Kim, I’m glad to share what I know. Thanks for visiting!

Sarala, it’s good to know you found the information helpful. After scrambling around several times myself, I found these bloggers to offer a lot of useful guidance.

TheOtherIvy, greetings and welcome! Apparently, there is a trend toward this type of content theft on newer blogs (and you’re right, the images are really tough to track). I’ve found it helpful to add labels with a title, my name, the year, and the word “copyright” to my image. That way, there is a little searchable text associated with the image.

As for the question of the effectiveness of splogging, I’m equally as curious. I continue to wonder just what kind of revenue they generate, and at this time I have no certainty… a lot of folks buy into “money making schemes” of one kind or another… I’m not sure if anyone ever really makes much money with any of them, but new ones continue to pop up.

I’m glad you found the post helpful. It’s sticky issue, but nonetheless unavoidable and important to attend to as an independent artist.

Happy Almost-New-Year right back at ya!

Jade

I’ve wondered about the whole image-thing, too. I wonder if it’s tougher to find the origins of images via the web than it is to find plagiarized text?

Also — did your investigation indicate how effective splogging really is? I’m assuming that it’s making someone money (why else would it be done?), but I’m not sure how. Is anyone really following those false links?

Great work, excellent post. Happy almost-new year!

Angelique

1) For myself, I always dig and dig and dig until I find the original author. Since this was part of my book research recently, it was critical: every image to be used in the book required a formal permission request letter, so I HAD to find the owner. This approach might take a really long time (and a little creative research) in order to get it right. My conclusion: either find the original artist, or find a different image.

2) For others, the solution is often to do as you say, use the image, write “author unknown” and/or “Author/artist retains original rights”, and wait for the owner to step forward. The trouble with this method is that it’s still copyright infringement if this is a protected work (not public domain). It’s also difficult to gauge ownership, and it requires effort on behalf of the artist to make (and prove) their claim.

Either way, it still comes down to a personal choice. I know some people who are pretty loosey-goosey about copyrights. They don’t mean it in a vindictive way, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are using someone else’s work without authorization.

Any help?

Jade

Jaye, I’m glad that this info can be helpful. In my (limited) experience, it’s best to be as informed as possible and approach the situation with professionalism. That doesn’t make it any less annoying, but it does help one feel as if there’s something to be done.