Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Borrowing is Stealing

I remember years ago, in my rental days, going to a sales call for a very elaborate wedding. After the initial introductions the client handed me a picture that the previous rental store had left behind and asked me if there was any way our company could do such an amazing event. I looked at the “fabulous” picture and said, not only COULD we do such an event, I actually DID the event in the picture. This was back in the days before iPads, so I took out my company brochure and showed the client the entire project, not just the one picture that the competition presented as their own.

With the advancement of technology, today it is much easier to search photos and event designs online. It used to take a lot of nerve to physically copy someone’s idea and pass it off as your own. The world-wide-web has made piracy more tempting, more anonymous and accessible to everyone. Unfortunately, in today’s world it has become a common business practice.

Example of Losberger photos used by competitors

How does your company deal with this issue?

Do you support companies that participate in such business practices?

Do you give credit to vendors when a photo is showing more than your product?

This is such a wide spread problem. I would appreciate any and all comments or share examples of your own!