Better copyright protection?

Hi all at pond5, my suggestion would be that for every downloaded footage clip, a document or online certificate with a unique I.D number and User I.D would be incorporated into this very important document showing that you have indeed as a paying user paid for the royalty free clip to be used in the buyers production... hence anyone confronted or suspected of selling a clip or clips would have to prove that they actually paid for the royalty free use of the clip...catch my drift?

An internal database connected to these certificates would be under pond5's control.

certificates should be downloaded in pdf format for the customer and a copy sent to the copyright owner (artist) for his or her ref. any feedback on this would be great?

Just some ideas to protect us hard working videographers....

PS. What a great site guys...

Good idea! We already have downloadable receipts that are associated with each purchase, which do basically what you are talking about. But we will go ahead and clarify this, add additional info (such as a unique number) and deliver it in pdf format to buyers/licensees.

On the artist side, we've got notification via email as well as our online sales tracking system, so you know what's getting sold, and when. We don't tell the artist the identity of the buyers, as this could lead to problems, both for us and potentially for the buyer/licensee. But we do keep careful track of all this info, and if there's a problem with misuse, we can easily determine who is a legitimate licensee and who is not.