+NoffAnn Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 Hello! Sometimes when I see geocaches' listings I can find stock images with watermarks put into the descripton. I wonder if it is okay. Well, it is not commercial use howewer isn't it advertising the image bank? Not to mention that it looks so unprofessional... What are your thoughts? Quote Link to comment
+niraD Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 I've used my own images, except for icons/banners used with permission. The EarthCache guidelines specifically tell owners not to copy content (text or images) from other sources, but to create their own content (their own words, their own images). Quote Link to comment
Blue Square Thing Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 1 hour ago, NoffAnn said: Hello! Sometimes when I see geocaches' listings I can find stock images with watermarks put into the descripton. I wonder if it is okay. Well, it is not commercial use howewer isn't it advertising the image bank? Not to mention that it looks so unprofessional... What are your thoughts? That the person who put the image up is breaking copyright and ripping off the photographer. I agree that it also looks poor, but primarily it's a clear copyright violation - one that could be costly for either the cache owner or, I guess, Groundspeak. 1 Quote Link to comment
+thebruce0 Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 I could be wrong, but I believe it's ok to use watermarked images - that keeps the rights with the holder - but it'd be illegal (to whatever extent) to remove the watermark and use the image. Especially without attribution. Mainly because the downfall is if you use an image with a watermark, well, you include someone else's logo in your creative work. The price you pay for not paying the price. But IANAL, so I don't know if laws regarding that differ from place to place or source to source. You could check with the rights holder to find out what uses are permitted with the watermark included. Quote Link to comment
+fizzymagic Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 Using commercial (stock) images without paying a licensing fee is not legal. You can be sued. I know. My sister was sued for inadvertently using a copyrighted stock image on her blog. Having the watermark present means that you knew it was copyrighted when you used it, which means you would have no defense. Just don't do it. Groundspeak should not allow it, but there are reasons why they might choose not to police the images, as that could make them liable. 3 1 Quote Link to comment
+thebruce0 Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 Good to know. I don't use stock images with watermarks anyway. And yeah that's not even a question when it comes to listings on geocaching.com anyway. Quote Link to comment
+arisoft Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 2 hours ago, NoffAnn said: Sometimes when I see geocaches' listings I can find stock images with watermarks put into the descripton. I wonder if it is okay. The idea of the watermark is just to tell that it is no ok to use. Image banks are not expensive when you need an image to a non commercial purpose. I have paid for many images and got versions without watermarks for my cache pages. 13 minutes ago, fizzymagic said: Groundspeak should not allow it, but there are reasons why they might choose not to police the images, as that could make them liable. The liability issue is somehow problematic as cache pages are reviewed by a voluntary Groundspeak representative. Watermarked image is clearly a copyright infringement. Quote Link to comment
+niraD Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 56 minutes ago, arisoft said: Watermarked image is clearly a copyright infringement. That depends on the watermark. 1 2 Quote Link to comment
+South_Stander Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 Some image hosting sites (mostly the free ones) will add a watermark to attract more people to that site. That doesn't necessarily say that the images are not owned by the CO or whomever is posting the picture. But I guess that opens another can of worms regarding the advertising of image hosting sites by watermark on GS sites. 3 Quote Link to comment
+thebruce0 Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 Just buy a domain with cheap hosting. I host my own images and it's TOTALLY worth the flexibility. Quote Link to comment
+NoffAnn Posted July 16, 2019 Author Share Posted July 16, 2019 Well, I don't want to use watermarked pictures, I always search for public domain. I just wanted to know if I'm not to harsh when I criticise owners for using stock photos. Quote Link to comment
+thebruce0 Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 1 hour ago, NoffAnn said: I just wanted to know if I'm not to harsh when I criticise owners for using stock photos. Well if they have the right to use the stock photos, then they can. I suppose it's best not to assume they don't have that usage right. Let that decision be up to reviewers/HQ, and the owner's conscience. Quote Link to comment
+fizzymagic Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 15 hours ago, South_Stander said: Some image hosting sites (mostly the free ones) will add a watermark to attract more people to that site. That doesn't necessarily say that the images are not owned by the CO or whomever is posting the picture. Don't use free image-hosting sites. Period. They have been nothing but trouble when used on cache pages. If you want to have images on our cache page, then either have them hosted by Groundspeak or host them yourself. There is no excuse for using a "free" hosting service. Even for puzzle caches where the image must remain unchanged. If you want to create a puzzle like that, then host the image yourself. Web hosting is not expensive. 2 1 Quote Link to comment
+on4bam Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 Watermarks are not the problem, copyright is. Even without watermark it's not OK to use copyrighted photographs. Using reverse image search on cache listings will yield a high volume of copyrighted images. Quote Link to comment
+thebruce0 Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 (edited) 9 minutes ago, fizzymagic said: host the image yourself. Web hosting is not expensive. And you don't even have to have a website designed. Just have a domain name with hosting where you can upload a file, then link directly to it. www.mywebsite.com upload myimage.jpg to the root folder Done: www.mywebsite.com/myimage.jpg Many hosts have cheap plans for as little as a couple $ a month, and that comes with oodles of other features you can choose to use if you like. ...just keep in mind if you're doing your own image management not to, for instance, directly link to a 6MB image on a cache page as a thumbnail. Resize and optimize your image for its intended purpose - uploading to the listing gallery lets gc.com provide a reasonably sized image for linking, but if you do your own images that won't happen for you Edited July 16, 2019 by thebruce0 Quote Link to comment
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