Comments on: iStockPhoto Comes Under Fire http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/06/istockphoto-comes-under-fire/ Content Theft, Plagiarism, Copyright Infringement Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:14:35 +0000 hourly 1 By: John Johnson http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/06/istockphoto-comes-under-fire/comment-page-1/#comment-127945 John Johnson Mon, 11 May 2009 15:48:20 +0000 http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/06/istockphoto-comes-under-fire/#comment-127945 Hi Jonathan,Back in November of 2008 I caught a guy named Dylan Jones selling website templates at the Warrior Forum. Dylan and Wynter Jones run <a href="http://www.monetizedesign.com" rel="nofollow"> <a href="http://www.monetizedesign.com</a>" target="_blank">www.monetizedesign.com</a></a> along with numerous other websites. Dylan is the president and Wynter is the VP and self described "graphic ninja" (this all according to their website as it appeared at that time).Dylan and Wynter offered for sale website templates that contained numerous watermarked, stolen images in them from istock Photo. I made as many people as possible aware of this photo theft including Istockphoto.What amazes me is the general appearance of acceptance and apathy. Maybe I'm wrong, but it doesn't appear to me that Istock has taken any measures against these guys. It is my understanding after reading posts at Warrior Forum that Dylan and Wynter may have purchased extended licenses AFTER THE FACT, but I haven't heard much else.I was also amazed at the way some of the Warriors at Warrior Forum came to the defense of these guys. I thought the Warrior Forum (WF) was a place to go and share ideas in order to become a more effective internet marketer (IM), but it appears to me that a few of these guys consider it a safe haven for scumbags. This is unfortunate because the majority of WF members appear to be good people, but the actions of a few have given WF a black eye, in my opinion.I might point out that I (user name: Win Crow) have been banned from WF for violating Rule #1 which is publicly talking about someone who ripped me off. I have had my videos regarding this image theft removed from Youtube (presumably by Dylan and / or Wynter Jones). Youtube will remove videos first and ask questions later IF you want to go through their legal process.I have a hard time sitting back and watching people skirt the system. A few months after I pointed out the stolen picture scheme by Dylan guess who pops up with a WSO (Warrior Special Offer)? You're right if you guessed Wynter. Wynter may not have been the front man for Monetize Design, but as VP and "graphics ninja" I hold him equally responsible. How does WF justify this?Ken Reno, the guy who purchased the templates from Dylan before selling them to me, has made it clear that he is not going to sit back and let this happen again either. Initially I had problems with Ken because he was the person who purchased the templates with Private Label Rights (PLR) from Dylan and he was the person I bought them from. Upon further investigation I find that he was as much a victim as I was. Ken had to refund over 200 of his customers because of the watermarked images.What I would like to see is Istockphoto come down hard on these guys. I'd also like to see that all of the photographers get paid for their work, and I'd like to see these two morons get banned from WF then fined and/or jailed for their blatant disregard for copyright infringement.What do you think?John Johnson aka Win Crow Hi Jonathan,Back in November of 2008 I caught a guy named Dylan Jones selling website templates at the Warrior Forum. Dylan and Wynter Jones run <a href="http://www.monetizedesign.com” target=”_blank”>www.monetizedesign.com along with numerous other websites. Dylan is the president and Wynter is the VP and self described "graphic ninja" (this all according to their website as it appeared at that time).Dylan and Wynter offered for sale website templates that contained numerous watermarked, stolen images in them from istock Photo. I made as many people as possible aware of this photo theft including Istockphoto.What amazes me is the general appearance of acceptance and apathy. Maybe I'm wrong, but it doesn't appear to me that Istock has taken any measures against these guys. It is my understanding after reading posts at Warrior Forum that Dylan and Wynter may have purchased extended licenses AFTER THE FACT, but I haven't heard much else.I was also amazed at the way some of the Warriors at Warrior Forum came to the defense of these guys. I thought the Warrior Forum (WF) was a place to go and share ideas in order to become a more effective internet marketer (IM), but it appears to me that a few of these guys consider it a safe haven for scumbags. This is unfortunate because the majority of WF members appear to be good people, but the actions of a few have given WF a black eye, in my opinion.I might point out that I (user name: Win Crow) have been banned from WF for violating Rule #1 which is publicly talking about someone who ripped me off. I have had my videos regarding this image theft removed from Youtube (presumably by Dylan and / or Wynter Jones). Youtube will remove videos first and ask questions later IF you want to go through their legal process.I have a hard time sitting back and watching people skirt the system. A few months after I pointed out the stolen picture scheme by Dylan guess who pops up with a WSO (Warrior Special Offer)? You're right if you guessed Wynter. Wynter may not have been the front man for Monetize Design, but as VP and "graphics ninja" I hold him equally responsible. How does WF justify this?Ken Reno, the guy who purchased the templates from Dylan before selling them to me, has made it clear that he is not going to sit back and let this happen again either. Initially I had problems with Ken because he was the person who purchased the templates with Private Label Rights (PLR) from Dylan and he was the person I bought them from. Upon further investigation I find that he was as much a victim as I was. Ken had to refund over 200 of his customers because of the watermarked images.What I would like to see is Istockphoto come down hard on these guys. I'd also like to see that all of the photographers get paid for their work, and I'd like to see these two morons get banned from WF then fined and/or jailed for their blatant disregard for copyright infringement.What do you think?John Johnson aka Win Crow

