January Roses

 This is one of the last rose blossoms on the Iceberg rose.  It will soon be time to prune back all the roses before they start putting on their new growth for the year. 

 The cyclamen along the back old sidewalk beside the garage are starting to bloom again.  The dutch iris in this bed have 8 inch long sprouts showing.  As you can see the oriental poppies have new growth showing.  We have been having a mild winter, with lots of rain.  We needed the rain.  The river is not too high.. it is just running at a normal level.  People in other areas of the Island and lower mainland have had some snow and storms.  There were quite a few people without power a few days ago.

 This is a view up the old sidewalk along the side of the garage towards the back fence.  I need to get out and do the Autumn clean up that did not happen.  I am just not a tidy gardener.  I like the moss, too and let it grow on all the ugly cement.  The moss garden is expanding under the deck.  I think I need to move some of the ferns over to the cedar hedge side and let them go wild over there where those neighbors have beat the hell out of my cedars so that they are not screening anything any more. 

This is one of the cars that was out for the New Year's day run with the VCCC.  Lovely old Buick.

Now for my rant, which you will be seeing more of in my posts:
Copyright Infringement
Over the past few months I have become aware of the fact that many of my photos that I have posted on this blog are being taken and used by other people on social media sites, personal websites, and blogs, many of them on commercial pages.

The way I find the copyright infringement is by right click any photo I suspect is being used and doing a google search for it.  Another way is use Tineye on line search, or get the Tineye reverse search plugins for your browser.  Tineye Search.

When you find an infringement on your photo there is a suggested procedure to follow  using a DMCA take down notice. Here is a quote from an article on dpreview:  depreview
"If you find a website that is using one of your images without permission, contact the ISP that is hosting the culpable website to report the infringement and ask that the infringement stop. The letter you send is called a “DMCA takedown notice.” The ISP is required to make its agent’s name and address available so that you can send it the notification."  THIS IS A VERY INFORMATIVE ARTICLE.   Be sure to read it.

An informative article about Take Down Notices This is very informative article by  Copyright Carolyn E. Wright, Esq.
www.photoattorney.com
All rights reserved  that plainly gives you the steps to prepare a DMCA take down notice, including:
(if you go to the website you can click on each of the steps for more information.)
Step 1 - Finding the ISP that is Hosting the Website With Your Image, including a whois lookup and a dns lookup URL

Step 2 - Drafting Your Takedown Notice

First Consider Whether The Use of Your Image is a Fair Use
 - she gives us a link to her article regarding Fair Use.  In this regard I believe that any photograph taken by you has your copyright automatically. It would be a good idea to embed your copyright or watermark on your work.  There is information all over the internet on how to do this. 

Counter Notification
Under this point in her article is the last sentence:  quote:   But be sure to register the copyrights to your photos so that you have all of the tools necessary to fight copyright infringement. Unquote. 
This is in regards to filing a lawsuit which unfortunately is the only way to achieve some payment for the infringement of your copyrights.  I think you need to expect a substantial payment on the lawsuit before any lawyer would be interested in spending any time on the case.  Especially when they work on a contingency basis.  And that is really the only way to consider hiring a lawyer, in my opinion, for these lawsuits, unless you have very deep pockets to pay for the time and efforts of a lawyer.

Conclusion:  I will quote the whole of the conclusion of her article:
Quote: 

Infringements are much too common these days. Fortunately, there are tools to fight them – the DMCA takedown notice is one of the powerful ones.

Carolyn E. Wright is an attorney dedicated to the legal needs for photographers. Get the latest in legal information at Carolyn’s website, www.photoattorney.com. These and other legal tips for photographers are available in Carolyn’s book, The Photographer’s Legal Guide, available on her website.

NOTE: The information provided here is for educational purposes only. If you have legal concerns or need legal advice, be sure to consult with an attorney.  Unquote.

In conclusion of my post I will give you the URL that is the story of a Blogger who was simply using a photo she found some where on the internet and was totally unaware of Copyright Infringement until she was being sued by lawyers for Copyright Infringement.  Apologizing for the misuse of the photo and taking it off her blog did not let her off the hook.  She is a brave lady for posting this story on her blog:  Bloggers Beware she calls it.  http://www.blogher.com/bloggers-beware-you-can-get-sued-using-photos-your-blog-my-story?page=0,1  sued for copyright infringement

Since I have learned about this issue I have spent a lot of time chasing the people who are illegally using my photos, with nothing gained for my time and effort.

... more of my adventures in copyright infringement in my next post, including information on Pinterest and how to prevent your photos on your site from being pinned... that is used by others on that social media site.