My Product Photos Were Stolen and Used on Another Website: Here's What I Did About It
As a small business owner, discovering your original product photography has been copied and used without permission is both frustrating and unsettling. This is my experience of dealing with image copyright infringement across international borders and what the process actually looked like from start to finish.
Please note that this post is based entirely on my personal experience and is intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice. If you are dealing with copyright infringement and need guidance specific to your situation, I would recommend consulting a qualified intellectual property solicitor or legal professional.
The business involved is not identified in this article. The purpose of this post is simply to explain the process I followed when my product photography was used without permission.
How I Discovered My Images Had Been Stolen
I found out by using Google reverse image search, and I cannot recommend it enough.
If you sell products online, making this a regular habit could save you a lot of frustration down the line, especially if you sell popular products. It costs nothing, takes less than a minute, and can reveal exactly where your images are appearing across the web without your knowledge.
How to Do a Reverse Image Search on Google
On desktop:
- Go to images.google.com
- Click the camera icon in the search bar
- Either paste in the URL of your product image, or upload the image file directly from your computer
- Google will return a list of pages where that image, or a visually similar one, appears
On mobile:
- Open Chrome on your phone and go to images.google.com
- Request the desktop version of the site by tapping the three dots menu and selecting Desktop site
- Tap the camera icon and upload your image
- Alternatively, if you find your image on your own website via Chrome on mobile, press and hold the image and select "Search image with Google"
A few tips worth knowing: search your most popular product images first as these are the ones most likely to be targeted, try searching both edited product images and any lifestyle or flat lay photographs, and run searches periodically rather than just once, because infringement can happen at any time.
When I ran a search on my own product images, the results showed not one but six of my photographs appearing on an e-commerce website based in Australia, being used without my
My original images:
The images had not simply been reposted. My original photographs had been edited, with backgrounds removed and elements duplicated to create new compositions.
As a small business owner, I take all of my own product photographs. That means planning and setting up every shot, editing the images, and uploading them to my website. Seeing that work taken and reused elsewhere without credit or consent was deeply frustrating.
My immediate reaction was that because the website was based in Australia, there might be nothing I could do about it. That assumption turned out to be completely wrong.
Why Product Photos Are Protected by Copyright, Even Across Borders
Before getting into what I did, it is worth understanding why this matters legally and why geography is no protection for infringers.
Copyright in a photograph belongs to the person who took it, automatically, from the moment the shutter is pressed. There is no need to register images, add a watermark, or include a copyright notice for that protection to apply. In the UK, this is covered under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. In the US, copyright is protected under the Copyright Act of 1976. In Australia, it is governed by the Copyright Act 1968. Across the EU, similar protections apply under the InfoSoc Directive.
The Berne Convention: Why Geography Does Not Protect Infringers
Copyright is also protected internationally through the Berne Convention, an international agreement signed by over 180 countries including the UK, Australia, the US, and most of the world. Under the Berne Convention, copyright as a creator is recognised and enforceable in every member country, regardless of where you or the infringing website are based.
This means that a website in Australia, the US, or anywhere else using your photographs without permission does not get to hide behind their location. Reporting through international service providers such as Google, PayPal, Cloudflare, and hosting companies is effective regardless of where the infringing website is located, because those providers operate under international copyright obligations.
Product photography is a creative work. The choices made in producing an image, the angle, the lighting, the composition, the editing, are what make it original and protected. Even if another business sells the same product anywhere in the world, they have no legal right to use your photograph of it.
It is also worth understanding that editing or cropping someone else's image does not transfer ownership and does not make the use legal. Removing a background, duplicating an element, or altering a photograph in any way is still copyright infringement if the resulting image was derived from the original work without permission. Derivative works require the consent of the original copyright holder.
What I Did to Get the Images Removed
1. I Confirmed the Images Were Mine
Before doing anything else, I made sure I had clear proof that the photographs were mine.
