A major goal of Indie Auto is to give visibility to smaller websites and social media that cover American automotive history in an interesting way. That’s why I have repeatedly posted items from Cars: Design & Style.
The folks who publish this Facebook page apparently see neighborliness as a one-way street. I recently noticed that they had posted one of my fake car designs without getting my permission (go here). They also did not say where the image came from and provide a link to the original story.
This is the second time I have found original Indie Auto content on this Facebook page — despite my previous protestation. Nor have they responded to my latest attempt to reach out to them.
I get that this is probably a volunteer-based activity done on the fly. I also get that the people running this Facebook page may not have taken a media law class. However, I would think that they would understand how to be a good neighbor. And apparently that’s not how they roll.
This is why I am removing Cars: Design & Style from our “Bibliography of Links” and will not longer highlight them in our Facebook feed.
You did the right thing, Steve. It takes nothing to post credit but the internet has long been a place where courtesy and honesty are in short supply.
File in your local small claims court for intellectual property theft/infringement. It’s usually a nominal fee. Make Farcebook have to travel to YOUR county court and defend their actions. Sure for the max possible. Inconvenience the hell out of them for being dicks. Take lots of screenshots before you file. And after, if they remove it before court.
One of the basic challenges of our era is that anyone can set up a Facebook page with no training whatsoever in basic stuff such as how to avoid copyright infringement. That’s why I’m inclined to cut people more slack if they are volunteers and their activities are not earning any money from the content they have taken from Indie Auto. The flip side of that is I set the bar higher for websites with paid editors — who should know better.