A couple points about Copyright Law and Copyright violations.

A couple points about Copyright Law and Copyright violations.

 

 If someone were to copy a Steven Spielberg movie (for example), the repercussions would be severe. Whoever did this, if they ever even got as far as to have a finished product, would be attacked by armies of lawyers, ridiculed by the press, and maligned by the public for what would amount to a shameful act of theft and appropriation. 

  Now the rules governing photography, another section of the visual arts, are about the same. You can’t just run around appropriating someone’s compositions, the feel of their images, or the text on their website. Why is why the following image is so shameful, and a real indication of the dreadful direction our society has taken:

 

 Now what is wrong with this picture? Apart from the blatant, disrespectful, shameful theft going on, the other thing that’s wrong is:

1 These losers/scum aren’t being attacked by armies of lawyers.

2. These losers/scum aren’t being ridiculed by the press.

3. These losers/scum aren’t being maligned by the public for what amounts to a shameful act of theft and appropriation.

 Now don’t get us wrong. We don’t expect Miles Morgan or the other three stooges in this photo to feel any shame or remorse for what they are doing here. They are remorseless, immoral THUGS who lack empathy and feel no compunction at committing crimes like this. In fact, most of these bozos run all around the West committing the crime of copyright violation, every day. There are hundreds of these losers on Flickr and elsewhere. 

 The secret here is that images don’t protect themselves, and copyright doesn’t enforce itself. If Steven Spielberg didn’t sue a thief who stole his movie, nothing would probably get done. An IP/creative arts professional needs to be proactive about protecting his work. Copyright that isn’t enforced is copyright that is essentially given up. 
 
 There is nothing noble or good about what these pathetic imbeciles do. It’s financial terrorism. It’s completely inartistic, lacking in shame, and devoid of respect for another person’s ideas and property. It destroys the photography industry, destroys jobs, and fills the pockets of Chinese and Japanese camera companies at the expense of a native industry. Miles Morgan and his other bozo friends would serve us best by throwing themselves off a cliff (Rowena, for example) and ridding us of their malignant, damaging presence. Or, at least, spending a nickel in the federal pen as an example to the rest of their stupid buddies. 
 In the future, when people awaken to the terrible injustice carried out by these THUGS, the time when LOSERS were allowed to scurry around, Xeroxing/stealing professionals’ images, will be remembered as a most shameful time in our history. A time when economic growth was destroyed and peoples’ careers were destroyed so LOSERS could feel good about themselves on Flickr.