I was able to show:
- The original photographs in my camera roll, with the dates they were taken
- The original versions published on my website
- Comparison overlays showing the edited versions were clearly derived from my photos
The product itself may exist elsewhere, but the photograph is still the copyrighted work of the person who created it, and that distinction matters enormously.
2. I Tried to Contact the Website Owner
Because their email address was difficult to find, I reached out through their social media accounts first.
They blocked me. Comments I left were removed almost immediately.
That told me everything I needed to know about how they planned to handle this.
I eventually tracked down an email address and made contact. In the meantime I filed my first reports, and shortly afterwards they removed the product from their site collections. The product pages were still live and the images were still there, just buried and harder to find. Sneaky, but not sneaky enough.
3. I Gathered My Evidence
Before escalating further, I made sure I had solid documentation in place.
This included:
- Screenshots of the original photographs in my camera roll, including dates
- The original images as published on my website
- Comparison overlays showing the edited versions matched my photographs
- Screenshots of every infringing webpage, including the URLs and the dates I captured them
Having all of this ready made it much easier for platforms and hosting providers to understand and act on my complaint, and it strengthened my position at every stage of the process.
My Image:
My Evidence:
This is a screenshot of the original photograph from my camera roll, complete with the time, date, and location metadata (cropped here for privacy). I then overlaid their product listing image on top of my original to show the two were identical in composition, just edited. The lighting, angle, and details match precisely. This was my strongest piece of evidence and the one that was hardest to argue with.
Just to be completely clear on this point: removing a background, duplicating elements, creating a collage of images, and adding text to photographs that you did not take does not make the result a new, original image. It does not dissolve the copyright. It does not make the use legal. What it does is create an unauthorised derivative work, which is still an infringement of the original copyright.
The creative work that went into producing the original photograph, the setup, the lighting, the angle, the composition, belongs to the person who took it. No amount of editing, remixing, or rearranging after the fact changes that. If you did not take the photograph, it is not yours to edit, repost, crop, collage, or build upon, with or without modifications, commercially or otherwise.
If someone has used your photograph in this way without your permission, your copyright remains intact and your right to report and pursue that infringement is entirely valid.
4. I Kept Reporting
After my initial reports, the bow charm images were removed. Progress, but the job was not finished. One set of charm photos remained live, so I followed up by email.
The response was hostile. I was threatened with a report to my local police station, told I was wasting my time, and that the matter was trivial.
I want to address the police threat directly, because I found it rather ironic.
Reporting copyright infringement as the rights holder is not a criminal matter. However, copyright infringement itself is a different story. While it is primarily dealt with as a civil matter, copyright infringement can become a criminal issue, particularly where it involves commercial activity and a clear profit motive. Criminal copyright offences can result in significant fines, seizure of goods, and in serious cases, imprisonment.
I am not suggesting that is where this situation would have led. But the threat to involve the police felt quite misplaced given the circumstances.
It did not put me off. If anything it made me more determined. If they wanted a fight, I was not going to back down.
5. I Sent a Formal DMCA Takedown Notice
When direct contact failed to resolve the situation, I sent a DMCA takedown notice. While the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a US law, takedown notices are widely accepted and acted upon by hosting providers, platforms, and service providers around the world, including those operating in the UK, Australia, and the EU.
A DMCA takedown notice is a formal document notifying a service provider that content on their platform infringes copyright and requesting its removal.
The notice I sent included:
- My full name and contact details
- A description of the original photographs that had been infringed
- The exact URLs where the infringing content appeared
- The URL the images were derived from
- A statement that I had a good faith belief the use was not authorised
- A statement that the information was accurate and that I was the copyright owner
- My signature
Most hosting providers, platforms, and search engines have a dedicated process for receiving these notices.
6. I Reported to Google, Cloudflare and PayPal
With the remaining image still live, I escalated through every relevant channel I could find.
