I run a small publishing business that does a lot of Facebook Marketing. Our primary means of promoting our business is to use original content posted regularly to our Facebook pages. These are usually images that we create ourselves. Our competitors, however, use an endless stream of pictures, cartoons, photos, etc that were created by other people. They use other people's creative work to promote their business, for commercial gain. Their page is filled every day with content from other people, copied and posted directly on Facebook. Occasionally credit is given, occasionally it is not given.<p>Recently, they used one of our images on their page. They gave no credit, no links to our site, no compensation, or anything. They did, however, link the image to their Pinterest page, which in turn linked to their Tumblr. All giving the impression that they created the image, owned it, and had the right to use it.<p>A successful Facebook meme has significant monetary value. The 'response' of a good meme is predictable, and can easily reach hundreds of thousands of people. When they posted this image, it did very well. It got thousands of likes and shares. Of course, this happens every day, and not just to us. People steal images all the time. It seems to be "the Internet way."<p>It is easy to turn a blind eye to this. And usually, we don't mind. But when a direct competitor steals an image and uses it for their own gain, it really pisses me off. It also harms my business. Each time a Facebook image is posted, it loses some of its value. Once someone has "liked" it, they've already liked it, and are less likely to respond in the future.<p>But, that's just one small piece of the issue. The fact is this competitor has built their business on stealing other people's content, in order to build an audience for their Facebook page. They've become rather successful. We are more successful, but are fighting an uneven battle because of our unwillingness to steal.<p>My only question, now that they've stolen one of our images, is what to do next. My goal is to 'level the playing field', so that I don't have to compete against thieves. Perhaps a scary letter from a lawyer is in order? They're in South Africa, and I'm in the United States.<p>I have a feeling, though, that this simply isn't a fight that I can win. Respect for copyright is almost non-existent these days. Look at the rest of the posts on this discussion.<p>Sigh.