no, i never threatened to sue anyone, on my behalf or anyone else's
I apologize, you're absolutely right. It was Guy threatening to "
hold people accountable", which, unless it's a blatant threat of physical violence or intimidation/harassment, is basically threatening to sue. I must have gotten you guys confused since you've spent so much time here defending him.
by immediately i meant the same night it was brought to my attention and we were contacted by the owner's of the photos in question
The fact that this even had to happen destroys Guy's credibility (since he refuses to apologize publicly for using them in the first place), and yours, since you defended the practice with abhorrently incorrect information about copyright law.
i'd be afraid to see how you react to a serious crime like murder and rape, but i'm glad i had such a strong effect on someone on a message board, hope you cleaned it up...
I depend on website work to make a living. The fact that I'm competing against people like you who will use OBVIOUSLY non-kosher/non-licensed photography on a website just because "that's what the client gave you", yes, makes me puke. You saw those watermarks while you were cornering the images, you simply cannot play dumb here.
unfounded statement, my clients have always been happy with my designs, professionalism and timeliness. i didn't "screw around" with anything, i built a high quality website in a very reasonable amount of time for a very reasonable amount of money. i am far more concerned with my clients feel about my word than you, and so far they have been very pleased.
You're right, I don't have any evidence of you actually ripping any of your clients off. However, every "mess" I have EVER had to clean up for a customer involved a guy that had the same attitude as you towards the internet. "Everything's free", "it's ok as long as you're not re-selling it", "something about fair use and I found it on Google Images so it must be free". Someone with the dubious ethics to re-use OBVIOUSLY un-licensed photography (again, you simply can't claim ignorance here), would certainly have the dubious ethics necessary to do a myriad of other things. That's all I'm saying.
this thread was out for blood, look at the title, i may not have been the mature one, but it was definitely par for the course here
Of course it was out for blood! That's what happens when you promise someone that you will behave a certain way with their treasured animals, and you LIE and go back on your WORD OF HONOR almost immediately... that's what people do when you do that kind of thing with animals they care about. Something that, again, Guy has only tried to lie and weasel his way out of, and has never apologized for.
i certainly hope when i have a child that i have more important things to worry about than this situation...
You will, trust me.
i never asked for anyone's business on this forum, most of my sites are probably out of the price range... i don't typically build sites for reptile hobbyists and most of my clients have met me face to face or are referrals
It was just food for though, if you don't care about closing down potential revenue streams, then you're certainly free to carry on.
using the leachie on the forum post i saw as no big deal, i had a different opinion altogether of using photos on a website without permission, if i hadn't said so yet, which i thought i did, i do believe it to be wrong
Sorry, I must have gotten all confused when you said (pertaining to USE OF PHOTOS ON A WEBSITE WITHOUT PERMISSION, which is the exact thing you are now trying to say you were against):
as for him using your photo, it is fair use. you posted it on a public website, anyone can use your for photo for non profit. he isn't selling your photo... he's selling the gecko.
i do not condone taking photographs without permission to be posted on a different website for profit.
as for what happened earlier with the photo of the leachie in question, i do not see a huge issue with that.
You can't even keep your own (incorrect) opinions on what is legal and not legal straight! First basically anything is "fair use" as long as you're not reselling A PHOTO specifically. Then you're against stealing photos for use on a website to make a profit, but then you're ok with the Leachie photo in the ad, even thought that's EXACTLY the thing you just said you were against.
i think it's obvious that he's a tad smarter than me, or anyone else who is posting in on this thread. he knows it won't do any good and he's mature enough to avoid the drama.
No, he got CAUGHT. Period. I think that Cease and Desist scared him, because people who steal whatever they feel like using aren't used to being held accountable.
my legal violations? what legal violations? i do not own or operate guyco gecko, and i am not an employee.
You are a contractor performing a work-for-hire... if you knowingly use illegally-obtained materials in the building of a website, you are complicit in the copyright violation. To claim that you "had no idea" you were using un-licensed photography in the GuyCo site makes you look super dim, since you obviously spent time cornering the images to fit them in with the look and feel of "The Geckos" page, and had to nearly obliterate a competitor's watermark/logo to do it...
See above when you tried to tell us that you considered this a big deal when it was brought up, when you obviously spent many posts berating and mocking people for thinking that there was any issue here at all.