I came across a site caslled scotlandmountainbiking dot com and found several of my photos being used on it.

Could only have come from Flickr I think, where it's clearly stated that all rights are reserved. What's more some of the pix are of France although the site implies they are of Scotland.

I'd have liked them
a) to have asked
b) not to use my pix of France passing them off as if it was Scotland.

I've emailed but no response.

So – is life too short to worry about this kind of thing or is it just a little bit bent to do what they have done? (or both?)

If you put pics up on the net and you don't want them used then watermark them or only put small res versions

With flikr you can set it to private if you want.

The site should take then down if you ask tho

Yup – if it's on the net, it's (un)fair game. Still theft though, so email through an invoice with the choice of just removing them instantly?

Good idea! They're supposed to be based not far from work – I could drop the bill off personally.

I think it is fair to ask for permission. For my dissertation I wrote to one person to ask for permission to use a photograph of a plant I never managed to photo myself, and also to someone I met whose artwork I wanted to reproduce. In both instances they were happy that I had asked first, and I am also ensuring that the photographs are fully attributed. I am also in the process of getting permission from a film producer to use screen grabs for one of his films, but this is taking a little longer than hoped.

So yes, it would not have hurt for them to ask permission.

I would have said 'yes' at least to the ones of Scotland if they'd dropped me an e – but now I feel like I want them off the site!

Which one is France – is it the Pipers??

(It's the grey one hanging by the door).

Lol – if you seriously want to know, last one in 'Coast to Coast' is France and so is third one in 'Singletrack Luxury'

No, life's not too short. They're a commercial enterprise and they're using your photography without a paying a penny when it clearly says all rights reserved. In fact they haven't even deigned to give you a credit. I'd see how they react to a politely-worded 'thank you' note for publishing your work, and an attached invoice. And I wouldn't undervalue the fee…

Whoops – Third one in SECOND ROW of 'Singeltrack luxury'

Doesn't even have to say all rights reserved, you are automatically protected by copyright law.

Is it polite to ask? No! It's a legal obligation to ask.

Is life too short? Only you can choose, the law is on your side though. If you're feeling really mean, send something off to trading standards, passing off France as Scotland is a bit misleading. 😉

The site is broken now, maybe they've read this and are updating/removing.