An Unhappy Incident :(

[-Annwyn-]

There has been a chap on Facebook under the name/pseudonym of "Stephen Smith". If you're a mermaid on Facebook, you've probably had him like your page. Well he tried to take some of Lilypad Lagoon's photos and when we retaliated, he said he would wait until we gave him permission to use our images.

We (happyguava, Aradia, Artisankatie and myself) never gave him any permission.

Our photographers were just as insulted to find out that their hard work could possibly be compromised. What this "Stephen Smith" has done is messaged each member of Lilypad Lagoon separately and told each merperson that the others have given their consent - when we have not. He has also refused to remove tags of Happyguava after she asked him time and again to remove.

I argued with him, and told him to stop harassing our members and photographers, and that he wasn't getting anything from us. In retaliation, he's told me that he was going to use the pictures anyway on his Facebook group "mermaids are the best " because Artisankatie gave her permission (never did she say such a thing) and that he was blocking us.

So not only is this guy a liar, he is a thief too. And because he has blocked at least me, I can't see where he is stealing stuff from like he said he was going to (I have the message log to prove it). So if any of the mers on Facebook see any of Lilypad Lagoon on his pages - report it and let us know will you? Protecting intellectual property is hard enough as it is.

Thanks, Aela.

[Aradia]

I'm just glad I didn't add his as a friend and blocked him on facebook. I tend to find people asking me stuff out of the blue quite threatening when its on my own Facebook and not my Aradia page. That said, my parents drilled in cyber safety at an early age so i'm a little paranoid

[Furi Ous Ennui]

Breach of copyright is a serious offense, attracting large fines and even imprisonment should one be found guilty of this crime under most national laws, and is also banned under the terms of the Berne Convention under international law. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...6572850&type=1 is an example of copyrighted material, much held by my protege, operating under the registered business name of Ragnarok Photography, being published by this Stephen Smith against the DIRECT and EXPLICIT orders of the subjects and the copyright holders. I am about to instruct that DCMA action be taken against this individual, and that my UK legal representatives be prepared to undertake legal action, up to and including pursuing criminal charges.

This Stephen Smith has been made aware of the penalties for breach of the Copyright Act 1911, to wit: Upon conviction in the magistrates court the maximum term of incarceration in the UK for copyright infringement is 6 months and/or a "level five" fine of £5,000.

Upon conviction in the Crown court the maximum term of incarceration in the UK for physical copyright infringement is 10 years and/or an "unlimited" fine.

[New York Mermaid]

oh cheese that is not good at all might i suggest pulling the copyright claim, from what I see, the photo is up on the group page
. http://www.facebook.com/#!/legal/cop...right_notice=1

[-Annwyn-]

We're in the process of lodging a copyright infringement claim but this idiot needs to be told and made aware by everyone that this is stealing and that he must remove the stolen pictures. Please, help us!

[Artisankatie]

Every time he asked me for permission for my photos I explained to him time and time again that I could not give permission as the work belongs to the photographer. I told him who the photographers were and linked him to them. One of them he asked permission for, and got it. The other (Lilypad Lagoon), he didn't. After I explained again and again that LPL would be more than happy to provide photos if he asked, he accepted it and put up an album of photos of me. I assumed he had asked LPL (which is why I was happy with the album in the group), but later I discovered he hadn't, and had told Aela that I had given the ok.

[-Annwyn-]

And now my photos that he has put up he claims are Ragnaroks.

[Artisankatie]

I told him most of the photos in the album were LPL. I'm trying to chalk it up to ignorance, but the whole lying about who said what thing is making it hard to play nice.

[-Annwyn-]

He'll play the bleeding heart card, don't fall for it. What he is doing is illegal.

[-Annwyn-]

Here are his other FB profiles: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003162030315
and
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002747838929

This guy is a complete and utter nutjob.

[Mermaid Shelly]

I have had similar discussions with Stephen on numerous occassions. He is very manipulative and told me that he was "crying" because I was mean to him and didn't want to be his friend... so I gave in and participated in his group for several months. Hearing about this today, and the fact that he posted "you look yummy" on a friends photo when he is supposedly married really is the last straw. I withdrew from "Mermaids are the Best" and blocked him on Facebook. He also uses several profiles because he has been in trouble so many times... so beware, you never know where he is going to turn up.

[AniaR]

Ive had issues with this guy before, he retaliates by trying to report your account or page so you lose it. Don't talk to him about it- just report every single image that is yours. You have to fill out a lot of information but it's worth it FB will take it down.

[AniaR]

I checked out the group and noticed Karen Kay of the mermaid magazine had approached him about photos! So I sent her this little message:
Karen, I noticed you were posting to the group https://www.facebook.com/groups/184791848218253/ asking for them to send in mermaid photos. You should know the person who runs this group is in big trouble with a lot of mers for stealing our images. Nearly all the mers he "Features" are without our consent and we've all filed copyright claims against him through FB. His accounts keep getting banned by FB so he keeps creating more. There are several threads about this on mernetwork with outraged mermaids and photographers. Mertailor and I both had difficult experiences with him when we reported our images and asked him to remove them then he retaliated by reporting out pages for "abuse" and we both lost control of our pages for several days.

[malinghi]

Ugh. This is awful. Thanks for raising awareness of this. I'm glad you guys have done your homework on copyright law. I hope you guys stop this guy.

On a related note, this is a good opportunity to remind everyone how seriously MerNetwork takes image theft, and thank everyone for being so respectful to one another. If any acts of image theft occur here, please let us know.

[AniaR]

It really helps to water mark your images or at least put your website link on them. He stopped stealing mine when I did that but I also posted a lot on my status about it, as well as in my notes I wrote up a bit thing with an explanation and then he left me alone. But really, dont talk with him just report report report. and yes, u have to fill out some personal information to be able to make the report to FB it's stupid but it's so they can contact you if it turned into a court case or something. Which it wont.