Since the advent of the Internet and digital technology, it has never been easier for someone to rip off your work. It happens every day, despite the parameters of copyright law, which give an author exclusive rights to his or her creative content. The idea behind this legislation is to give creators an incentive to create, thus benefiting us all by enriching our culture, economy and society as a whole. Without it, we might be faced with a world in which copycats rule, creativity is stifled and content has the same stale taste.

But even when your works are copyright protected, there is still potential for infringers to take advantage of that content’s accessibility and to use it without giving you credit or monetary compensation. We’ve partnered up with PicScout, which offers a service unique to this Internet dilemma. Its image recognition software combs the web for your image(s) and reports every usage on specific sites. This is where we step in and provide the legal component. We contact infringers, send out takedown notices or negotiate licensing terms and fees, obtaining the compensation you deserve. In a recent case, we were able to procure a nice chunk of change for a nature stock photography site that found out its images were being used on several sites without its knowledge and permission. And it’s not just the bigger image vendors; the same can be done for independent photographers. It’s one small step for your pocketbook, one giant leap for copyright enforcement.

Technology never ceases to amaze me. It continues to circumvent, challenge and redefine the laws attempting to maintain order in the Wild Wild Web. I understand how it can be daunting to take the law into your hands and track down the “bad guys” (or the blissfully ignorant — “I saw it on someone else’s web site. Doesn’t that mean it’s public domain?”). Stealing may be as simple as right clicking an image, but now there are ways to fight back, technology with technology.