Events Organizer Steals Photograph
Take a look at the two images below – the image on the left is clearly the source for the layout on the right, right? Ignore the globe that has replaced the model’s head, as well as the additional “fabric” that replaces her hair – the pose, the guitar, and other details should make it obvious how these two images are related.
Now that we’ve established the source of the image in the poster, let me tell you that neither Alodia Gosiengfiao (the model), nor Tricia Gosingtian (the photographer) knew about the poster until they saw the tarpaulins for the event on major roads in the city. That’s right, neither of them gave their consent for use of the photograph above.
To make matters worse, usage of the image wasn’t limited to the poster you see above. To quote Alodia,
We also found out that they also used the design for TV commercials, posters, newspapers, etc.
It’s infuriating how many people treat material that’s posted online like it’s free to take. In cases like this, I don’t really know whether the more of the blame falls on the graphic artist hired to produce the materials, or the event organizer that commissioned the work.
It’s sad that such a great event (it’s a celebration of Earth Day, after all) is now marred by this debacle. What the organizers and the graphic artist did is clearly theft. With the cause they’re supporting, and the fact that the admission to the concert is free, I’m sure it wouldn’t have been hard to get permission to use the image. What makes it worse for them, as CNET Asia reports:
They didn’t ask for permission – how’s that for stupidity?
update:
CNET Asia isn’t the only site outraged by this. Others have made themselves heard too:
- Online Photo stolen used for Earth Day Jam Poster. » Blogalicious: a philippine photo odyssey
- Concert Producer Steals Filipina Blogger’s Photo | The Mike Abundo Effect
- Concerned Photographer: Stolen Photographs – Digital Photographer Philippines (forum)
- Plagiarized Poster of – Digital Photographer Philippines (forum)
- Musika Central: Earth Day Jam 2008 and The Issue About Its Poster
- Another online photo stolen.. used for earth day jam poser – Philippine Macintosh Users Group (forum)
- Stolen Art: Earth Day Jam 2008 Poster « winterheim|hdd
- Jori’s Entertainment Journal: Stolen Photo used in Earth Day Jam 2008 Poster
• Luis • 23 April 2008 •
Sadly, these types of incidents are becoming more and more common. With so many images on the Web and so many misunderstandings about copyright law, these types of problems are going to continue to happen.
What is strange is how deviantArt seems to be bit by this more than other sites. Lara Jade, who found her image used on a pornographic DVD, is a dA member as are numerous others on the service have had similar problems with eBay. Luckily, members of the site have rallied around this cause and are providing some great self-help on the topic.
Hopefully this will get resolved soon, I will be following it. Thank you for the post.
I’ve been looking around for updates on the matter, but this item by Alodia / blackmage9 is the only one I’ve found that I’d consider a reliable source. I read somewhere that the organizers had taken down the offending poster and replaced it with other materials, but based on what Alodia and Tricia have posted on their sites, that’s not going to be enough.
I read about Lara Jade a few months back, and she definitely got into a bigger mess than this. I haven’t really heard anything new about the issue lately though.
Anyway, I’ve browsed through some posts on your site and I’ve already added it to my list of feeds – you’ve got a great thing going there. If I have anything new on the topic, I will definitely tell you about it.
i hate the part where they replace alodia’s face watta bitzes
This seems to be yet another unfortunate case of the “free stock photo” scene on the internet. With so many photographers allowing their work to be distributed for free, more and more people feel it is okay to steal photos and use them however they want. Don’t let your work fall into the hands of “free stock” sites. Make it clear on any website that you post on that your work is the product of your time and hardwork and you expect to be compensated for if it is to be used for commercial purposes.