Just how low are big comapnies willing to go to avoid paying usage fees for images?
- Thread starter bowwow
- Start date
Even usage with that watermark is still an infringement of copyright. If you forward the thing to thinkstock, I think they may have a case and have the legal means to take actoin. And I believe the whole creative world of content creators will hope they win.
Can give me more information on where and when this took place?
I will send this to the legal team.
I will send this to the legal team.
Haha, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if they 'blame the intern'. Either that or they outsourced it to the cheapest bidder, who may tend to hire untrained/unskilled people to do layout.
Reminds me of another instance where I received an EDM that was sent out with images with the istockphoto watermark. I emailed them about the incident, don't think I got a reply. Forgot about it till now. Found it still archived in my email.
In the case of EDMs, it's possible the person doing the email blast accidentally picked up the mockup comp by mistake, especially if the designer named all the files very similarly (some have the habit of using the word FINAL in everything), can be confusing to a layperson.
E.g.,
FA-10may2009-EDM-mockup-FINAL.jpg
FA-10may2009-EDM-FINAL.jpg
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Aye, too bad I just can't bring myself to do it. ;p
Actually, I just recalled an incident in which a colleague accidentally sent a publication (think it might have been an annual report) for print, and had missed a couple of images that he forgot to relink after the full sized stock images were purchased, so the istock comp images were still used. Thankfully, he had already done some DI to remove the istock logo when presenting the drafts to the client, so the issue was pixelation due to low resolution rather than a big istock logo over the image. Still a problem, but a lot less embarrassing.
Bottom line, mistakes do happen due to negligence (lack of QC) & ignorance (untrained/uneducated), so I wouldn't assume straightaway that someone was trying to avoid paying usage fees especially if they didn't even bother to hide the watermark. Of course, it doesn't excuse the mistake.
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Some clients supply very few images, very dependent on stock. In the past, I've worked on 40 page publications, where up to 80-90% of all images were istock comp images. Purchased and replaced only after the layout is approved, usually a couple of days before sending off to print.
Not familiar with thinkstock... Looks like they have image packs as well, so I imagine one would use comps for layout first, then only purchase, download and replace after approval? Of course, it could just as likely whoever did it had no intention of purchasing, but not smart enough to remove the watermark ;p
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Disappointing to see. THe only necessary thing for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. Report it please.
How does a comping image get to print..... and at that kind of size!?!?! I'm truly shocked! 
I've been in the design business for more than 15 years and even my most junior designer would never make such a bad mistake.
Even if the designer missed that, their superior or even the printer should have caught it.
I've been in the design business for more than 15 years and even my most junior designer would never make such a bad mistake.
Even if the designer missed that, their superior or even the printer should have caught it.
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