Where’s your basic courtesy?

Maureen
Maureen
April 06, 2010

I guess this is the once in a millionth times that I am writing this blog in English. But I thought it is easier to be understood than trying to put the terms into Chinese.

Somewhere in 2009, a pasta restaurant was newly opened and I was invited for a tasting session. As a food blogger, what we normally do is we eat, take our own photos and post it in our own blogs.

And so, I did what I am supposed to do: BLOG. (Picture above: one of their specialty, taken by ME ME ME)

Many months have passed, besides blogging for leisure, I am now in my full time media job, contented.

And a few hours ago, I was shocked to see a similar photo from their media release sent a few days ago.

I guess being a media student for 4 years and passing my Media Law module sure helps. And if you think nothing is wrong, let me abstract the following paragraphs for your reference.

Copyright infringement (or copyright violation) is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works covered by copyright law, in a way that violates one of the copyright owner’s exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.”

“A plaintiff establishes ownership by authorship (by the plaintiff itself or by one who assigned rights to the plaintiff) of (1) an original work of authorship that is (2) fixed in a tangible medium (e.g. a book or musical recording). Registration is not required for copyright itself, but in most cases is a jurisdictional requirement to bring the suit.”

“A plaintiff establishes actual copying with direct or indirect evidence… A court will infer copying by a showing of a “striking similarity” between the copyrighted work and the alleged copy, along with a showing of both access and use of that access.”

Reference:
Copyright infringement. (2010, April 4). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 07:18, April 6, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Copyright_infringement&oldid=353886297

Actually I should be honoured that the restaurant has included my photo in their media release but I thought there should be basic courtesy of letting me know about it instead of:

– Removing my credits
– Manipulating the contrast while all the angle and greens and scallops ARE THE SAME. Look, even the burnt cheese at the corner of the plate is THE SAME.

It’s funny actually, seeing my own photos appearing somewhere which is not supposed to be. And imagine when I see the media release, I just laughed.

Despicable act? Absolutely.

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