Need your help - copyright infringement?

[Frank HH]

Dear Adobe Stock Community,

I need your help and would like to hear your opinion about a possible infringement of my work.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that a Adobe Stock contributor is in my opinion excessively copying my work. So far I identified 90 pictures which were copied and the number is daily increasing. When I produce new content this  contributor creates almost identical copies within three days.  He is not only copying the picture, even the headline and the keywords are identical. The only difference is the color of the background. Here is one example:

my picture https://stock.adobe.com/de/images/hand-pushes-the-cube-with-the-letter-r-from-the-word-poor-to-the-w...

copied picture https://stock.adobe.com/de/images/male-hand-pushes-the-cube-with-the-letter-r-from-the-word-poor-to-...

Before I file a DMCA notice, I would like to get some feedback if this kind of behavior is allowed or not.

What I have learned so far is that

-          it is allowed to copy ideas (of course)

-          it is allowed to copy the descriptions and  keywords (not the finest British behavior)

-          but it is not accepted to copy someone else’s expression of an idea (am I right?)

As you can see in the given example, the other contributor had exactly the same idea and he expresses this idea in exactly the same way. Only the color of the background is different. 

So I am very curios to hear your opinion about this. Thanks in advance

Frank

[WendellaBee · Accepted solution]

If you believe someone is using your work please file a complaint. We appreciate you bringing this situation to our attention. At Adobe and Fotolia, we respect intellectual property rights and ask our users to do the same in our Terms of Use and Upload Agreement. Specifically, we request that our users (a) represent and warrant that they own all right, title and interest in and to the content they submit, including all copyright, trademarks, patents, and other intellectual property rights; and (b) agree not to upload any content that infringes or violates the intellectual property rights of any person or entity.

In order to comply with your request, and in accordance with our policies, we kindly ask you to file a proper DMCA complaint with all the necessary information as described in Section 20 of the Adobe General Terms of Use (or Section 17 of Fotolia´s General Terms of Use). You can submit the regarding notification directly as a response to this email so we can take immediate action. You have the opportunity to use Adobe´s online form to file a DMCA complaint here: http://www.adobe.com/legal/dmca.html

Please understand that this procedure is mandatory and serves the protection of all contributors and needs to be complied with.

[Robert Kneschke]

@Frank HH 

I have had similar cases with a contributor.

That went so far that I had to start a law suit against him because the DMCA I sent to Adobe Stock (that was granted) had been countered by that contributor. The law suit is still running, so I cannot tell you how it will end, yet.

However, other cases had been resolved simply with sending DMCA notices.
Regarding your questions: The execution of an idea is not allowed to copy only if the execution is unique enough, so there is much room for interpretation. I'd say go for the DMCA and then see what happens.

[Frank HH]

Danke Robert,

I will give it a try

[Frank HH]

@Robert Kneschke 

I have one more question. When I file a  DMCA complaint, which personal information will be handed out by Adobe to the other contributor?

I found a facebook account of the other contributor and I am not keen to see my personal adress handed to a person who is posing on facebook with guns. 

[Frank HH]

Can anybody tell me which personal information will be given to the other contributor when I file a DMCA complaint?

Is it just the email address, or any further info?

[Robert Kneschke]

@Frank HH 

That is indeed a valid concern. The person you report gets basically a copy of your DMCA report.
You could enter your business details instead of your private address if that helps.

I already had cases where people sent DMCA notices against my work with fake personal information. These went through, but I reported these and they were lifted.