]]> By: John Johnson http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/06/istockphoto-comes-under-fire/comment-page-1/#comment-125503 John Johnson Mon, 11 May 2009 14:54:51 +0000 http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/06/istockphoto-comes-under-fire/#comment-125503 "Wichita Wilson" is another one of my user names for another forum.I noticed that I may have posted here before. John Johnsonaka Win Crow, Wichita WilsonPS The link at WF where all of this took place is:<a href="http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-special-offers-forum/27158-only-5-private-label-rights-packages-left-super-high-quality-mini-site-templates-come-get-em-now-2.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-special-off.....</a> "Wichita Wilson" is another one of my user names for another forum.I noticed that I may have posted here before. John Johnsonaka Win Crow, Wichita WilsonPS The link at WF where all of this took place is:http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-special-off…..

]]> By: John Johnson http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/06/istockphoto-comes-under-fire/comment-page-1/#comment-125502 John Johnson Mon, 11 May 2009 14:48:20 +0000 http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/06/istockphoto-comes-under-fire/#comment-125502 Hi Jonathan,Back in November of 2008 I caught a guy named Dylan Jones selling website templates at the Warrior Forum. Dylan and Wynter Jones run <a href="http://www.monetizedesign.com" rel="nofollow"> <a href="http://www.monetizedesign.com</a>" target="_blank">www.monetizedesign.com</a></a> along with numerous other websites. Dylan is the president and Wynter is the VP and self described "graphic ninja" (this all according to their website as it appeared at that time).Dylan and Wynter offered for sale website templates that contained numerous watermarked, stolen images in them from istock Photo. I made as many people as possible aware of this photo theft including Istockphoto.What amazes me is the general appearance of acceptance and apathy. Maybe I'm wrong, but it doesn't appear to me that Istock has taken any measures against these guys. It is my understanding after reading posts at Warrior Forum that Dylan and Wynter may have purchased extended licenses AFTER THE FACT, but I haven't heard much else.I was also amazed at the way some of the Warriors at Warrior Forum came to the defense of these guys. I thought the Warrior Forum (WF) was a place to go and share ideas and in order to become a more effective internet marketer (IM), but it appears to me that a few of these guys consider it a safe haven for scumbags. This is unfortunate because the majority of WF members appear to be good people, but the actions of a few have given WF a black eye, in my opinion.I might point out that I (user name: Win Crow) have been banned from WF for violating Rule #1 which is publicly talking about someone who ripped me off. I have had my videos regarding this image theft removed from Youtube (presumably by Dylan and / or Wynter Jones). Youtube will remove videos first and ask questions later IF you want to go through their legal process.I have a hard time sitting back and watching people skirt the system. A few months after I pointed out the stolen picture scheme by Dylan guess who pops up with a WSO (Warrior Special Offer)? You're right if you guessed Wynter. Wynter may not have been the front man for Monetize Design, but as VP and "graphics ninja" I hold him equally responsible. How does WF justify this?Ken Reno, the guy who purchased the templates from Dylan before selling them to me, has made it clear that he is not going to sit back and let this happen again either. Initially I had problems with Ken because he was the person who purchased the templates with Private Label Rights (PLR) from Dylan and he was the person I bought them from. Upon further investigation I find that he was as much a victim as I was. Ken had to refund over 200 of his customers because of the watermarked images.What I would like to see is Istockphoto come down hard on these guys. I'd also like to see that all of the photographers get paid for their work, and I'd like to see these two morons get banned from WF then fined and/or jailed for their blatant disregard for copyright infringement.What do you think?John Johnson aka Win Crow Hi Jonathan,Back in November of 2008 I caught a guy named Dylan Jones selling website templates at the Warrior Forum. Dylan and Wynter Jones run <a href="http://www.monetizedesign.com” target=”_blank”>www.monetizedesign.com along with numerous other websites. Dylan is the president and Wynter is the VP and self described "graphic ninja" (this all according to their website as it appeared at that time).Dylan and Wynter offered for sale website templates that contained numerous watermarked, stolen images in them from istock Photo. I made as many people as possible aware of this photo theft including Istockphoto.What amazes me is the general appearance of acceptance and apathy. Maybe I'm wrong, but it doesn't appear to me that Istock has taken any measures against these guys. It is my understanding after reading posts at Warrior Forum that Dylan and Wynter may have purchased extended licenses AFTER THE FACT, but I haven't heard much else.I was also amazed at the way some of the Warriors at Warrior Forum came to the defense of these guys. I thought the Warrior Forum (WF) was a place to go and share ideas and in order to become a more effective internet marketer (IM), but it appears to me that a few of these guys consider it a safe haven for scumbags. This is unfortunate because the majority of WF members appear to be good people, but the actions of a few have given WF a black eye, in my opinion.I might point out that I (user name: Win Crow) have been banned from WF for violating Rule #1 which is publicly talking about someone who ripped me off. I have had my videos regarding this image theft removed from Youtube (presumably by Dylan and / or Wynter Jones). Youtube will remove videos first and ask questions later IF you want to go through their legal process.I have a hard time sitting back and watching people skirt the system. A few months after I pointed out the stolen picture scheme by Dylan guess who pops up with a WSO (Warrior Special Offer)? You're right if you guessed Wynter. Wynter may not have been the front man for Monetize Design, but as VP and "graphics ninja" I hold him equally responsible. How does WF justify this?Ken Reno, the guy who purchased the templates from Dylan before selling them to me, has made it clear that he is not going to sit back and let this happen again either. Initially I had problems with Ken because he was the person who purchased the templates with Private Label Rights (PLR) from Dylan and he was the person I bought them from. Upon further investigation I find that he was as much a victim as I was. Ken had to refund over 200 of his customers because of the watermarked images.What I would like to see is Istockphoto come down hard on these guys. I'd also like to see that all of the photographers get paid for their work, and I'd like to see these two morons get banned from WF then fined and/or jailed for their blatant disregard for copyright infringement.What do you think?John Johnson aka Win Crow

