Almost a month ago, I received a notification from Shutterstock that one of my images was flagged for a copyright violation and my account was being suspended. They offered a few methods to supply proof that I'm the copyright holder of the particular image. Very quickly I sent the evidence to them and received a response that my case would be escalated. Since that time I have received no further communication, and all of my images have been removed from the site, and I can't log in to my account. They have ignored the many e-mails I've sent. It should take no more than 10 minutes to look at the evidence I submitted and conclude my account should be reactivated.

Has anyone been through this process before and what was the outcome? There was also no indication from Shutterstock why they thought there was a copyright issue in the first place.

Yes, I have the raw data.

I submitted a screenshot showing a series of raw files of similar angles of the same subject. My point is that there has been zero communication. Even if the proof I submitted was not satisfactory in some way, it would take  less than a minute or two to make that determination and respond. However, I believe I have demonstrated clearly that I'm the rightful copyright owner.

Almost a month ago, I received a notification from Shutterstock that one of my images was flagged for a copyright violation and my account was being suspended. They offered a few methods to supply proof that I'm the copyright holder of the particular image. Very quickly I sent the evidence to them and received a response that my case would be escalated. Since that time I have received no further communication, and all of my images have been removed from the site, and I can't log in to my account. They have ignored the many e-mails I've sent. It should take no more than 10 minutes to look at the evidence I submitted and conclude my account should be reactivated.

Has anyone been through this process before and what was the outcome? There was also no indication from Shutterstock why they thought there was a copyright issue in the first place.

I was hit by the same Shutterstock violation as you today, even though the work is my own. I have submitted the evidence as raw files today. I want to know if your portfolio has been reopened yet. I am very concerned about the timeframe. I have been a member since 2012 and have approximately 30,000 images. It's really sad

messed up irony is - what if it is a "stolen" portfolio doing a "copyright claim" against your stuff?

i think so.

Quote from: zebra007 on June 13, 2024, 10:45

I was hit by the same Shutterstock violation as you today, even though the work is my own. I have submitted the evidence as raw files today. I want to know if your portfolio has been reopened yet. I am very concerned about the timeframe. I have been a member since 2012 and have approximately 30,000 images. It's really sad

I have heard same from few others too, they are banning people with violations which they never did. The worst part is they stop responding even you send the evidences.

Why, in this case, I took the photograph myself and never submitted the work to the website that Shutterstock sent me a link to. I have the original work and raw files that I have kept and sent to Shutterstock. I did nothing wrong. Why does my account get suspended when I am the owner of the work? I am very upset to encounter this.

Quote from: zebra007 on June 14, 2024, 11:38

Why, in this case, I took the photograph myself and never submitted the work to the website that Shutterstock sent me a link to. I have the original work and raw files that I have kept and sent to Shutterstock. I did nothing wrong. Why does my account get suspended when I am the owner of the work? I am very upset to encounter this.

SS sent you a link to a different website, which has your image, in use in some way, and that's why they suspended your account? Is that another stock site? Seems odd that SS would care, so I'll guess, someone filed a DMCA against you, for your own image?

I know none of us can answer, but why would anyone do that? Seems unusual and there's no gain, unless they were just out to cause trouble for you.

If you have the RAW files and know the site, file a DMCA against that person!

Thank you for the advice. I believe this might be a case of someone trying to sabotage me, as you mentioned, because my images have become very popular. This situation highlights a potential loophole in the DMCA policy that affects genuine content creators.

Quote from: Uncle Pete on June 15, 2024, 11:36

Quote from: zebra007 on June 14, 2024, 11:38

Why, in this case, I took the photograph myself and never submitted the work to the website that Shutterstock sent me a link to. I have the original work and raw files that I have kept and sent to Shutterstock. I did nothing wrong. Why does my account get suspended when I am the owner of the work? I am very upset to encounter this.

SS sent you a link to a different website, which has your image, in use in some way, and that's why they suspended your account? Is that another stock site? Seems odd that SS would care, so I'll guess, someone filed a DMCA against you, for your own image?

I know none of us can answer, but why would anyone do that? Seems unusual and there's no gain, unless they were just out to cause trouble for you.

If you have the RAW files and know the site, file a DMCA against that person!

Thank you for the advice. I believe this might be a case of someone trying to sabotage me, as you mentioned, because my images have become very popular. This situation highlights a potential loophole in the DMCA policy that affects genuine content creators.

This is pure exploitations of the policy. SS needs to understand the situation by first inquiring with the accused person and if the person is unable to provide evidences then they should ban them.
They should put a hold on the portfolio instead of banning them in first place.

What kindda joke is to bann people and then don't reply.

Update: Shutterstock reinstated my account in early June, after roughly 6 weeks. I finally received a response after sending countless e-mails asking for an update, which were ignored. Literally around 30 different e-mails. They didn't count my evidence as proof, because it was of the same subject but taken on a different day. I scoured my archives and made sure to find the exact image I submitted along with multiple exposures of the same subject, and submitted screenshots as evidence. A couple of weeks later my account was reinstated.

However, my sales have plummeted since reinstatment, as the images that were removed from the catalog over the 6 weeks lost their high placement in the results. Also, at the time my account was suspended, I had a significant balance of unpaid earnings in my account. Those earnings were wiped from my account when it was activated again and have not been paid to me. There is no record of them in my account, and as far as I can tell they are gone. I was directed to e-mail the generic support dept at submit shutterstock for answers, but they have not responded after several attempts. This could be theft of income.

Additionally, they did not respond when I inquired about what Shutterstock did with the royalties from the fraudulent accounts. Does anyone doubt they pocketed the proceeds?

Also, when I asked about the evidence they had for suspending my account, they replied that other accounts had the same image in their portfolio, and those accounts had been terminated. However, in the initial suspension e-mail, a link to the same image I have on istockphoto was shown. It's not clear to me what the image on Istockphoto has to do with the suspension.

Zebra007, has Shutterstock's IP department responded to you after you submitted proof of ownership?

messed up irony is - what if it is a "stolen" portfolio doing a "copyright claim" against your stuff?

That is a scary thought.