Did they take that picture? If not, I think I'd politely ask them to credit you. You're likely to see that picture all over the web now.

Mine is used but that is because I won the tile and it was "the deal" that they would use it. If they are not giving you credit for it, I would suggest to them that they remove it. Unless of course you are absolutely fine with them using it. Then there is no harm done.

Did you send them the photo? Or did they just google their own company, found that photo, probably on GW and snatched it.

I'd contact them if they don't credit where the photo is from.

You bought that--it's not theirs. Sheesh. They owe you an apology and at least a photo credit! (looks nice though, doesn't it?)

I did send them the photo so they could see what their tile looked like after install. I was very excited and wanted to share the beauty of their tile with them. So, it is public domain, but the proper thing would have been to ask or give credit. I guess I am just surprised when people don't do what I think is the right thing. I have a difficult time understanding that. Plus I am certainly no photographer. Anyway, I'm going to let it be. With all that said and pondered, I am still scratching my head. LOL!

It's not right! Do you have any other rooms that need tile? If so, the least they could do it give you a big discount.

Just because you sent them a picture doesn't make it public domain. They should have asked your permission. We bought a new house a few years ago. The builder then went on the build it again in another neighborhood with a different paint combo. He and his realtor kept using photos of our house in their ads. I contacted the realtor and asked them to remove it. They did. I was a little po'd at the builder for many other things and I guess that was just my way of venting :)

Interestingly, the website says the photo is copyrighted to Brittany and Coggs. They've given themselves credit for it which seems tacky at the very least since you took the picture AND they didn't ask your permission or notify you they were going to use the picture of your kitchen.

In my experience a lot of contractors and designers have the right to use images of your home in their contract.

I had a similar experience. I walked into a wood countertop showroom and saw a big photo on the wall of the kitchen i did 8 yrs ago! I didnt even know the vendor, since the first time it was done thru a GC and I didnt visit a showroom.

Well, ae2ga, I didn't notice that! I don't see how that can be legal. I wonder if it is worthwhile to contact them? That copyright business seems highly irregular and, although I am someone who likes to give people the benefit of the doubt, it is becoming more difficult.

Mtn, I never had any contract with Brittany & Coggs. On another note, my GC did ask if he could take pictures of my kitchen for use in his business, which is how I think things should be done.

I was curious about how my photos were being used, so I used the Photobucket "Stats" function to see who/what site was viewing/linking to my pictures. Lo and behold, I discovered at least one site that has posted one of my pictures (rctibusiness.com)...I think as a "negative" b/c I didn't match my switch covers to my cabinet hardware...I don't see it as a negative, but I guess this particular person does! No attempt was made to contact me about using this picture.

Oh well, if I want to keep my kitchen pictures Public, that's one of the prices I have to pay...pirated pictures. I don't have pics of my family in any public albums, so I'm not going to worry about it.

If you use Photobucket and want to see who's looking at your pictures (by site):

1. Click the "down arrow" next to your user name in the upper right corner (to the left of the "Search photos..." box)

Select "Account Settings"
Click the "Account Status" tab (the last one on the right)
Scroll down to the last section titled "Stats this week"
Click the "See all stats" link under the graph.

You can see who/what sites have viewed or linked to each picture in the past 2 weeks, broken down by days.
If you want to see a monthly breakdown, click the "view monthly" link on the far right above the graph.

You can then see the same information for each picture for the past 6 months, broken down by month.

Doonie --

I don't think there's a downside to your politely suggesting to them that it would be nice to provide a heads up if they are going to feature your kitchen, regardless of who actually took the picture.

If they thank you for your counsel, you can reward them with a photo of your arched inset installation, which is as beautiful -- Moorish in its shape, but subtle in its colors.

Thanks buehl, I never knew about that. I have my settings on private though. Wonder if there is an option like that in picasa?