]]> By: Wichita Wilson http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/06/istockphoto-comes-under-fire/comment-page-1/#comment-131720 Wichita Wilson Fri, 02 Jan 2009 01:33:00 +0000 http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/06/istockphoto-comes-under-fire/#comment-131720 PS, It's not about the money anymore. PS, It’s not about the money anymore.

]]> By: Wichita Wilson http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/06/istockphoto-comes-under-fire/comment-page-1/#comment-124131 Wichita Wilson Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:31:56 +0000 http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/06/istockphoto-comes-under-fire/#comment-124131 No, my name is not Wichita Wilson, but with so many promises being broken today regarding private info I have not choice but to use an alias. If you will watch this video you will see what I'm talking about. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLmBEEG2Q5I" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLmBEEG2Q5I</a> Kenneth Reno who owns several domains sold copyrighted istockphot.com images to me. Dylan Jones is the person who sold the templates to Kenneth Reno and admitted this in a private message at WarriorForum.com I had a horrible experience with Ken Reno. He not only failed to promptly honor his guarantee, but I had to track him down and once I caught up with him he failed to take care of business. I closed my Paypal account after 2 weeks of tracking him. Paypal refused to back me up in the transaction so I canceled my account. 1 week later I finally caught up with him and embarrassed him at Warriorforum and he finally agreed to refund my money. Only problem? I didn't have a paypal account anymore. You'd think that he would go out of his way to refund my money based on the BS he put me through, but not Ken! If you purchased these website templates from Ken Reno, Dylan Jones, or any of the other PLR resellers you may want to verify the watermarked images and remove them immediately! Istockphoto.com can hold YOU responsible. I would also consider finding an attorney if you would like to discuss your legal options in this matter. Good luck, Wichita Wilson AKA Winford Crowley No, my name is not Wichita Wilson, but with so many promises being broken today regarding private info I have not choice but to use an alias. If you will watch this video you will see what I'm talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLmBEEG2Q5I

Kenneth Reno who owns several domains sold copyrighted istockphot.com images to me.

