Panay News Philippines – a possible 4th copyright Violation in Iloilo City

January 29, 2009

Panay News Philippines – a possible 4th copyright Violation in Iloilo City

Dinagyang Special Supplement – Front Page

http://panaynewsphilippines.com/Dinagyang%20front.htm

Article: Prince Golez

Publisher: ADE FAJARDO; General Manager: DANIEL FAJARDO II; Managing Editor: MARIA FAJARDO; Web Master: DANNAH MUTUC F. LEGASPI; Web Consultant: JEMUEL LEGASPI ; Marketing Consultant: BENJ B. LACANILAO

If you are interested to contact them and let them know that this practice of downloading photos is not good, please email them at

Tribu Taga Jaro Photos I am not sure what to think.. just when i thought it was all over it comes back to haunt me. Eric of Byahilo.com mentioned that panaynews philippines used 4 of his photos… what are the chances they would use mine too? I decided to check and found out that they were using a similar photo.. similar was i initialy thought.. what caught my attention was the watermark was covered by angling the lower photo to cover the watermark… good layouting skills or plain deception?

I think I have the distinction of being the most violated photographer in the Philippines with 3 newspapers and 1 government website violating my basic rights all in the first month of the year. How lucky can i get?

How did they find my photos? I can attribute this to SEO .. I am part of the organizers of SEMCON and living proof that SEO for Photographers WORK.

GOOD? BAD or a CURSE of the SEO Photographer.

It really depends how you perceive things, in this case I see it as a good situation to be able to teach and convey what copyright is all about (of course I have my minimum requirements to accept their apology and admission of their mistake is a must). Using clear cut copyright violations as examples to teach media about copyright. A calling of sorts…of course it also pisses me off but on the other hand, it also tells me that my humble SEO knowledge works, Thanks to Marc, Abe and Benj.

This couldnt have happened at a better time with Photoworld Asia Coming up and my copyright lawyer Atty Rod Vera is going to give a talk. I asked him to make a short teaser and here it is.

With the increasing popularity in photography, the talent pool of our photographers will also increase. Eventually, good photos can be become assets and sources of revenue and distinction. A veteran photographer as well as upstart shutterbug should know how he can protect himself and his pictures. The seminar on understanding a photo’s intellectual property rights is a primer on how the law can protect and add value to one’s hard work.

Roderick P. Vera, JD, LLM | Managing Partner
Tel. +63.2.829.1145 | Cell. +63.917.884.8372

I just called my Atty Rod to mention this possible 4th violation, but what course of action to take is still up in the air. I will send a copy of this post to Panay News Philippines and see what they have to say about the whole thing. I will also to ask them to produce the original of the photo so that i can be at peace if it was really mine or if someone was shooting over my shoulder.

Why is it so hard to ask permission? I have already said this several times.. I also have a copyright notice on my blog that photos cant be used without expressed written permission from the owner.. and thats me.. as indicated on my watermark and also embeded in the EXIF file within the image.

Photographers live to show off their work of ART.. and during this Dinagyang Festival 2009, I was robbed of that priveledge as a photographer and worse my signature and watermarks were covered erased and cropped out a clear sign of bad intentions to mask the truth.

As Clem mentioned in the post in DPP, BULOK STYLE NILA, use the photos now and just send formal apology letter later.. still no cost to them…a cheaper alternative to hiring a photographer… but I will be asking more than apology letter.. and for now i will think about the sanctions I try to enforce on these newspapers.

3 newsapers, 1 goverment website, what’s next?