First, a disclaimer. I am, thankfully, not a lawyer. Anyone who is, feel free to flame me on factual errors. What actual harm has the great criminal Gardner done? I think this has been blown hugely out of proportion by the small number of pros who are still mad because they can't make a living shooting trains, and want to drag the rest of us down. Intellectual property is still a very grey area, both ethically and legally, as anyone who has changed jobs within an industry lately can tell you. When that property is distributed for free, things get really interesting. Is taping a TV show for a friend any different than copying a photo from a web site and reposting it with credit intact? I don't know, and niether do a lot of lawyers and judges. Railfanning is just a hobby for me, so unfortunately I just can't get that exercised about this. If I make an occasional buck or two at it great, but that's not why I do it. If someone was making money off me, that would be different. From my limited time on his site, he looks to be trying to collect a lot of images in one place so someone doesn't have to crawl around 50 web sites looking for a photo. Nowhere did I see him claim that these photos were his own. Legal subtleties notwithstanding, he made the brazen assumption that people who post their photos on a web site were interested in their images being seen! Silly boy. Dave, I would like to see what your lawyer would say about this, and what sort of "pain and suffering" has been caused to the "injured" parties. More than likely, he would write a cease and desist letter, pocket your fee and that is it. In any case, I guess you 'pros' will all just have to go back to hoarding your treasures and only sharing them with the 'worthy'.
Roger Rassche alone in the wilderness -> SPORRS: Serious Photographers of Railroad Related Subjects -> Web Site: http://www.anet-stl.com/acphotog/sporrs
