A couple of weeks back one of our Bum friends let us know that Denison Yachting was using our photo on their website to sell Grand Banks’. I imagine every one of you who is involved in cruising knows about Denison Yachting—they are one of the largest yacht brokerage in the U.S. with something like a hundred brokers scattered over dozens of cities. Their listings, and marketing, are everywhere you look in the cruising world. Point is, they are a huge company with hundreds of millions in sales, and without a doubt, a very thorough understanding of copyright law. Their use of our image is a clear copyright infringement, plain and simple.
Not only did they use a photo of our boat without permission, they used a photo of our family, so that it looks to all the world as if the Bumfuzzles are Denison partners, clients, and supporters. We are none of these. In fact, we generally don’t like the yacht brokerage business much, and wouldn’t trust Denison’s team as far as we can throw them. To make matters even worse, I use this photo as the main image for my own business’s website.
A lot of people don’t care about copyright. If it’s available on the internet it’s free for the taking, right? Well, no. We are often paid a lot of money for our images. Just recently we were on the cover of Passagemaker Magazine one month, and had a large spread in it the next month. This sort of thing pays thousands of dollars. When somebody like Denison infringes on the copyright of our image they do two things: they deprive me of payment for the image now, and they make that image less valuable for me in the future. No magazine would want to publish an image of mine that is already pasted all over the internet, especially on an advertisers site.
I promptly sent them a cease and desist letter—via e-mail, the company Facebook page, and the owner’s Facebook page—along with a demand for payment of $800. They didn’t reply, though I could see that they had at least seen my message on Facebook. Eventually, I called their Fort Lauderdale location and spoke to someone there. A while later she called back while I was out and said, “Hi Patrick. My name is xxxxx. I work with Denison Yachting. We spoke this morning. You were complaining about some images that are on our website. I just wanted to let you know I never got your e-mail.”
Is it really “complaining” when you tell someone that they have something of yours and you want it back?
We sent the e-mail a third time, and miraculously they took the image down later that night. Then, despite repeated requests to be put in touch with who is in charge of handling this so we could arrange payment for the image, we would instead be put on hold for a couple minutes then told that that person was in a meeting, and he would get back to us. He didn’t, of course.
That is, until we got this e-mail days later:
They have extended us the benefit of the doubt? It doesn’t exactly take a team of investigators to look at that photo and determine who it belongs to. And, instead of Denison Yachting doing what is clearly the right thing by simply paying us $800, they will turn it over to their lawyers who would charge far more than that to handle it? No doubt they’ve got a slew of lawyers to handle their business, if this is how they choose to run things.
No apology, and no payment for the seventeen months (yes, we can see the date they added our image to their site) they used our image without permission.
We replied:
Mr. ######,
Here’s what the correct response would have been, “Hey Patrick, really sorry about that. It was a mistake on our part not to take your copyright seriously. The cruising community and the content they create while living the lifestyle is important to us, and our business. I’m having accounting take care of that payment for you right now. I hope in the future, if you are ever in need of our services, you’ll keep in mind that we aim to do the right thing.”
Instead you’ve chosen to state that there is some doubt to my claim of ownership of my picture, of my family, on my boat, and tell me that if I’d like to pursue payment for the use of my work I’ll have to go through your lawyers?
Tell you what, we will hereby withdraw any request for payment. Obviously, Denison can’t be relied on to do right by the cruising community, and I’ll be happy to let that community, my community, know this. If someone told me this story, or I read about it online, I know I would certainly avoid Denison Yachting and its brokers. If they aren’t willing to do right by one cruising family, what are the odds that they’ll do right by any of them? You’ve shown us Denison’s true colors.
Anyway, if you are in the market for a boat right now, and we know a lot of you are, please consider a different company. Denison Yachting is clearly too big to care. If this is how they handled us over a relatively minor matter, imagine how they would treat you when the stakes are much higher. There are almost certainly better people to deal with out there.
