I have been there my self, thrice. My pictures lifted off the net and published in big newspapers or in-flight magazines. I have seen numerous others in the same boat. It is about time that I started to maintain a log of all such posts (mostly Indian cases) at one place. I am not sure what purpose such a plagiarism list will sure but then I want vent.
My Own Three Cases
1. The Most Recent one was with Mint and resolved somewhat decently, but 2K as compensation for plagiarism is too low, the legal minimum is 50K.
2. Before that it was Brunch/HT and they cropped out my (c) Mridula D from the picture before using it.
3. And then there was an in-flight magazine where I found my first picture in print! Without a credit to me of course! And more funnily with a credit to someone else.
They have left me so sore that I am determined to list whatever I can find. And if you know of cases or if your own picture has been plagiarized, do leave me the link, I will do my best to keep it updated.
4. Kalyan Verma finds his picture of Wroughton’s Free Tailed Bat in Times of India without his consent and without any credit to him.
5. PlaneMad found his picture of the Taj Mahal Hotel on the front page of the Times of India without his consent and without any credit to him.
6. Shrinidhi found his picture of a police car in the Times of India without his knowledge.
8. Saad.Akhtar found a picture of his family gracing the pages of the Hindustan Times Dainik without his knowledge.
10. Twlightfairy’s picture in Times of India without her knowledge.
11. Roop finds her own picture staring back at her from the cover of a Punjabi Magazine! And she calls it pits of plagiarism.
12. Jo found a picture taken by him on the cover of a book.
13. Haree’s picture in the Madhyamam.
14. Nita found a picture of hers in the Hindustan Times.
15. Shamit Bagchi found his pictures in DNA newspaper.
16. Arun found his picture of Chandratal at NDTV website.
17. Bobin James found his picture in Times of India.
18. Spicejet Magazine Spiceroute lifting from a blog.
19. Archna and her picture in Hindustan Times.
20. Many instances collected at a blog called Indianpressarethieves.
21. A wikipedia page called Times of India=Plagiarism.
22. For Rocksea and Sarah it was Malayala Manorama.
23. Ritu found her short story without her permission in Femina.
24. Anuradha found her picture (5th from top) in Times of India.
And I am sure this is just the tip of the iceberg, if you wish to tip me off with a link I would surely add it.
This makes me afraid of posting anything online!
Way to go Ma'am….thanks for the links..
That is a good collection… Is this happening to you even after watermarking the pics? shameless people…
very nice
Nice information there. You have lot of work sure!
oh good.. this is a good post with links.. I will let you know if I come across any
Kudos to you Mridula ! We should not leave these ppl just like that.I have not started looking anywhere for my pictures getting stolen, for, I don't know how I am going to deal with it if it happens.
Just so sad that big papers have the need to steel. What would happen if we did the same to them? Don't dare to think any further…
Excellent compilation Mridula. This will be a bible and will be the ultimate hall of shame for all the publications. I will link to it from my blog
Great work, Mridula!!!! Keep up the good work!
Your article really worries me, I need to figure out where all my pictures could be going. Is there any particular way of finding out ?…Thomas
Hi, I really like your blog but I must say this plagarism is riculous! Thanks for standing up and setting an example.
Gaurav low resolution doesn't look good in print so that is one way out.Tarun the little that I can do.Shrinidhi some of my older pictures are not watermarked.Nisha I understand.Sanjay thanks for stopping by.Chitra the least that I could do.Thanks for the offer Doli.Thank you Kalyan.Fida they have legal departments to defend them!Thank you Anu.T and S not that I know of apart from staring at your own pictures suddenly in a publication. You could also try out http://www.tineye.com though as of now its database of images is small.Thanks for stopping by Rahul.
Mridula – still waiting for your promised account at chori.in :)..
Good expose. The worst part is that , say if you were to plagiarize from HT ot TOI , their legal would be after you like a pack of wolves citing copyright infringement and IP issues. The nerve!!
Femina has taken my story without permission, mangled it and reprinted it
http://phoenixritu.com/2011/05/the-femina-fiasco/
My picture lifted from my blog by TOI Hyderabad. Immediately reported but they have not responded as yet. Will write about it and send you the link.
TOI Link: http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JSC8yMDEyLzAyLzA2I1BjMDA1MTI=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom
My blog link: http://anuradhagoyal.blogspot.in/2012/01/hyderabad-hues-xiv-elusive-koti-and.html
If you notice, Times of India and Hindustan Times are the biggest thieves. They either have an unwritten policy of stealing so they can make more money, or they hire lazy staff writers and/or photographers who find stealing quicker to do instead of planning photo shoots. Perhaps both. Also, there is a lack of ethics at the top, and I can vouch for that with HT at least because despite sending emails to the editor himself he did not bother to reply. To date I have not been compensated for the photo that was stolen. And guess what, even a complaint to the Press Council of India elicited no response! Finally we have to lay the blame on the Press Council which is not bothered with the thieving. By not responding, they are giving a green signal to their members. They would be more bothered if someone steals from the press instead of vice versa.
Hi, I would like to use some images I found on the internet (google image) for my research.
1. It may involve publications in scientific journals as well and I wonder how I should go about it. Should I email each of the site owners and ask for permission specifically or is it ok to use them for educational purpose (fair use).
2. Normally, I know that you have to acknowledge the photo owner as well but in this case it may be negatively linked to the result of the preference study, e.g. people have rated the particular photo as least preferred. Is it then better to keep the photo owner anonymously?
Thanks for any advice on this! Eve
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23985194@N06/6729580791/
Anandabazar Patrika, a leading daily from Kolkata, published this image three times without my consent and without any credit!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23985194@N06/7351776456/
Sambad Pratidin, another daily from Kolkata, published this image without my permission and with no credit or link. See my first comment. I copied the page with link.