r.hackett

Anything posted on facebook (that you're worried about copyright with) should be proof stamped. Included the copyright symbol your name and possibly email address in the stamp. That way you 1. Can prove that the person taking your image new it was copyrighted and 2. anyone who sees the image because it was stolen will also know its copyrighted and have a contact for you, so you could possibly get more jobs from it

krispix Loc: London - UK

I'm probably speaking out of turn as I live in UK. But, here it is very simple to sue in such cases and you do NOT need a lawyer. I don't know what the situation is in the States, but I would present myself at Court as a 'Litigant in Person', in other words representing myself. Fill in a simple form, pay a relatively small fee and sit back. If this person does not come to her senses when subpoenaed you may have to go to court, but I'm betting it'll be a short hearing.

RTR Loc: West Central Alabama

This sounds like the best idea yet if you insist on using facebook.

VietVet Loc: Brooklyn, NY

I had a problem with people removing my copyright from my posted photos on FB and reposting them as their own, I contacted the ones I caught to no avail and notified FB. They still have not gotten back to me and this happened more than six months ago. I have since removed all of my images from FB. Your problem is much greater than mine because of the children. You should contact the authorities and also remove your images from FB.

jimberton Loc: Michigan's Upper Peninsula

sounds to me that the baseball bat would be the best solution.

tiger1640 Loc: Michigan

When you sign up to Facebook you give up your rights...
"Sharing Your Content and Information

You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings. In addition: 1. For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it."

Here you are giving FB all your rights to anything you post. If you do not wish to do this and then dont sign up or you can delete as per FB statement...."When you delete IP content, it is deleted in a manner similar to emptying the recycle bin on a computer. However, you understand that removed content may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time (but will not be available to others)."

katbandit Loc: new york city

The first step is to BLOCK her from your page..the others here gave you great advice....that's why I do not often post photos of children and when I do I watermark them heavily across their faces and never identify them ..

cwilliams31 Loc: Salisbury, North Carolina

# (1) - Block her and she will never see anything on your site again .....

# (2) - "Photograph is property of "The Photographer's" and is not to be duplicated or used without permission".

Both have worked well for me .....

JBTaylor Loc: In hiding again

I would start out with reporting it to Facebook and expand to the other advice given.
From http://www.facebook.com/help/intellectual_property


For information on reporting abuse, see http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=178608028874393&ref=hcnav

It appears that you can also set Custom Viewing rights that specifically block this person. Somewhere, I thought I saw that you could use their email account that's tied to Facebook or name.

Here's a link for that http://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=124768544269860#What-does-the-"Customize"-privacy-setting-mean?

Here is another site showing how to do it http://www.guidingtech.com/6496/hide-facebook-status-photos-from-certain-people/

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Two of the most powerful words in our language right now are "Child Abuse." Use those words to your advantage.

You have gotten lots of good suggestions here. This sounds like an easy win. Did someone suggest complaining to Facebook? Complain to every authority you can think of, and don't leave out your local politicians. Elections are coming up.

I like the idea of posting with private settings. In the past, people have suggested posting at low resolutions to prevent theft, but since she's using these images online, lo-res is probably all she needs.

This must be a nightmare for you. In addition to leading your busy life, you now have to contend with something very unpleasant. Good luck, and please keep us updated.

JBTaylor Loc: In hiding again

I think the whole point of this was to keep them from being sued.

Tinyman34

Don't worry about being longwinded. It needed to be said.

Max Kurz Loc: Newark, De

Ok,,If she lives in your town, take a photo of her, hideous modify it and post it on FB with an explaination of why you did it and let her come after you. Have your baseball bat handy !

coastlawyer Loc: Coastal Mississippi

Make a report to your local district attorney.

Mickey88 Loc: Central Florida

you have been given some good advice already ,
I would suggest getting the pics off of facebook, and opening an account with zenfolio or smugmug, there you can password protect folders so only your customers can view the photos.
as for watermark, the most acceptable form is, copyright symbol, /year/your name or studio name, nothing more, no email address etc..
i disagree with contacting local police, I doubt that what she is doing would be considered child abuse, at best bullying, but the parents of the children would have to make that claim, not you.
getting an attorney always sounds good, but in reality, it would cost you a fortune, and a lot of time, you would have to prove damages, even if you could prove damages and have the photos registered with the copyright office, if the woman doesn't have money, you'd gain nothing
that brings us to filing complaint with facebook, they clearly state that you should first contact the alleged infringer. which you have done.


one of my models has been having issues with someone stealing her photos and posting them as theirs, even stealing her name . once she alerted me that they had taken some of my photos I got involved, I told the person about infringement and the potential fine, they closed the account and opened a new one so I sent a new warning with the following info
The legal penalties for copyright infringement are:
1.Infringer pays the actual dollar amount of damages and profits.
2.The law provides a range from $200 to $150,000 for each work infringed.
3.Infringer pays for all attorneys fees and court costs.
4.The Court can issue an injunction to stop the infringing acts.
5.The Court can impound the illegal works.
6.The infringer can go to jail.
http://www.lib.purdue.edu/uco/CopyrightBasics/penalties.html

that account was closed and so far no new one that we are aware of, I think the link verifying what I had stated, might have gotten the point across