Update: Issue has been resolved. Please see the comments at the bottom of the page.
Reminder, all of the images below are the exclusive copyrighted works of… 😉
Bonaire is a fun place to drive around. Off-road trails abound, and they actually rent pickups knowing you’re headed out there. They’ll even throw in a scuba tank rack if you ask, which is nice since just about every dive site around the island is accessible from land.
After poking around a bit we eventually figured out that this was indeed the entrance to one of the off-road trails. The freshly painted arrow was a good clue, but that sign made it feel a little less welcoming.
The Spelonk Lighthouse out on the east end. The seas over on this side of the island are nasty. Not only are they rough as they roll towards the island, but the island itself is almost all a sheer drop cliff. Deep water waves roll right up unobstructed, smash into the cliffs, then bounce back into the oncoming waves, making this a place you absolutely do not want to fall in.
We hung out here for a while. The kids had fun sticking rocks into the slime on the walls to create hanging art, and I enjoyed how photogenic the desolate area was.
I’m honestly not sure if our kids have ever ridden in a pickup before. One things for sure, though, they were psyched to spend the day riding in the back.
The next day we drove up to Washington Slagbaai National Park. Dirt roads, cactus, small beaches, and wild seas. Bonaire has a really unique landscape.
Another lighthouse. This one was built but never even lit up. Before they got to that point they had already realized they built it way too close to the water and it was going to be pummeled. I imaging the person in charge was fired before they built the one up on the hill a couple hundred yards away.
Ask the kids what their favorite part of the day was.
72 Comments on “Copyrighted Work”
Sucks that a big company would just steal like that. I was going to leave a snarky comment on their latest Youtube video with a link to this post but I thought I’d let you decide if I did that or not.
I was going to post something like, “If this company will steal from someone thay have no business relationship with, they will steal from you. Do not recommend.” along with a link to the post.
Sheesh.. not to defend Denison (since I dont like brokers in general) but my blog constantly receives copyright demands (for images I purchased!) — and I can’t stand these scammers… they must think you’re one of them pat.. sorry!!
You experience with Denison has me furious, but not surprised they are steamrolling you. If I had seen that image, I absolutely would have thought you and your family were endorsing their company. And your word carries a lot of weight with me. I guess it is easier to hide behind lawyers than do the right thing and ask permission. They just lost my business – which was worth considerably more than $800.
🙂
I’ve always loved your photos. I couldn’t imagine stealing one – let alone to use for business purposes…of your family…on your boat…that you took…that you use for your own business! Horrible!
What is Commission on 500k? F you Dennison, sincerely an active boat shopper.
Its funny (ironically) to me how big companies are all about copyright when it benefits them but when its a small entrepreneur or creator its suddenly no comprendo.
Full disclosure I did steal one of your images for my desktop wallpaper once 🙂
Pretty sure that is a fair use exception LOL
😂😂😂😂 you’re not alone scott. I copy images all the time too! For all that effort, it sounds like pat is needing 850 bucks to be honest! 🤭
I’m appalled Denison would behave that way, but sadly not surprised at all. I’m also a photographer and it seems people these days think anything we post anywhere is free to use. It’s a totally self centered attitude and is inexcusable. There response was nothing short of disgusting. We have looked at boats that Denison are brokers for, (we’re looking for a very specific powercat) but believe me, we would not now ever use them again and will pass the word on to others who are also in the market for boats. The good news is we now know about you guys and will follow your adventures 🙂
Wow, I don’t think you asked enough money for your pictures! And since the amount you asked for was not greedy I can’t believe they didn’t just send it to you. Sorry!
What shabby treatment by a large company! Despicable!
When someone says you’ll have to talk to our lawyers, it says several things all at once. The first is that they don’t understand what they are doing to begin with. Second, they think it is somehow a warning, when it is an admission of weakness, since it is far more expensive to deal with a problem through a lawyer than yourself: first you have to pay the lawyer to listen to the claim, then pay the lawyer to explain the claim to you, then pay the lawyer for advice, then pay the lawyer to act on the advice and communicate with you, then…and so it goes on.
