Bret Douglas... Cyber bully and image thief Mr Douglas and I reached an agreement in 2008 that he would cease his attacks on me and my family. His most particularly despicable attacks are crude and pornographic sexual references aimed at my daughter and grand daughter. This site is being updated In June 2009 ready to re-launch in retaliation his continued participation in an attack he started on Usenet against members of my family. Details of his illegal and pathetic attempts to interfere with the orderly conduct of my business and breach eBay security to access my seller account will all be detailed along with advise for others in the same situation on legal avenues open to them.

On 17th March 2008, Action under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (USA) was commenced against AOL as host and facilitator and Bret Douglas (Annika1980) as defendant intended to halt the insidious newsgroups bullying behaviour of this person.

AOL faced penalties of $90,000 if they allow him to persist. Bret Douglas faces a court settlement and legal costs almost twice this amount... And all because Bret Douglas thought he was being "smart" in taking a Professional Photographer's images and altering them to harass and bully the owner with.

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COPYRIGHT PROTECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS

Fair use of copyright material does not include using it to insult, harass or belittle the author. Most certainly it does not cover alterations of images and at all times, due respect for the author is expected.

IV. The Importance of Copyright Registration

1. Registration required to commence infringement action

Registration is not required for copyright protection, but is a prerequisite before United States authors can bring an action for infringement in federal court. While foreign authors may bring an action in federal court without securing a registration certificate, registration of the work before an infringement occurs will affect the type of damages available to the author.

If registration is made within three months after publication of the work or prior to an infringement of the work, statutory damages and attorney's fees will be available to the copyright owner in court actions. Otherwise, only an award of actual damages or profits will be available to the copyright owner. When the infringement is a use of an unregistered photographed, the measurement of actual damages is a license fee or a multiple thereof.

B. How to Register Copyrights for Photographs

Registration of all works must be made with the U.S. Copyright Office (http://www.loc.gov/copyright). The specific steps to take when registering a photograph depend on whether the work is published or unpublished, but the following three steps apply to all registrations of visual works.

Three requirements to register a work of visual art:

1. A completed Form VA (http://www.copyright.gov/forms/formvai.pdf)

2. The filing fee (currently $30, but check with the Copyright Office for the current fee when you register)

3. A nonrefundable deposit of the work to be registered. The form of deposit required depends on whether the work to be registered is published or unpublished.

TIP: It is important to promptly register work, and to send the application via an overnight carrier, with proof of delivery. The date of registration is the date the application is received by the Copyright Office. The Copyright Office recommends that in order to be certain that your completed application is received within three months of publication of the earliest published photograph within the group, you may wish to register fewer than three months of published photographs on a single application.