bed now but thanks to all replies. Hopefully the dealer will remove the photos and use their own.
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As others have said, your copyright so no-one allowed to use without your permission, so go after the dealer (nicely of course). You don't have to justify why you don't want them used, that's your business.

Can you buy the mare back from the dealer? Maybe use a trusted third party if there's an issue?
 
I'm not sure, but aren't photos on FB actually FB's property? Isn't that why some photographers got upset about it? I think you may have to approach it more of not wanting a picture of your child being shown rather than owning the pic. Sorry it hasn't worked out though :(
 
morrismob said:
This mare is lovely and does not deserve to end up in a dealer no matter how good they are. Maybe that's why I'm so cross. I am still in contact with the mares 2 previous owners and would hate them to see her in this ad. :confused::confused:
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What's wrong with the horse being at a dealers? I'd only purchase a horse from a dealer never a private sale. Yes they are you pics so I guess you have right to be upset but is it really that big of a deal, I mean you sold the horse on so why can't they..?

Also why won't they accept your offer .? Moneys money at the end of the day.?? Are you offering the asking price.? That seems strange.? Is there some bad blood between you and the current owners trying to sell this mare.?
 
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Grey area! I found some of my photos used in an art exhibition in London. They were quite nice photos from a holiday with friends. I found out as someone I know went to the private view and called me up to say pictures were on huge canvases! The artist wasn't claiming to own them, and after contacting a lawyer I was told that as I had zero rights as they had been made public on Facebook and shared. It's the sharing thing that means you have no call, if someone on face book shares your album or it becomes viral, then the photos leave your own personal albums and can be used. Copyright law is a funny thing as if you click and save and repost through Facebook the original seems to lose rights. That's partly why a lot of pro photographers do smaller low res images suitable for face book for a small charge as they are hard to reproduce and print out.
 
Nothing you can do. We sent a mare back to it's owner because it was too much for my sister (back when she was 8 or so!) after a summer of struggling. In that time, we'd sent photos to her of how they were getting on- the next summer, an advert went up using these photos. Nothing we could do...
 
If the photos were taken by you/ daughter then they belong to you, you have a copyrights over them. They have no rights using them without your permission, write a strongly worded email asking for them to be removed immediately.
 
This thread is raising some interesting legal points! I'm not a lawyer but often wish I had been.

Facebook might indeed own the copyright. Generally, a unilateral contract of sale is not legally binding. I think it was (name of publishers deleted as they are quite close to home!!!) who had the clever idea of paying photographers by cheque with a clause on the back saying that by cashing the cheque, the photographer had agreed to the sale of the copyright. That was quickly blocked by a change in the law. But it is a different matter where both parties have prior knowledge of the conditions of the contract -- which presumably will be included in FBs terms and conditions and users accept by joining FB.

Yes, when material is in the public domain anyone can use it. It would be a matter of deciding whether these photos are in fact in the public domain.

As one poster has said, does it matter that much? Annoying, yes, but not really a matter of life and death, is it?
 
It seems the lesson learnt here is not to post photos you consider personal on FB. If you want to share photos of your horse with a previous owner take a pic and get a hard copy developed and send that to them perhaps.



Why won't the owners allow you to buy the mare back? Your money is as good as anyone else's I would have thought :confused: As already suggested use a 3rd party that is unknown to the current owner if you want the horse back that much.

Good luck
 
its worth putting a watermark on photos with a copyright and name. At least then there is no conflict over whose property the photos are. You can also add in the description a statement to say that these photos are the property of ** and are not to be shared, copied, downloaded or printed without permission.

FB did have a clause that removing the image would also delete their use but I don't know if it works if someone has shared the image. Shared images usually have details of the person who shared it so you can contact them and ask them to delete the image as well.
 
To be honest they're only photos, I wouldn't give it too much thought as the horse is going to be sold with or with out the use of your pictures. Is it affecting you're life in any substantial way ? If not I suggest you just move on and don't get too upset over it.
 
A compromise maybe....ask them to remove the personal ones, and offer them the use of other ones. If it helps the mare find a decent home, what are a few pictures?
 
I would be peeved if someone chose to use personal photos of mine without permission. Just contact the dealer and ask them to take them down. If they are halfway decent they will and can't understand why they won't sell back unless the money is way out?
 
morrismob said:
I was Facebook friends with the owners I did unfriend them when they decided to sell her. They bought her and within a few months their instructor rang me to say that the girl wasn't riding her and they were going to sell her. I offered then to buy her back but then it all went well and they were keeping her. Then an ad come up for her which we saw. Since then the mare is now at a dealers. What is my problem: Lots to do with the above if I'm honest but also the photos the dealer is using are personal photos taken on my camera schooling xc and sj as well as prof photos taken at BE events. It just doesn't feel good, someone should have asked if I minded, I would still buy the mare back but my offers are not accepted.:confused:
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Get a mate to trial her and put your offer in. No-one needs to know if she ends up back with you....
 
Horrible situation.
You could say you have copy tight over the pictures.

The good think is if they are showing the horse with good pictures she is more likely to be attractive to people and find a nice home
 
Dry Rot said:
Yes, when material is in the public domain anyone can use it. It would be a matter of deciding whether these photos are in fact in the public domain.
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They aren't. Unless accompanied by a statement saying that they are for public domain, then they aren't.

The copyright is owned by the person who took the photo, not the subject in the photo or the public. On sites such as facebook, fb has the right to use your photo, but have to add author etc to the photo, no-one else does.

Copyright in a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work lasts for the life of the author and 70 years from the end of the year in which he/she died.
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So the copyright belongs to OP and they have every right to request the removal of the photos.
 
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