Patrick White wrote: >"Collin Brendemuehl" wrote: >>Watermarks may be useful, but it's not foolproof. >>They're supposed to provide some proof of ownership, and perhaps security. >>A watermark then seems a general waste of time. > > Collin is indeed correct -- there is no way to protect a digital image that > can't be circumvented. There is also no way to prevent a digital image from > being copied. > However, isn't it the case with US law that being able to establish intent > to steal is typically factored into the penalty by the judge? If so, then > the amount of effort the thief has to go through, and the less possibility > there is that they didn't realize what they were doing, the better. This > would make the simple visible copyright notice in the image one of the > better protections -- although easy to remove, it would make it very > difficult for the thief to claim they didn't know what they were doing.
As I understand it, intent or not, copyright violation penalties are pretty much determined by the value of the usage; If I caught someone I'd have to show what I charge for that kind of usage (or how much the user *made* from using my image). Are punitive damages applicable in these circumstances? I'd be interested in finding out. If so, intent could certainly be a factor but the people most likely to steal images this way are likely to be small outfits or individuals who wouldn't be worth the travel expenses, etc. to take to court (except in the unlikely event that they're local to me). I still put visible copyright information and a digital watermark in all my photos that go online even though I know they can be easliy removed. Now the fact is that the chances of even *finding* illegal use of one of my images on the web is pretty slim, but it's cheap insurance... even considering how ineffective it's likely to be ;) -- Mark Roberts www.robertstech.com - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
