It seems we’ve become accustomed to the reality of some news outlets stealing photos from other news outlets. 

Of course, it’s a pity that the affected news outlet, to which you’ve provided your photos, doesn’t want to enter a protracted court battle and defend its rights (and also mine). 

I understand that the waste of time and money is greater than the dividends that you’ll get through the courts. The law on copyright protection under circumstances restricted to a lawsuit for the purpose of protecting your intellectual property doesn’t assist photographers against thieves. We’ve already come to terms with this, silently monitoring how our anonymous photos roam on authorless websites. 

Recently, a new type of fraudulent act appeared in Armenian media, and it’s gaining momentum. 

No self-respecting photo agency would place its logo or watermark on a photo that it doesn’t own. To do so would mean that the agency’s photographer is the author of the photo or the agency has purchased the right to use the photograph. If we’re talking about old photos, then the right is purchased from the copyright holder. This could be either another agency or photographer, or in the case of the photographer’s death, his relatives. 

In 2010, Daniel Morel posted on his Twitter page his photographs of the devastating effects of the earthquake that killed 250,000 people in his native Haiti.  AFP saw the photos reposted by another Twitter user and distributed them to Getty Images. The result was that the numerous Getty subscribers published the photos, among them CBS, ABC, and CNN. The photographer pursued the matter in court. In the end, the agency paid Morel $1.2 million USD. 

Of course, local Armenian photography businessmen are somewhat “smarter” than their US counterparts. They would never suggest such a thing to anyone directly and explicitly on their website. But there’s a loophole: social networking sites. 

On social media, a page is created in the name of the agency and on it, can be displayed… anything that crosses your mind. The latest “achievement” of PanArmenian.Net news agency* is a photo of a smiling Komitas, which was taken 100 years ago. 

PanArmenian.Net’s* logo “adorns” the photos on this agency’s page in 2014. Comments here are unnecessary. What’s important is that the agency’s logo is roaming the virtual space. In this case, all measures are welcome. Facebook and VKontakte are spaces where such infringements are carried out — without the fear of being punished. That the photo has an author doesn’t cross the mind of digital photographers. Why waste time on searching, investigating, and revealing the author of that beautiful photo? Isn’t it easier to take it and add your own logo?

The use of others’ photos is an achievement of new “heights” for online media. Recently, BlogNews.am stood out in this issue: it used my photos on its Facebook page, with the “noble” purpose of increasing the flow of readers to its website. Having more than 350,000 subscribers on Facebook (this is the number seen on its page), the founders of the site take no responsibility for the content on their social media page. 

And the theft this time was not from other websites. Neither did they steal from the press. This case is radically different from the usual links permitted with reservations by Armenian law. 

They had stolen the photos from a photo series that was not intended for news media. I worked on that project for more than three years. I spent much of my personal funds. To work on the project, I was forced to hire assistants; I spent money on accommodation at local hotels outside the capital; and so on. The project launch took place in 2012, at the Shushi Art Festival. In 2013, the series was exhibited at Photaumnales, a photography festival in France. 

The complete series has been available on my website since 2012, where it very clearly shows the mark of the author of the content on the website. This time BlogNews.am stole not from a local Armenian website, but from an American company. It was an American company that provided the opportunity to me to display my page and create in their space. The company’s president was informed that I won an award by the International Fund for Documentary Photography in San Francisco and wrote a letter, offering to place my website on their page…

And here begins the most interesting part: BlogNews.am is part of the Panarmenian Media Group. 

It seems that everything is very simple: needed is a document from the relevant bodies to confirm that BlogNews.am is part of the media group and note the names of specific people who have signed contracts with the media group on behalf of BlogNews.am. Then, ignoring the imperfection of Armenian legislation, launch a lawsuit in a US court against the media group, which has an office in the US.

Trust my experience: in the US, they are very strict on this matter. No familial ties or other personal connections will save the offender. 

But there is one “but”: No one in Armenia will give a copy of such a document — no organization, whether it’s the Chamber of Commerce or the tax inspectorate… Panarmenian Media Group even more so. 

Though BlogNews.am carries out economic activity in Armenia, placing ads on its pages, you won’t find a single name there — neither the chief editor’s nor a copy editor’s. Sue whom? You can’t take a virtual website to court…

The photos taken as part of the documentary project on victims of the Nagorno-Karabakh War are published as advertising for their website. In two days, they acquire 7,500 likes, a few hundred links, and hundreds of comments: thus, this ‘blognews’ page of Facebook increased its website audience. The very same website that publishes celebrities’ erotic photos, gossip from their lives, and material discrediting famous people. 

And nothing can be done to stop this. Currently, it’s not possible.

German Avagyan

* The word “PanPhoto” was replaced with “PanArmenian.Net,” since the logo on the photos was PanArmenian.Net news agency’s and not PanPhoto’s. PanPhoto is a separate photo agency that has and uses its own logo but is part of the PanArmenian.Net legal entity and is represented on Facebook by the PanArmenian.Net page, from which the screenshot in this piece was taken.

The views expressed in the column are those of the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of Media.am.