Dylan Jones is the person who sold the templates to Kenneth Reno and admitted this in a private message at WarriorForum.com I had a horrible experience with Ken Reno. He not only failed to promptly honor his guarantee, but I had to track him down and once I caught up with him he failed to take care of business.

I closed my Paypal account after 2 weeks of tracking him. Paypal refused to back me up in the transaction so I canceled my account. 1 week later I finally caught up with him and embarrassed him at Warriorforum and he finally agreed to refund my money. Only problem? I didn't have a paypal account anymore. You'd think that he would go out of his way to refund my money based on the BS he put me through, but not Ken!

If you purchased these website templates from Ken Reno, Dylan Jones, or any of the other PLR resellers you may want to verify the watermarked images and remove them immediately! Istockphoto.com can hold YOU responsible. I would also consider finding an attorney if you would like to discuss your legal options in this matter.

Good luck,

Wichita Wilson AKA Winford Crowley

]]> By: Kelly Thompson http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/06/istockphoto-comes-under-fire/comment-page-1/#comment-121316 Kelly Thompson Thu, 07 Feb 2008 02:13:21 +0000 http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/06/istockphoto-comes-under-fire/#comment-121316 Our Compliance and Enforcement Officer can be contacted about these issues at ce [at] <a href="http://istockphoto.com">istockphoto.com</a>. Our Compliance and Enforcement Officer can be contacted about these issues at ce [at] istockphoto.com.

]]> By: Kelly Thompson http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/06/istockphoto-comes-under-fire/comment-page-1/#comment-88194 Kelly Thompson Thu, 07 Feb 2008 01:10:07 +0000 http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/06/istockphoto-comes-under-fire/#comment-88194 A few points of clarification: we (iStock) responded to all media outlets that requested comment, and we addressed the issue in our forums. The offending images were removed by our compliance officer early February 5th. And of course we don't need a take-down notice if there happens to be an issue with images. We react as quickly as possible when something is brought to our attention. Although keep in mind, copyright infringement is rarely black & white as in this case. It has happened that an iStock photographer has been accused of taking an image, when in fact it turns out to be the other way around. A philosophy of trust and respect has been at the foundation of iStock’s community since the beginning and this has been one of the key ingredients to its ongoing success. Unfortunately, as with any community, there will always be people who attempt to take advantage of this trust. And while we take great pains to try and prevent this type of behavior, it is not something we are able to eliminate entirely on our own. The good news is that the community as a whole can – and does – help point out when there are problems and issues. We have many more issues with people on Flickr taking iStock content. We usually issue at LEAST 5 take down notices a week. Here are two from today alone (note these links may not work if they have indeed been taken down): http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=4902531 http://www.flickr.com/photos/18827076@N07/2219322188/ http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=2571586 http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinkerroll21/415351501/ Please contact me if you have further questions. Kelly Thompson Executive VP, iStockphoto Inc. A few points of clarification: we (iStock) responded to all media outlets that requested comment, and we addressed the issue in our forums. The offending images were removed by our compliance officer early February 5th.

And of course we don’t need a take-down notice if there happens to be an issue with images. We react as quickly as possible when something is brought to our attention. Although keep in mind, copyright infringement is rarely black & white as in this case. It has happened that an iStock photographer has been accused of taking an image, when in fact it turns out to be the other way around.

A philosophy of trust and respect has been at the foundation of iStock’s community since the beginning and this has been one of the key ingredients to its ongoing success. Unfortunately, as with any community, there will always be people who attempt to take advantage of this trust. And while we take great pains to try and prevent this type of behavior, it is not something we are able to eliminate entirely on our own. The good news is that the community as a whole can – and does – help point out when there are problems and issues.

We have many more issues with people on Flickr taking iStock content. We usually issue at LEAST 5 take down notices a week. Here are two from today alone (note these links may not work if they have indeed been taken down):

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=4902531
http://www.flickr.com/photos/18827076@N07/2219322188/

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=2571586
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinkerroll21/415351501/

Please contact me if you have further questions.

Kelly Thompson
Executive VP, iStockphoto Inc.

