: Is this copyright infringement? There is a business that is in my area. She uses professional photography that is found online, uses an app to put her logos and advertising all over it, and

@Alves566

One of the problems with the question is it skirts the line of asking for legal advice. And this is a forum. The people here aren't able to give legal advice. I am not able to give you legal advice.

People I know who own stolen content usually issue a DMCA takedown notice, or a cease-and-decist first, before taking other legal action. Usually a cease-and-decist is sent by a lawyer, so they have obtained legal counsel at that point. I've known people to issue DMCA takedown notifications without legal counsel.

In the case of stealing from a third party, I'm sure that people have reported theft of Disney property to Disney, for example. So people aware of a possible theft would have to contact the owner of the intellectual property.

To report stolen photos, a person would first have to determine whose photos they are to contact the company in question. The owner then could issue a warning or initiate legal proceedings. Since the art in question has been altered, that may not be easy to do. A person could try running the images through websites that pixel-match photos across the web and they display a list of the sites the image has been found on. Then a person could try to determine who the actual owner of the image is -- if the site can identify the underlying image with the alterations.

None of this constitutes legal advice, simply theory about ways a generic person might pursue reporting this to the owner of the property in question.

In addition to the possibility of these photos being licensed, or being public domain (Creative Commons Zero for example) and not requiring licensing, there may also be issues of fair use, depending on how they're altered, why they're altered, etc.

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@Lengel450

Copyright infringement is the theft of intellectual property. It breaks legislation (copyright law) which gives one a legal right to use.

The uneasy feeling you have is the pang one has with unethical practices.

If it (the example you cite) is "wrong," can only be definitively settled in court with a verdict (judgement).
I suppose this has its pros and cons.

The second part of your question involves what action you could or should take in this event.

If your suspicions are that someone is using your intellectual property without your approval, you would hire a lawyer and go to court to prosecute them for remedy (legal dirty-talk for your "compensation" plus damages, plus costs, plus exemplary, etc., etc.).Even if someone gives you credit, without your approval, that someone has made themselves liable to you for compensation of your choosing.

If you witness a questionable example, you may notify the rightful property owner of the violation so they can take action.You can't make a citizen's arrest. ;-)

Finding the rightful property owner alone might take some effort. Few would go that far if it did not concern them directly.

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