Downloading YOUR photos from FA and publishing w/o consent

Sometimes I google search to see what pictures of mine made it to the search engines. Using different words or aircraft type etc I always find a few. So Im looking at my HELIJET AIRWAYS CGHJP
pic and decide to google Helijet Airways. Well … I found my pic … advertising transportation alternatives on a whale watching tour site ! Has any of you ever found your photos in this kind of predicament and what have you done about it ? I have written the owner of the company to find out how they became involved with my copy-writ photo.

If they’re a US company, you can send them a DMCA takedown letter.

…no Canadian. DMCA ? I have ran across this problem previously with my pics being reposted on other sites and successfully had the reposter back paddle and remove the pic, not having expected the photographer to have found it. I suspect there is some kind of cease and desist action one could take if they refused to remove the pic or believe I was the photographer.

flightaware.com/photos/license.rvt

If you don’t want your photos appropriated, don’t upload them.

I hope you told the owner that the picture is copyrighted. It would make you look stupid if you told him it was copy-writ.

What does this have to do with FlightAware?

Now, seriously, how can you tell that it is your picture and not a picture taken by someone else who, coincidentally, had the same shot?

Here’s the best way to prevent people from using downloading your pictures and using them: Don’t Post Your Pictures Online!

Thanks for your opinions boys, but really, Im NOT looking for advice on whether to post or not . So, if we focus and stay on track with the original question - " Sometimes I google search to see what pictures of mine made it to the search engines. Using different words or aircraft type etc I always find a few. So Im looking at my HELIJET AIRWAYS CGHJP
pic and decide to google Helijet Airways. Well … I found my pic … advertising transportation alternatives on a whale watching tour site ! Has any of you ever found your photos in this kind of predicament and what have you done about it ? I have written the owner of the company to find out how they became involved with my copy-writ photo. " , I’d be more than happy to have
a mature exchange on the subject.

You might be better off to ask on airliners.net where there is a plethora of boys with the same umm… concern.

Can’t vouch for the maturity though. :neutral_face:

What is this “maturity” of which you speak? Sounds scary.

Happy to Oblige …

After a few exchanges with the owner of the company, who btw was very polite and apologetic about the use of my Helijet pic, had it removed from his site. He was unsure of where he obtained the pic but was certain he hadn’t cruised the net at random for partner images, pointing out it may have come from HAW’s photo archive, which I have yet to per-sue.
This worked out well with no resistance in a gentlemanly manner and the owner thru his mistake, was a pleasure to deal with.
Thats another one down !
Please post if you have had similar experiences with your photos being published without your consent. Good or Bad.

Should have asked for free helicopter rides in exchange for the use of the photo.

Update-

How could this happen ? …as a p.s. to his last letter to me the owner asked if I’d ever considered going whale watching and taking some pics. I had sent him links to my page at FLIGHTAWARE and WEBSHOTS as a courtesy to validate the Helijet pic. Well I said, I’ve grown up on the coast and have seen lots of whales but for my wife and 3 transplanted recently arrived step-daughters that would be a thrill ! Considering that normally I would not entertain such an expensive excursion, I’d take three hours worth of stills for him to use and own ( probably hundreds of photos ) If he got 30 good pics out of the three hour tour that would be about $20 a photo. Not expecting anything, because after all, we all expect everything for nothing, and after a lengthly delay in response I didn’t expect him to be entertaining my offer ( I figured I may have pushed to hard ) until today… when he suggested that he take the five of us on a whale watching tour in exchange for my “photographic talent” !

It was good enough that Brett put the original interest and time into dealing with the Helijet pic of mine that he published and removed from his site, but never expected that this would transpose as a result of our chance meeting. If this doesn’t give you hope in humanity, I don’t know what does ! With any luck I’ll get a shot or two of some whales with even a vapor trail in the back ground that will allow me to post on FLIGHTAWARE !

So Brett of EAGLE WING TOURS of Victoria BC, thanks for instilling the faith to others who loose control of their copyrighted photographic work to the social media pirates !