I can see how that would be pretty disconcerting doonie. The cabinet company that did my last kitchen asked if they could take pictures and use them on their site - we agreed. That is the only way it should happen, IMHO. That said, for pictures on the internet already, I'm sure I would be annoyed, but I'm not sure I would take any action (depending on how they used the pictures I guess).

It didn't look to me that they were claiming copyright over your photograph - that copyright notice is on the site. They can do that -- they can claim copyright on a page that includes your picture on it; technically that might be a "derivative work" but the copyright for the page itself lies with them.

Copyright law has changed over the past years ... it is now the case in the US that the default assumption is that something is copyrighted, even without a notice on it. So unless you explicitly gave permission, they are technically violating your copyright.

The easiest thing to do to prevent this, if you care about it, is to include a copyright notice on the picture itself. I actually have some of my favorite shots out there on picasa and elsewhere which lack a proper copyright notice. I know I should, but have been a bit lazy. I wonder if I'll ever find a calendar in a store somewhere with this shot in it:

Here is a link that might be useful: Some of my favorite pictures

I sent Mission Stone an email this am about seeing my b/s on a website posted by Lavenderlass. I usually always send them the links when I find them. They love knowing that the tile is being featured out there in blogland,etc. I heard back that she saw that one in February herself. She asked them to give proper credit--they were trying to pass it off as their own work! (Hey! That's MY work!). It now has the proper credit on their site linking readers to Mission's website.

In your case, they should have asked you if it was ok. Although....if you send them the picture, they probably assume they can use it and that's why you sent it to them.

I wonder if they put their copyright information on it so others wouldn't take it from them? Maybe trying to protect you? (ok, so I'm a dreamer)

buehl, thanks for info. I have mine set for private but stats show 1300 plus views on some of my photos!!

If you search Google Images for Bianco Romano granite, you will find several websites that have a picture of my kitchen island posted, and one has a shot of my entire kitchen. I find this very amusing because my counters aren't even bianco romano! They are Andromeda White and have zero taupe in them like BR does.

In an "its a small world" vein, boxerpups has the image of my island in her vast photo collection as BR as well! I must say that I feel honored that my counters made it into her collection.

As Buehl says, as long as I choose to keep my kitchen pictures public, people are bound to use them.

Buehl, thanks for the directions. Do you have Photobucket Pro or regular/free account?

Photobucket Pro. Are the directions different for the free account?

No, they get you there, but if not Pro then you only see 4-6 pictures and can't see all the places that have looked at them. Don't know if it shows any websites that have linked.

Thanks for the responses and the info on Photobucket. These threads are moving quickly!

I think I'll leave well enough alone. It is flattering that they thought my photo was good enough to use.

Still, part of me finds the whole open photobucket thing, even set on private, a little creepy. So I've shut mine down.

I have the pro account ($25 a year) and I recently found the Stats part (after having it for years) and was surprised to find a picture of the dining room in my old house had been viewed more than 20,000 times! It was getting viewed about 500 times a day, but the only thing listed was a Blog site, so no way to tell who's blog it was on, but obviously someone popular. I figured it most have been used on their main page to get hits like that. And they had been using it for a long time.

Now my concern was WHY they were using it, was it to show a "bad example" or what? It was rather boring and small, so I figured if anyone used it, it would have been for a negative purpose.

I deleted the picture - afterwards my husband said I should have substituted a different, objectionable picture for that one and see how long it took for link to be edited. Vindictive of me, I know . . .

I like to view Stats - it's fun to see that some pictures I posted on message boards years ago are still being viewed. Most of what I post are "in progress" or detailed pictures in response to someone's question. I have benefited so much by what I find on the web, I'm glad that maybe a few of my pictures are around to help others.

Our design/build firm took photos of our property from the listing, and used them in a full page ad in a design mag. These photos were from before they'd even touched the place! We found out when we happened to leaf thru the magazine.

Macybaby, I am laughing over your story! That would have been a great come back.

So, what did you end up doing, Mtnrdredux?