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The Pirates Web 2.0 (January 2008)
Which category of digital content do you think causes the most damage to copyright owners these days?:
From the research we have done over the past ten years, we have found that the single largest quantity of infringements involves none of the obvious categories listed above. The answer is “Images” .. the only true world’s common denominator. They need no translation. The only difference is the "thousand words" each image represents change in each culture the images are used in. But not the images, themselves. Think about it, pirating images has more applicability to an ever increasing global and digital economy than pirating any of those more obvious categories listed above. And while the infringers might claim they create demand for some copyrighted works by "indexing", that’s certainly not the case with “images”. In fact, our research could not a find a single incident where indexing led to an actual licensed sale. I should know. I originally wrote a "white parer on this subject back in July 2000, but, unfortunately, it never saw the light of day. Many of my predictions have come true ... unfortunately. Piracy is far more flagrant and widespread than it was just 7-8 years ago. And it is getting worse every single day. My small graphics arts development company in Ashland, Virginia has been fighting Internet piracy extensively over the past 15 years, since the Internet first became a commercial reality in the early 90s. We are losing the battle ... big time. But we don’t intend to raise the white flags. In fact, our efforts have taken on a new "life" and intensity recently. The decision made by the federal judge and jury in Duluth, Minnesota in early October 2007 should send a new signal out to all Internet pirates. Enough is enough. Stop teaching your children to steal. Stop stealing yourself and making up excuses after you're caught. Stop using copyrighted material unless you have a valid license or written agreement to do so. Stop whining and crying. If you don't like the fair market value of a copyrighted work, then don't use it. It's all that simple. We represent original designers, illustrators, conceptual artists, cartoonists, and animators. And the computer based programmers, digitizers, and colorizers who support their efforts. For every one original copyright-registered illustration we can license, fifteen are stolen. That’s the highest piracy rate in the world. Higher than movies, higher than music, higher than videos. In fact, I don't think any of the studios or the musicians can match those sad claims these days. The entire industry of original graphic arts content (electronic clip art illustrations, design templates, PC-based animations, digital logos/symbols, and cartoons) producers has been virtually wiped out. Unfortunately, in a world full of piracy, there is very little economic incentive for new image development these days. We know. We pioneered the development of graphic arts content on the IBM PC platform way back in the early 1980s and have the arrows in our back to prove it. Only the Disneys, Warner Brothers, Professional sports leagues, Marvel comics, and other large developers of digital illustrated artwork … those who also can sell merchandise, or other licensing rights, based on their proprietary imagery … have survived. And Imageline has survived for over 25 years, too, I’m happy to tell you. Why? Because we have always stood up for our rights. Whether it be in the marketplace or in the courts, we have fought hard against pirates for the past 15 years and made some difference in our industry we think. You be the judge. We don’t care how big or small the infringers are. The damages are the same to us in all incidences. We have been involved in 51 copyright disputes during this time. We don't go after end users, so that's a very small number compared to the 28,000 lawsuits filed by the recording industry since 2003. We have our hands full going after those Internet and software publishers who display and distribute our copyrighted works to others ... either for free or for a profit. We have never lost a case. Most were settled amicably. Seven of the 51 had to go to court, and we won them all, as well. We have never once been accused of copyright infringement, and we have never brought forward a claim that was not thoroughly researched and well documented. We have never filed a false claim. Are we crazy for hanging in there ... probably? Do we plan to continue to hang in there? Absolutely “yes”. Do we plan to win this war? You can bet your life we do. We owe that to the artists, designers, illustrators, digitizers, and cartoonists who have lost their jobs due to piracy over the past decade and a half. The main problem is our industry is not organized like our copyright friends in the music, photographic, productivity software, and movie industries. We really have no organization helping us chase down pirates and hold them accountable. In September 2007, Imageline was invited to join the new Copyright Alliance (www.copyrightalliance.org) in Washington D.C., an organization with the primary objective of uniting various copyright industries and presenting a unified voice to Congress and to other government agencies, as well as to the non-copyright industries in this country and abroad. Back to the graphic arts. Not only is the piracy rate in our industry off the charts, the damages are overwhelming ... far too much to even try to quantity in this report, let alone in the courts. You see, electronic graphic arts content is not just pirated for entertainment purposes. It has useful applications in many markets ... and in many ways of life. It is used to improve the appearance of web sites, and consequently, puts more and more custom artists out of work when stolen and displayed for free. It is used to enhance greeting cards, newsletters, business cards, auction web pages and other online applications, invitations, t-shirt designs, plaques, stationery, community flyers, school reports, church bulletins, annual stockholders meetings, PowerPoint presentations, and on ... and on … and on. The economic impact of all these infringements around the world is astronomical. So what should we do ... give up? Sorry, that’s not in our creative blood. We are going to continue this fight for as long as we possibly can. We are not going to let the Google’s of this world wipe out copyright protection ... not if we can help it. My family has been in the graphic arts business since 1918 and we have had many obstacles to overcome along the way. We’ll figure this one out as well. We simply need the judges to enforce our laws. And our government officials to put some teeth in their stance against piracy worldwide ... not just lip service. That’s not too much to ask, do you think? Thanks for listening, We have received some very kind words of support over the years, It’s that kind of acknowledgment that keeps us ticking … and working hard. We don’t think this should be “The Pirates’ Web 2.0”. Do you? George P.S. Please check out our new web site at www.imageline2.com if you want to keep track of our progress. We will be listing infringing web sites and identifying and exposing known pirates as we go. This way, if you inadvertently downloaded a copyrighted image from one of these sites, you can take corrective measures without increasing your liability. We want to hold those that distribute our products illegally accountable, not those innocent people who download the images for their own use unknowing they are copyright protected.
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television and video clips (like those on YouTube and Veoh). Viacom
alone has sued YouTube/Google for over $1 billion in damages.