Dishonest behavior if not criminal

[Deleted]

I probably should have started a new thread, but the main "grey area" I am interested in is the British amendment to the copyright law that pertains to "orphaned" images. For example, earlier this year I posted a picture in the 3D insects thread that did not belong to me. I tirelessly searched for the original photographer, not because of copyright issues but because I wanted to know the size of the specimen, but to no avail. I even contacted the host site looking for the owner and there was no information. The page had not been updated for quite some time, so I went ahead and posted the image. I still don't know whether I was legally wrong for doing so or not.

[nomihoudai]

There is no "orphaned" pictures. Even if the producer of the picture would be dead or missing it would take up to 50 years before you are freely allowed to just use it. Don't know about the exact time, you would have to check the copyright expiration dates for pictures. For this forum here US law will apply.

[Deleted]

I'm no expert on the topic either, but from what I understand there are international copyright treaty agreements that most 1st world countries are part of. So if a British photographer had an issue with an American citizen he/she could persue legal action, and if the British government updated their laws wouldn't it work the other way too? I have no aspirations of becoming a copyright lawyer over this issue, but I think some of these laws are preventing useful transfer of knowledge, self expression, and educational material. I believe many people are walking on eggshells over the issue, and hope it doesn't have a negative impact on this forum. I'm a member of a number of different forums and social media sites, and this is the first one where I have seen such a problem. 99% of the time it's not a big deal. I hope the laws are soon updated to better deal with such problems. The new age of technology is advancing faster than most people and legal systems, and it is quite overwhelming.

[nomad]

I post quite a lot of my butterfly photographs on this forum and on facebook, and I have no problem with anyone using them, but it would be nice if they did to be credited. A lot of people have different views on this and if they have the copyright of images, it is up to them how they are used and permission should always be sought first. I am careful when using images in my threads to obtain the owner's permission [ see the R.L.E Ford and A.F. Eichhorn thread]. Some images from old journals are out of copyright, so these can be used. When I wrote a thread on A.F. Wollaston, I wanted to use images of the type specimens of three Delias species that he discovered that are held in the BMNH, not only did I have to mentioned that they remained the copyright of the British Museum of Natural History, I had to pay them for the privilege and if I wanted to use these images in a book, their price would have trebled.

As far as I am concerned in the recent issue, I was not the one that was offended and have no say in this matter. However I did find many of the Ornithoptera posts very enthusiastic and quite refreshing. As for walking on egg-shells, there is a good saying, " the least said, sooner mended "

Peter.

[Deleted]

"The least said, sooner mended"

Well said Peter. Words of wisdom I will remember.

[lordpandarus]

I think strict copyright enforcement on the internet is harmful and will cripple it completely over time. That includes music and movie/TV clips use

Go ahead complain that one of your pictures are "stolen", pretty soon everyone will be afraid to start a blog or website and post any picture, sound clip or video whatsoever. I for one am happy if I can find out what a butterfly species looks like by searching it in Google, whether the person who put the said picture there did so with permission or not.

I posted some pictures of my butterflies here and I don't give a crap who'd use them afterwards. But I go agree it looks worse if someone takes a picture on the internet without permission and puts it in a printed book he plans to profit on