The fact that companies, lawyers and other individuals have ripped one of my best sellers is nothing new to me.

Yesterday I found one of my images on another semi-pro web site in full resolution (indexed by Google images - unfortunately) so I contacted the owner who replied today that he has no idea what this fuzz is about since he got the image from his web hosting company.

I asked for further details where exactly the image is located but apparently it is part of the web host's image library for their customers.

I wonder why they would provide full resolution images.

If it does turn out that my image is being used by the web host how do you think should I proceed as I don't even know where they might have gotten the image from (which agency etc.).

I registered copyright on that image also.

Do you know which web host it is?  Apparently they haven't understood the licensing terms allowed... unless they bought it as an extended license and are sort of including it as part of a website template.

I know which web host it is - I just didn't want to publicly discuss it using their name - I hope this makes sense.
Just in case I had something in my hand and it would destroy my case by writing about it here in all detail.

The web site user responded a few more times, the image was taken down and in the meantime I never received one bit of detailed information where exactly the image was located on the web hosting company's site so it starts to look like that the owner actually uploaded it himself and that it has nothing to do with the web host.

I'm still trying to squeeze that information out of him but he only responds with one sentence replies... Doesn't look very cooperative...

If it is copyright registered and used illegally, aren't you automatically entitled to punitive damages if the user is based in the US?

Technically yes, however as much as I found out so far, the image was used already in 2007 and is supposedly not available anymore in the site builder feature of the web host.

Now, I have a "he says, she says" situation and no proof. No idea how anyone could prove that the web host offered my image back then.
At least the high res file has been removed.

At least the high res file has been removed.

Was it available for you to take a screenprint? One thing a pro photographer told me once: if you want to charge someone for using an image without authorization, the first thing should be go to a notary and have him state the image was available on that day, because the first thing that they will do is to delete the image as soon as there is any contact (personal or official).

In his case, however, he is a big nature photographer here, basically working for assignments, so this means a lot of money involved.

Honestly, I don't think there is much money to be made when pursuing web based copyright infringement (which sounds worse than it is in most cases...) unless you can call yourself Getty and have a team of lawyers on stand-by.

It was even a local web site not too far from where I live. The owner understood my issue and removed the image right away.
There is no point in bugging him as he would change his story with every response. I'd have to get every statement notarized etc. for what?
38 cents for licensing fees and $10 in damages? No lawyer is going to take that case unless I pay them thousands of $$$ in fees to them.

I get the feeling you have to wait until your unlicensed image shows up during the Super Bowl. Then you might have a case.

It's sad to hear, but I think you are right. What you have going in your favor is that you registered your image with the copyright office. But unless you are prepared to spend money with an attorney pursuing the matter, you basically have lost out on the royalties for that.