Image theft on the web happens constantly – after all, it's so easy, whether on a computer or a smartphone.

Copy and paste, or a quick screenshot – and just like that, you can use the image you want for your own purposes: for social media, for your own homepage, or even for printing commercial flyers or brochures. And it's not just everyone else who ends up looking foolish – the ones who actually buy image material from the relevant platforms or even pay a lot of money to have it produced.

Image Theft on the Web Is Still Theft

Photo theft affects artists, photographers, and agencies above all. It constitutes a copyright infringement and has now reached enormous, existence-threatening proportions. Lost revenue from the illegal, commercial use of images not infrequently exceeds the rights holder's regular annual turnover. The economic damage is immense and undermines the normal business model. Finding stolen photos and collecting the fee owed is extremely tedious and time-consuming.

Image theft isn't just a criminal offense; on a purely human level, it's also simply bad manners. It tramples on other people's work and intellectual property. The picturemaxx media network, however, isn't pursuing social justice here like some "digital Robin Hood" – rather, it wants to help creators secure their rights, claims, and the fee they've rightfully earned.

"More and more photos are being used, published, or reproduced online without the permission of the creator or rights holder, such as a photo agency"

Finding Out Together Who Did It

In cooperation with Image Professionals, a service provider that has specialized in this field for years, the picturemaxx RightsControl service now handles professional rights enforcement, tracking down illegally used photos and retroactively securing the lawful compensation owed to creators for lost revenue.

All picturemaxx customers who already store their images on the picturemaxx infrastructure can start using this service immediately, with no extra technical effort and no additional cost. There's no need to re-upload images or make them available to any third party. The customer defines the criteria by which the picturemaxx RightsControl service should scan already stored media or newly uploaded image material. The service provider then checks whether illegal use has occurred; if so, it takes over rights enforcement on the customer's behalf and steps in under its own name to shield the customer.
 

"With Image Professionals, we were able to bring on board a renowned industry specialist for this service, one who knows exactly how photo agencies work and what they need, and knows how to deliver on that." Marcin Czyzewski, CTO of picturemaxx

We spoke with Martin Skultety, Managing Director of Image Professionals, to learn more about picturemaxx RightsControl:

How long has Image Professionals' rights enforcement service been around?

Martin Skultety: We've been pursuing unauthorized use of our photographers' images since 2005, and we've offered this service to third parties since 2013. By now, nearly all of the major German photo agencies have become our customers for rights enforcement.

How many images have already been identified as misused?

Martin Skultety: In our experience, for every legal use of a professional image, there are on average up to 5 unauthorized uses online. To put a number on it, in Germany alone we've so far successfully resolved a five-figure number of unauthorized uses and were able to retroactively compensate the creators as a result.

What tools/methods are used to detect these cases?

Martin Skultety: There are quite a few technological approaches for detecting unauthorized use, and just as many ways to monetize it. What sets us apart is that we combine all of these approaches and back them with the credibility of a longstanding market leader in the professional image business. We don't pair our approach with threats or excessive demands, but with the legitimate claim of creators to be fairly and consistently compensated for the use of their work.

So how does the creator/photographer actually get their money – or do they even have to pay for it themselves?

Martin Skultety: We recover lost usage fees using the industry-standard surcharges that courts have repeatedly recognized, and we pay out a contractually agreed share to creators after the fact. Creators incur no costs in this process – after all, they should finally receive the fee they've earned, not be burdened with additional costs on top of it.

How does that work?

Martin Skultety: The customer already stores their images in a picturemaxx database. This means the images are accessible via the picturemaxx infrastructure – without needing to be uploaded again. The customer defines which images should be tracked. picturemaxx RightsControl checks for illegal uses and reports them for review. The customer reviews and confirms whether the use was lawful or not. The service provider then takes over rights enforcement on its behalf. Once successfully concluded, the customer receives their share of the compensation.

Image Professionals is a media company that brings together various international specialist image agencies covering food, home & living, beauty, science, medicine & health, garden, and travel, as well as services for professional image users.

In total, Image Professionals employs around 60 people, with more than 50 of them at its headquarters in Munich.

Through partner agencies and service offices, the company is represented in 50 countries.