I submitted a copyright removal request through the Google Search Console Legal Removal Requests page, providing the URL of the infringing page and a description of my original work. Having content removed from Google search results significantly reduces its visibility and reach.
Cloudflare
The website was sitting behind Cloudflare, which is a content delivery network that many websites use and which can make it harder to identify who is actually hosting a site. I submitted a copyright infringement report via cloudflare.com/abuse, but it is important to understand that Cloudflare is not the hosting provider itself. It sits in front of the host, so to take the strongest action I also needed to find and contact the actual hosting provider directly.
Finding the Real Hosting Provider
This took some digging. To get past Cloudflare and identify the underlying hosting infrastructure, I went into the page source of the website by right-clicking and selecting "View Page Source." Within the source code there were references that pointed me towards the actual hosting environment.
Tools like who.is and iplocation.net can also help with looking up domain registration and server information. Once I identified the hosting provider I went directly to their abuse reporting page and submitted my DMCA notice there.
PayPal
Because the website was processing payments through PayPal and selling products using my stolen images, I reported this through PayPal's Intellectual Property Rights reporting page. PayPal takes these complaints seriously because facilitating the sale of infringing products violates their Acceptable Use Policy.
Of all the reports I filed, this was by far the most impactful. I received an email confirming that action had been taken within just a few hours, making it the quickest and most effective step in the entire process within 24 hours of this report, the last image had finally been resolved! The battle was over!
Targeting a website's ability to receive payments gets attention in a way that other reports simply do not, and if I were to recommend one priority step to anyone going through the same situation, this would be it.
7. I Kept Going Until It Was Resolved
None of this was resolved quickly. Some images came down early in the process. Others required sustained effort across multiple channels before they were finally removed.
I kept records of every report I filed and every response I received. Each piece of documentation added to my case and kept the pressure on.
The key was not giving up.
Frequently Asked Questions About Image Copyright Infringement
Can product photos be copyrighted even without professional photography experience?
Yes. Copyright applies to any original photograph regardless of who took it. If you took the photo, you own it.
What if the infringing website is based in another country?
This is one of the most common misconceptions. Under the Berne Convention, copyright is recognised in over 180 countries worldwide. Reporting through service providers such as Google, PayPal, Cloudflare, and hosting companies is effective regardless of where the website is based, because those providers operate under international copyright obligations. Location is not a defence.
Is copyright registration required before taking action?
In the UK and EU, no. Copyright is automatic from the moment a photograph is created. In the US, registration is not required to own copyright, but registering with the US Copyright Office before infringement occurs does provide access to statutory damages if litigation is pursued. In Australia, copyright is also automatic under the Copyright Act 1968.
What if the infringing website keeps re-uploading the images?
Document every instance and continue reporting. Each new upload is a fresh act of infringement. If a DMCA notice has already been issued and they continue, this demonstrates wilful infringement, which strengthens any legal case and makes service providers more likely to take stronger action including account termination.
The Key Takeaway
If someone is using your product photos without permission, it can feel overwhelming, especially when the response is dismissive, hostile, or designed to make you feel like distance or borders put the situation beyond your reach.
They do not.
Photographs are protected by copyright from the moment they are created, and that protection follows your work across borders. Taking action does not require a solicitor or a large legal budget. It requires evidence, persistence, and the knowledge that the law is on your side.
If you want to see the original bow charm photographs at the centre of this story, you can find them in my shop right here:
Finally, I want to reiterate that nothing in this post constitutes legal advice. I am not a solicitor and I am not claiming to be. This is simply the account of a small business owner who refused to accept that someone could take her work without permission and get away with it. Every step I took was out of determination to protect what was mine. If you are going through something similar, I hope this gives you the confidence to know that you are not without options, and that persistence genuinely does make a difference.
If you have been through something similar or found this post useful, I would love to hear from you in the comments. Sharing your experience could make a real difference to another small business owner going through the same thing.
Have you ever had your product photos copied? Drop a comment below and share what happened and how you handled it.