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help! I think a photo came from Adobe stock but I'm being told it's copyright infringement

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
December 13, 2024
3 replies
475 views

I am a professor and have a small website where students write articles on sustainability and fashion. I was contacted by a stock footage company from Germany saying an image we used for a thumbnail was used without there permission and I have to pay 900 euros. It's over a year old and the student who found it graduated. It's not on Adobe Stock now but when I did a google search it seemed to indicate it was - but the link went to a 'page can't be found' page.

Is it possible it was on Adobe and isn't now? Any idea what I can do? I can't see a student using it without permission since it's just feet in a pool and there are tons of these images around. I'm attaching the Google search result so you can see how there is (was) a link to stock footage. And I don't have it in my library because I wasn't the one who originally downloaded it...

Licensing

This topic has been closed for replies.

Abambo

Community Expert

You will need to contact the student and until you are sure that the asset has been properly licensed, you will need, as a measure of precausion, take the asset from your site. And, I would suggest that you contact the legal team from the university, as copyright issues can be nasty. And it may be indeed an unlicensed use of the asset, depending on how the license has been aquired or transferred or used.

BTW: I can see multiple students and even professionals using assets without a proper licence. It really depends on the awareness of this and the general education on copyright issues.

However: I also know, that some former contributors are hunting the web to find use of properly licensed assets and contacting the users to ask for additional money. That seems to be especially easy in Germany.

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

K

katyam4068403Author

Participating Frequently

Thanks. It WAS properly licensed but it is no longer avaliable on Adobe. We took it down immediately and have also sent proof of purchase. But yes, it's that Copytrack-GMBH site listed above. Waiting to hear back. It seems ridiculous that they can do this.

Abambo

Community Expert

Availibility is not important. If you are sure that you correctly licensed the asset, you should e-mail Adobe as suggested in the linked thread here: https://community.adobe.com/t5/stock-discussions/license-violation-e-mail-from-copytrack-gmbh-regarding-purchased-image-from-adobe-stock/m-p/10805925#M46980

They are doing this, but I doubt that they will succeed if people are reacting as they should.

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

daniellei4510

Community Expert

I'm no lawyer by any means, but it seems like the burden of proof as to ownership is on the German company. Have they given you any evidence that they are the rightful owner of the image?

Adobe Community Expert | If you can't fix it, hide it; if you can't hide it, delete it.

Abambo

Community Expert

I'm no lawyer by any means, but it seems like the burden of proof as to ownership is on the German company.

By @daniellei4510

You can easily assume that they have the ownership or are working for the copyright owner. Best is to let the legal department of the university handle this. And if it is a licensed assets from Adobe stock, use the Adobe legal department to handle that.

OP should check also this: https://community.adobe.com/t5/stock-discussions/license-violation-e-mail-from-copytrack-gmbh-regarding-purchased-image-from-adobe-stock/m-p/10805925#M46980

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

Jill_C

Community Expert

Yes, it's possible that it was on Adobe Stock at one time, and that the original Contributor has closed their account. I suppose you'd have to contact the student to have them prove that it was correctly licensed. Lacking that proof, can't you just delete it from the website?

Jill C., Forum Volunteer

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