Originally posted by BrianR This seems likely to backfire and just end up giving publicity to the poke (the may not care if it's good or bad) and rouse legions of poke fans declaring he should be happy for the free publicity his image received (not my view, just my crystal balls
).
As P.T. Barnum use to say “I don't care what you say about me, just spell my name right”. There is always that danger. Also, the public generally cares little about copyrights in general - especially when ever Disney's copyrights (Micky Mouse) are about expire they ram another extension through congress.
Originally posted by BrianR This won't be the first image they've lifted from the web. Someone with time on their hands and a beef with the poke could probably have a fun weekend finding other cases on their website and piling up some documentation to send out to the big photo news websites or organize a mass of dmca take down notices aimed at the poke.
In my opinion, the US arrangement on Copyrights - especially concerning photos, is that the requirement to register in order to recover statutory damages and especially legal fees - along with the high cost of going to Federal Court (I have seen estimates that start at $30,000 in legal fees), essentially protects the infringer more than the copyright holder. If you fail to register, it is economically impossible for you to sue - and the infringer is off scott free.
Also, if you read the recent law changes - to be perfectly legal, in order to use the DMCA the image needs to be registered. Otherwise the infringer can just ignore the take down notice. Now that is usually not what happens - but I am just waiting for some infringer to push back hard on that - and make good use of some image not being registered.
What is nice about the OP being in the UK is their Copyright Small Claims Court where with a minimum of expense, some basic documentation and no lawyers (nor their added expense) you can recover a reasonable sum - 10,000 pounds.
Originally posted by BrianR On a related note, I wonder if there have been any academic studies on % of images used without permission on websites like this? Or smaller ones.
I would think that it would be somewhat of a guess at best. You really would not know for certain if the image had been licensed or permission granted - Creative Commons, etc.