]]> By: Kelly Thompson http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/06/istockphoto-comes-under-fire/comment-page-1/#comment-121314 Kelly Thompson Thu, 07 Feb 2008 00:10:07 +0000 http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/06/istockphoto-comes-under-fire/#comment-121314 A few points of clarification: we (iStock) responded to all media outlets that requested comment, and we addressed the issue in our forums. The offending images were removed by our compliance officer early February 5th. <br><br>And of course we don't need a take-down notice if there happens to be an issue with images. We react as quickly as possible when something is brought to our attention. Although keep in mind, copyright infringement is rarely black & white as in this case. It has happened that an iStock photographer has been accused of taking an image, when in fact it turns out to be the other way around.<br><br>A philosophy of trust and respect has been at the foundation of iStock’s community since the beginning and this has been one of the key ingredients to its ongoing success. Unfortunately, as with any community, there will always be people who attempt to take advantage of this trust. And while we take great pains to try and prevent this type of behavior, it is not something we are able to eliminate entirely on our own. The good news is that the community as a whole can – and does – help point out when there are problems and issues.<br><br>We have many more issues with people on Flickr taking iStock content. We usually issue at LEAST 5 take down notices a week. Here are two from today alone (note these links may not work if they have indeed been taken down):<br><br><a href="http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=4902531">http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=...</a><br><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/18827076%40N07/2219322188/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/18827076@N07/22193...</a><br><br><a href="http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=2571586">http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=...</a><br><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinkerroll21/415351501/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinkerroll21/41535...</a><br><br>Please contact me if you have further questions.<br><br>Kelly Thompson<br>Executive VP, iStockphoto Inc. A few points of clarification: we (iStock) responded to all media outlets that requested comment, and we addressed the issue in our forums. The offending images were removed by our compliance officer early February 5th.

And of course we don’t need a take-down notice if there happens to be an issue with images. We react as quickly as possible when something is brought to our attention. Although keep in mind, copyright infringement is rarely black & white as in this case. It has happened that an iStock photographer has been accused of taking an image, when in fact it turns out to be the other way around.

A philosophy of trust and respect has been at the foundation of iStock’s community since the beginning and this has been one of the key ingredients to its ongoing success. Unfortunately, as with any community, there will always be people who attempt to take advantage of this trust. And while we take great pains to try and prevent this type of behavior, it is not something we are able to eliminate entirely on our own. The good news is that the community as a whole can – and does – help point out when there are problems and issues.

We have many more issues with people on Flickr taking iStock content. We usually issue at LEAST 5 take down notices a week. Here are two from today alone (note these links may not work if they have indeed been taken down):

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/18827076@N07/22193…

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinkerroll21/41535…

Please contact me if you have further questions.

Kelly Thompson
Executive VP, iStockphoto Inc.

]]> By: Kelly Thompson http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/06/istockphoto-comes-under-fire/comment-page-1/#comment-88215 Kelly Thompson Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:13:21 +0000 http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/06/istockphoto-comes-under-fire/#comment-88215 Our Compliance and Enforcement Officer can be contacted about these issues at ce [at] istockphoto.com. Our Compliance and Enforcement Officer can be contacted about these issues at ce [at] istockphoto.com.

]]> By: Jonathan Bailey http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/06/istockphoto-comes-under-fire/comment-page-1/#comment-88213 Jonathan Bailey Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:58:32 +0000 http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/06/istockphoto-comes-under-fire/#comment-88213 Kelly: First off, thank you very much for taking the time to respond. I attempted to send an email to kara yesterday. However, sent the email as I was leaving to go across the river and did not get a chance to verify if it had sent. I've been having trouble with my ISPs servers so it is entirely probably it didn't send. I am sorry. Thank you for the update on the status of the image and on your policy. However, I have to ask, what is the exact procedure for reporting a copyright violation on iStock apart from the policy described? Is there an email address one can contact? Thank you very much for your feedback and I will be emailing you in a moment with further questions and be updating this article. Thank you again. Kelly: First off, thank you very much for taking the time to respond. I attempted to send an email to kara yesterday. However, sent the email as I was leaving to go across the river and did not get a chance to verify if it had sent. I've been having trouble with my ISPs servers so it is entirely probably it didn't send. I am sorry.

Thank you for the update on the status of the image and on your policy. However, I have to ask, what is the exact procedure for reporting a copyright violation on iStock apart from the policy described? Is there an email address one can contact?

Thank you very much for your feedback and I will be emailing you in a moment with further questions and be updating this article.

Thank you again.

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