Image News #5 June 18, 2005 SuperStock uses PicScout to track image cheats "We regard protecting our artists against copyright infringement as essential to our relationship with our artists," says Haim Ariav, President and Chief Creative Officer of SuperStock. Working with PicScout is an important part of SuperStock's continuing commitment to protecting the economic interests of our artist partners and their valuable work. " Seeing PicScout's initial success in the market, SuperStock joined the Image Tracker Service in September 2004. To assure that all cases are dealt with properly, SuperStock recruited Jennifer Walker, an experienced business manager and paralegal, for the new position of Copyright Enforcement Manager. "Our experience in working with PicScout has been outstanding," says Walker. "Of the possible infringement cases PicScout has identified, the majority are well on the way to being resolved. PicScout reports give us everything we need to verify copyright infringements and quickly seek resolution. " The PicScout crawlers constantly monitor commercial websites in search of SuperStock's images. The results from the crawling are then compared to the images from the client database. "Many of the infringers are unaware of the violation and eagerly cooperate in resolving the issues," Walker notes. "This creates a real opportunity to educate users and strengthen our customer relations. We use infringements as an opportunity to educate our customers, most of whom really appreciate it. Even better, many contractually agree to purchase images from us in the future in exchange for reduced penalties. We consider this a real "win-win" situation for everyone involved. " The Image Tracker Service enables SuperStock and many other agencies to monitor use of their images by commercial web sites. Agencies receive reports on a regular basis and are able to locate infringements, recapture lost licensing fees, and gain valuable information regarding who is using their images.