Photographer Ryan McGinnis - Watermark Your Images!

Ryan - Caveat: putting a watermark with a "copyright <your name here>" notice on it does increase the potential to recover damages (should some infringer remove the notice), at least in the United States

This was brought up on - http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/index.php/topic,2141.60.html

Interesting.  Ryan McGinnis has multiple forum post stating his reasons for watermarking.  His reasoning is that it will increase the amount you are able to recover in damages.  MikeD pointed out that in McGinnis's extortion letter he falsely accused the website of removing the watermark, when in fact the image was posted on McGinnis's personal blog without a watermark.

Looking at McGinnis's Flickr account, he is inconsistent in his watermarking practice.  One has to wonder if he slaps that watermark on right before he sends out his extortion letter, so that he can falsely accuse them of removing the watermark?

Ryan McGinnis - What a Nice Guy!

Here are a few postings by Ryan, showing how he makes his living.

I handle it on a case by case basis. Generally, I've abandoned sending demands myself; people ignore demands I send about half the time, but when I work through an attorney, I don't have this problem. I generally don't forward any issues to my attorney unless I am willing to file a lawsuit over it, though fortunately this rarely has to happen.

I have already explained further up the thread that I do pursue infringers. You can take things to mean whatever you want; it's not like your personal opinion has much bearing on my life. 

Just send it to a collections agency and be done with it. If she doesn't pay, at least her record will reflect (or more likely continue to reflect) that she doesn't pay her bills.  

Ryan McGinnis Interview - Copyright Trolling 101

A big congratulations to Ryan McGinnis, he was recently interviewed by PetaPixel.

Here is my favorite part of the interview.

PP: How does a storm-chasing photographer like yourself earn a living?

RM: It’s primarily from licensing. Storm photography only makes up part of my licensing, though; while it’s a big chunk, the rest is filled in with travel imagery, a bit of lifestyle, etc. 

Ryan, no mention of copyright trolling?  Are you embarrassed about how you make money?

Ryan goes by the name chakalakasp on the Internet forums.  Here is how he really makes his money.

Bing Image search and Google Image search. Search for keywords that might contain your images. (This tends to work best with images of very specific things, of course.)  

Google / Bing (non image) search: Search for your name. Search for any aliases you post under, such as your Flickr alias (many times, people will credit your photo, thinking that that's good enough.)

Look through your Flickr stats (if you are a Flickr Pro member). See where people are coming from. Go to those sites and look to see if your picture is there. Look at what keywords people are using to find your images in Google; then go to Google Image search and plug those keywords in. 

Try Tineye. I haven't had much success with it, but Tineye does occasionally find infringements for me"

Ryan McGinnis - Nebraska Photographer

Ryan McGinnis is a photographer that lives in Kearney, Nebraska.  When he is not spending time as a photographer, he's doing what he loves - copyright trolling.

At first Ryan would send out his own extortion letters but now he is a client of Photo Attorney.  Evan Andersen now has the pleasure of sending out the extortion letters on behalf of Ryan McGinnis.

Photo Attorney takes Ryan's cases on a contingency basis.  They receive 1/3 of damages awarded if the case is settled and 45% if a lawsuit is filed, plus expenses.  Thus, Ryan wants to settle out of court because it's more money in his pocket, but as Rentech Solutions knows, he is not afraid to use litigation.


Highlights:

* Ryan McGinnis is already famous on the www.extortionletterinfo.com forum where he asked for $9,000 for single image.
* Ryan McGinnis has filed suit against Rentech Solutions.  Here is his copyright infringement claim.
* http://planetwaves.net/pagetwo/photo-by-ryan-mcginnis/ gathering information against Ryan McGinnis and his business practice model.
* On this blog post, poor Sanchez had to pay tens of thousands of dollars to Ryan McGinnis.


Bio:

Ryan is 32 years old and lives in Kearney, NE.  His parents are Richard and Margine McGinnis.  He is married to Jasmin Addy McGinnis.  Jasmine works at the University of Nebraska - Kearney  in dining services.

Ryan McGinnis
1727 University Drive Circle #16
Kearney, NE 68845

Ryan's email - digicana@gmail.com