They have stolen my community shots in the past and I've reported them to our MLS. I don't contact the agent directly - I report them. 

There is NO excuse for being so lazy you can't have your own community pictures taken...not to mention, it's STEALING! 

Yes.  They are usually community pictures I have taken the time to do.  I contact the agents directly to remove them.  If that doesn't produce results, I report them to the MLS.

Similar experience.  I recall one particularly unusual example.  I listed an extensively renovated condo in a building white another unit in the same building was listed after my seller had accepted an offer.  I made a call to the listing agent/ broker .  I did nothing else.

I simply report them to our board who immediately sends them a cease and desist. While I do not ever hunt for such things, if I discover it, I let the board handle it. I've only had to do it twice in 19 years.

Our MLS puts a copyright logo on all the listing's pictures & they will not alllow another agent to use your photos- that only applies to MLS though. If you want to take that agents photos & use them online no one can stop you- unless, the agent copyrights them; which they almost never will OR if they were professional photos the photographers sometimes will copyright their work in which case you can't use them. Quiz at 5pm . 

Yes, we have our pictures all over online. 

Smart to mark pictures with initials. 

We spend a lot of time taking pictures and editing them or pay for professional photographer and won't allow our work to be taken for granted.

As all of us agree, I would make report to the Realtors Association of Miami.

Our MLS has no patience for that at all & we just raised the fines. We have an auto feature that says copyright & off it goes.  Photos get pulled & MLS takes it from there.

They'll never find the body. LOL 👿
Actually it's quite easy for us to resolve. MLS will immediately compel them to remove the photos. Subsequent complaints result in fines. It doesn't stop agents from being profoundly stupid.

One time I had a dumb bunny steal one of my photos, MLS told her to take it down, she did and replaced it with . . . drum roll please . . . ANOTHER stolen photo.

I reported it to the compliance people in our MLS and they contacted the other agent for removal after she refused to remove them at my first request.

Not yet, but it's a serious violation of our MLS rules. I'd start with a phone call to the agent, and if that didn't cause an immediate change, I'd report them to our MLS. 

Evelina,

It is the craziness of getting something for free that has become part of our culture and a huge detriment when it comes to the big picture.  And yes, I would report them.  A

report them to the MLS

Call the agent and tell them to pull them.  If they don't do that, report it to MLS.

I email the agent and copy the broker and give them 24 hours to remove the photos before it get turned over to my attorney for copyright infringement. I usually get a phone call from the broker apologizing and they remove the photos right away.

I had to do this several time because agents were using photos from my website and using them in MLS.  

It has happened. A report to our mls which has a specific rule against that sort of thievery will do the trick.

Chris Ann Cleland has the answer..... 

Contact them then Report them. 

Only once and I notified him by email to remove them within 24 hours or he would be reported.  They came down without any problems. 

First step, call them direct.  That USUALLY gets a response and a correction.  Failing that, call my broker to talk to their broker.  So far I've never had to go any further, but next up would be an MLS report.  Bill

    1.  Notify your MLS.  If they do not take immediate action (remove the photos) then,

     2.   Have your attorney send the violator a cease and desist letter for violating copyright and DMCA, and charge the violator for the billable hours from your lawyer.   If they ignore that letter, sue them.

     3.   If they are using your photos on a non-MLS website or elsewhere, skip step 1 and go directly to step 2.

     I have had agents call and ask if they can use my photos, and vice versa.  So much controversy can be avoided if people will just be honest and up front!

To my knowledge that has never happened.  If it did, I'd report them and they would get a letter from my attorney. 

That's been an on-going debate for years. If you took the photos, or you paid for pro photos in which you are the owner of the photos, then they are privately owned and copyrighted. 

You attach them a to a listing which your brokerage may own. Then you load them up on the MLS, now they are owned by the MLS. Interesting quagmire, isn't it.

So, current practice here in AZ is this. If your photos are used (stolen) by another agent, your send an email to the agent in question with a cc to MLS compliance that it's an infraction and stolen material, with a legal notice of copyright infringement. Our MLS will take them down at your request, even cancel the listing.

Smart and savvy agents do this: they call you and offer to buy your photos for lets say 50% of what you paid. It's quick, fast, and the new listed agent saves money, time and resources. And spare themselves a reprimand notice on their MLS profile.

I would politely tell them to stop and notify their broker.  If they did not, then I would report them to the board and the state licensing board and have my lawyer send them something much less polite.  I'd also see what I could get them for financially and on a criminal/civil code issue.  Basically, I'd rain fire and brimstone on them and do my best to have their license by the end of it.

I have never worried about it.

Yawn....

Cease and desist?

I would keep after your local board, and possibly get your state board involved.

Sorry, you don't own those pictures. The MLS to which you uploaded them does. As long as your brokerage is identified they are good to go!

It is now the MLS who must take action.

Agents should be allowed to watermark their images just like the mls does to the IP we submit.

By the way. do your images end up on Zillow?  With ANOTER agents face predominatel displayed?  

This seems to be a search for relevance but that horse left the barn long ago.

Yes, a couple of times.  I called them and told them to remove them.  One didn't and I reported it to the MLS and he was fined.

Not that I know of. If I have some excellent photos that I didn't want others to use, i just delete them from MLS when property sells. I'll leave basic average photos in the mls that probably wouldn't bother me if another agent used them. And if an agent called me and asked" Hey jeff, can i use some of those photos you left on one of you old listings' ?, I would most likely say yes.

Evelina Tsigelnitskaya - not yet. Once a seller turned FSBO used them on Zillow and I had asked him to take it out (which was done promptly.)

Our MLS compliance department is strict. But we do have several MLSs and communication can be lost.... Funny thing that agent said you are a 'bad person''. Really? Maybe that agent expected thanks being ''green'' recycling your shots? 

YES and still to this day. First i email, then i call, then i call the managing broker. Then i turn them into our MLS then the state of no action

Yes, I emailed them to tell them to take them off. Once I notified the seller to let her know that one of her least favorite photos was being used without permission as the main pic on her new listing.... I know....

I am no longer using them.

Best to come from Generosity whenever possible.

Nothing, I was flattered.

They are advertising my listing. That is cool for me. Free advertising....

Nno, when our photo's go to our MLS they belong to the MLS and are water marked.

If it would happen there would be hell to pay

I would not play games with them. Report them to your local Board and file a grievance. Never has happened to us...yet

Hasn't happened to my knowledge but I would certainly report them to the Board for action

Evelina Tsigelnitskaya report them to the MLS!

Just report it to the Board. I hope they have a backbone and will do something about. 

A few years ago our Board started Copyrighting the photos with “Listing Broke” stamp on the photos.

Seems easy enough to prove you did not steal the photos when your previous listing and marketing materials have the photos in them. 

Im glad to see things got resolved when the Board was alerted to it. 

It's against our bylaws.  Report the violation to the board and let them handle it

Sorry to hear, but have not experienced this.

Yes, it really doesn't bother me - I know it bothers others, but I have other things on my mind other than another agent using my pics.

Go ahead and use them if you need to

The agent called me and asked for permission . I agreed.