Jay,

I feel for you brother ! I lost count how many times my images have been taken that I know about.

And people ask me why I went back to posting Low Resolution Images with a Watermark or not posting images at all.....

My last image I found was sold to an advertiser on OSO. Someone from OSO decided to take my image and use it in their advertising.
The company that was advertising was unaware of this situation.

Fortunately I also picked this company up as an advertiser and decided not to press the issue with OSO. Another reason you won't find future images posted on this site....

If indeed you know for sure that the MGR team had the banner made, just send them an invoice and I am sure they will pay you. One of my images was used on their poster a few years back and I just billed them and got paid.

This stuff happens more than people would think.

My site offers Full Resolution & Low Resolution Downloads.

No need for screen saves and editing out watermarks. :ack2:

If you gave them the prints, should they not assume that they are theirs to use however they want? Obviously the Geico guys know the rules of the marketing stuff, but I doubt they "sold" the picture, they probably just donated it for advertising. I agree you should be mad if someone is making money off of it, but you're grief should only be with the banner company if anyone. Just my .02[/QUOTE]

I agree and disagree, the banner company is most likely not at fault, they just printed what someone asked them to do. Who ever requested the banner is who you need to look for.

FYI, that banner was created and supplied to OSO by the advertiser

That was not what I was told.
I do know I was told it was someone other than you that made it, but the other person was from OSO.
If the advertiser created it, than they would have simply supplied it to me to use on my sites. Instead they did not have the means of creating one and asked if I could possibly make one up for my sites. In which I did.

ABSOLUTELY NOT !!!
Only the copyright owner can sign over the copyrights to the image. Handing someone a print does not in any way equal to a signature on a copyright contract.

Yes the team is fully aware of the rules, and I am sure they know that unless the image was registered with the Copyright office that there is little chance anyone will file a Federal Lawsuit.

It is a Federal Crime and dealt with in the Federal Courts, but if the image was not registered, any rewards are reduced drastically and makes it not worth the suit.

It is easier and little to no cost to try to work it out by sending an invoice for the image and hope to get paid.

It's a better ending than bad press if it cannot be resolved.

I had taken a photo of the original Miss Maxson, 30' Scarab, in the late 1970's during a Barnegat Bay race. The picture showed up in Poker Runs magazine 2 years ago in an article featuring Tim Ciasulli (sp?). They wouldn't even give me a complimentry subscription.

Sharky Images, I was replying to a previous post this was my post to the that one:
I agree and disagree, the banner company is most likely not at fault, they just printed what someone asked them to do. Who ever requested the banner is who you need to look for.

I want to thank everyone who offered words of support regarding this issue, and let you know that it has been completely resolved to my satisfaction.

In addition, I would like to thank Ron Polli for his immediate attention to this matter. He called me back every time when he said he would, and did his best to track down the facts and conveyed the info to me as soon as he had it. No small feat considering he was away from home and right in the middle of an event weekend.

I also want to point out that the Miss Geico Racing organization had no involvement whatsoever in this. Everything posted here that may have insinuated such was pure speculation- including my post. I was very upset and wanted to have all the information regarding that specific photo in the thread. I love the team and their boats- and like all fans, I'm extremely grateful for everything they bring to the sport we love.

ok, that's it. I've asked the mods to lock this down (no response as of this posting). But, I think any further dialog is unnecessary. thanks.