How to steal Videos from pond5…

Maybe there taking the Silent But Deadly Approach :-)

Hey so thanks everyone who went on there and posted, and big thanks to all that pursued this even when it was not there clips. That was awesome, we went out in force and made a difference and I was really proud of all my fellow Pond5-ers(?) that it was a big deal to everyone and so many jumped in to get involved in the fight.

Also thanks for the supportive comments here, and the people who took time to offer up advice, good or bad it was appreciated.

I guess the really unfortunate thing was that this had to even happen in the first place. I didn't like going on there and being a jerk, that's not why I do this.
I don't do this to have to chase some kids over my copyrights. So I guess today I just feel a little sad that the whole thing had to happen at all, but what could we do we couldn't just let them steal from us.

Youtube was extremely unhelpful and I had to fill out multiple forms only for them to come back and ask me stupid questions that I already answered. It's really ridiculous that when the title of a clip on youtube is how to steal from Pond5 that I have to jump through hoops to get it removed. It should have been pretty easy to just log in and see the infraction and remove it. I have never had a problem before with there service but after that issue I'm not so sure I will use them for any thing in the future... Also when links are present with a clip, but on the youtube they are saying they are not the author of the work the links are too how is that OK? How does that sneak by anyone? I guess the bottom line is youtube does not care what they host, and by doing that is guilty of breaking the law.

Another thing that made me upset about this was how many fellow producers that I don't know where having there stuff stolen too. I'm sure they are people just trying to make it just like me, and so fighting these guys was for them too. Hopefully we can keep catching this kind of thing and get them involved and warned if they happened to miss every thing that went down.

So we don't end on a down note, really big thanks guys! We won, we will continue to win these fights we are a united front to deal with when the chips are down and that's awesome to be a part of.

Some of you probably saw this back in November: a candidate in the race for governor in NJ was caught stealing vids from P5.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/did-christie-campaign-violate-copyright-law-steal-stock-video.php

Yeah I saw that, how ridiculous was that.

Fighting Youtuber's and all the other video services is a loosing battle. As some members stated before, Pond5 has to re-think how to apply its watermaker. It should not be hard from the programing point of view to create a watermater that adjust its size and contrast transparency in relation to the colors of the video and at the same time that the level of transparency will render the video useless if the gaussian filter is used to try to vanish the watermark. It is also not complicated from a programing point of view to attach the artist reference alias to the video sample. Furthermore the suggestion given that you should have to become a member to download a demo video is a good idea and in a court of law it would have more weight. Also Pond5 would increase its email database. Sparkles are not the weakest security issue in Pond5. Short sound effects is. Youtuber's must be recording thousands of sound effects. Many of them are so short that the Pond5 announcement is heard after the sound effect.

I wonder how the NJ canditate issue was resolve. I wonder if they gave part of the settlement to the artist or if the artist had to submit a separate suit.

The NJ candidate purchased a legal license for the clip(s) involved and the whole thing was dropped.

No matter how hard you try to prevent this, if someone is determined enough, a way will be found to overcome it.

Plus, if people are willing to accept and use a blurry, FLV file with the watermark removed (or not), then so be it.

Just like DVD movie encryption.

I'm still all for other watermark options and new comp downloads policies, but again, people will still steal clips.

My stuff was getting occasionally ripped from my website by youtubers before I joined Pond5. Not sure if my P5 work has been taken too. But they always left the watermark on, which clearly advertises where a high quality version can be purchased.

I agree, the watermark needs to be strong enough to be impervious. But perhaps I'm in the minority here in saying that if the watermark is left on, I consider it marketing.

Perhaps it the watermark was a little more 3 dimensional with depth as opposed to being simply flat... it would make it very difficult to remove it at that point.

This happens throughout the photo/video industry. Even at Alamy where photos sell for hundred of dollars photo are stolen. I believe some photo and video are used even after a refund is given. I hope that when refunds are given because of buyers remorse that they have to agree to a strong binding contract to delete and never use or transfer the photo or video.