The Conspiracy Between the Union Army and John Wilkes Booth to Assassinate Lin

[Dave Taylor]

Normally, I would just ignore a book like, The Conspiracy Between the Union Army and John Wilkes Booth to Assassinate Abraham Lincoln by Capt. Robert E. Arnold, M.D., USNRR. It appears to be yet another volume attempting to place the blame of Lincoln's death at the feet of Edwin Stanton and others. However, I'm not sure what to do about something I've just noticed.

The author of this book has these photos of John Wilkes Booth's vertebrae at the National Museum of Health and Medicine on the cover of his book:





The problem is, those are my photos of Booth's vertebrae. I took them myself and posted them on my website in June of last year: http://boothiebarn.com/2014/06/27/john-w...vertebrae/

Here's one of my pictures of the vertebrae side by side with the image from the book:



So this guy has clearly stolen my pictures and is now using them, without my permission to sell his silly book.

Now, I don't have a problem with people sharing my pictures or even using them for educational purposes. That's why I watermark some of my pictures, so people can see where they came from.

But, this is blatant copyright infringement / theft right? He's using my personal photographs, without my permission and without even acknowledging the source of the images, and is gaining financially (On Amazon the eBook costs $7.99, the paperback $16.95, and the hardcover is $24.95) from them by using them to sell his book.

Not only am I mad that someone is gaining financially by using my photos without my permission, but the fact that my photos are on the cover of a book perpetuating such sloppy history is even worse.

I would appreciate any advice on how to handle this.

[BettyO]

Dave -

I've gone through something similar as I told you. I would contact the publisher, author and Amazon.

Here is the publisher's web site and includes their email address; physical address and phone number:

http://firsteditiondesignpublishing.com/...ntact.html

I know how aggravating such a thing can be -

[Dave Taylor]

Thanks, Betty.

Here's the email I sent the publisher:

"Dear Sir or Madam,

I have noticed that a book published by your company, First Edition Design Publishing, contains my own intellectual property reproduced without my permission or consent.

I request that you cease production of the book The Conspiracy Between the Union Army and John Wilkes Booth to Assassinate Abraham Lincoln by Robert E. Allen. On the cover of the aforementioned book are several images of the vertebrae of John Wilkes Booth. I took those photographs personally and uploaded watermarked versions of the photographs on my website: http://boothiebarn.com/2014/06/27/john-w...vertebrae/

My images have been subsequently altered to remove the watermark and are now being used without my consent or permission on the cover of the aforementioned book. I never gave permission to either First Edition Design Publishing or Robert E. Allen to use my photographs and hereby request they be removed immediately from the book and all future printings.

I look forward to your response and your swift action to rectify this situation.

Sincerely,

David Taylor
BoothieBarn.com"

[Gene C]

Betty beat me to it with her comments.

Document in detail all phone conversations you may have

[BettyO]

Very nice response, Dave! Perfect -

Please keep us informed regarding the results!

[Jim Page]

Dave, that's a real drag and I think you have every right to be upset. I also think you have every right to request the book as it now exists be pulled from publication. If I were you, I'd let the folks at Amazon and anywhere else that book is sold know that it violates copyright law.

Having been in the print/publication biz for too many years, I have noticed that the ease of creating print/digital/print-on-demand/Web publications has resulted in some folks with little or no knowledge of intellectual property stepping over lines of which they are evidently unaware. That doesn't make it right.

Years ago, I once temped--for a few hours--at a huge company and my assignment was to scour the Web for photos that the company could use in their collateral without paying for their use. When I pointed out to the person running the marketing department that such activity was theft, she responded that "if it's on the Web, it's public domain."

Of course, her response was pure nonsense. Seems as though some people still believe it. I wished this person good luck and recommended that she attend a intellectual-property workshop before she got her company into big trouble.

Good luck!

--Jim

[Eva Elisabeth]

As for informing customers on Amazon - what about doing in a one-star review?

[L Verge]

This has become a big issue in the legal and publishing worlds as we are now dealing with computers. I have seen several conferences being offered on the topic. It even reaches down into the museum's programs concerning exhibit designs. We try as carefully as possible to get our graphics from public domain sites such as the LOC, and even then we give a credit line. If we desperately want to use something from a book, we do contact the publisher and author.

[Anita]

I share your outrage Dave and do hope you get a positive response from the publisher.

[LincolnToddFan]

Ditto Anita...as SandiS commented it seems pretty clear that it's a violation.