It is of course the case when a lawyer is eventually involved, the first thing they tell the client is they messed up (“if I can’t solve it it is because you messed it up from the get-go”). Here of course, Denison did: when they said they were giving you the benefit of the doubt, they were admitting that if what you said is true, they violated your copyright. If they were going to shunt this off to the lawyers they should have removed the image and sent you the contact info.
In addition to Denison being guilty of copyright infringement and bullying business practices, they are also guilty of incorrect grammar! They need to spend some $$$ on English lessons or hire someone who can write grammatically correct English. Rob Newton is NOT a “which began American Marine in 1956.” Sink that!!!
Thanks for the PSA regarding Denison. I love the “Here’s what the correct response would have been” letter.
I know an individual who posts social media photos of his travels. He also adds a hidden electronic copyright into the files. When he discovers one has been used by search for his electronic copyright he goes straight to suing them. Apparently makes a nice living doing this.
I sent them an email telling them they are unethical and that I will be spreading the word in Fairfield County, Connecticut, which has a huge boating community on Long Island Sound. They’re toast.
Yep we are in the market. Big fat no to Denison! Thanks for the info!
Mic drop! I love that when you choose to use your platform to share a horrible experience with a business, you have done your due diligence and tried to solve the problem before sharing the problem here. You did your best to correct their bad behavior and they chose not to work with you.
I can understand why you chose not to get involved in a lengthy legal wrangle but I would have gladly contributed to the cost of you suing them big time.
I like the idea above of going straight to suing them. It’s not like you don’t have experience for those of us that go back to the South African Cat.
then again, you’ve got a great family and happy life in a remote location. I can see you not wanting to bother. Of course, I’m not a lawyer, but if there is someone in Wanderer or Bumworld with some ttme on their hands….
What business buffoons. They easily could have had a win-win. Proper response: “We’re sorry. Here’s the $800. Clearly you represent the type of clients we’re looking for and you take great photos. Can we get some more photos?” You say nice things about them and they sell more boats. Duh.
Lowe and Ouest are beautiful and amazing! Wow, that is quite a jump!!
I’m hoping many of your readers will be contacting them. We will for sure!
Your response to Denison Yachting’s infringement on your IP is perfect, Pat. My hunch is that someone in management has their teenager manage the website – at least that could explain how someone at the controls might think, “Everything’s free on the internet!” And it’s funny, as well, that the image they replaced your copyrighted pic with is totally inappropriate – I mean, who doesn’t know that you don’t put a white background behind white lettering so no one can read your message?! Too funny . . . 😎
TJ
I wrote an email of complaint directly to Bob Denison, head honcho of Denison Yacht Sales.
bob@denisonyachting.com
You can bet they paid good money for the image they replaced yours with, too!
https://www.breedmedia.com/rawfile/2019/vida
Hi Pat and family, I checked Denison’s website on my mobile phone today (iPhone) and your photo is still present. Just an FYI.
Clear your phone’s browser cache. I did, and the image no longer shows up on my iPhone.
I made several comments on their facebook page and sent an email to 10 of their brokers about this dishonesty
Pat — love your other blog posts but you’re totally milking this one. Not a good look for your family.. pointing you to the company lawyer is expected for settlement.. but a blog post for this? Cmon
Agreed!
I’m happy they posted this. The company apparently also padded their Facebook page reviews with a bunch of glowing reviews from employees. I’m boat shopping now. There are a lot of brokers out there. I don’t need to do business with one that is so ethically challenged.
I know honest people who work at Denison. Let’s not punish an entire company and all its employees because of the short-sightedness of a couple of individuals. Just about every large company has some bad apples. To do so is myopic, in my humble opinion. I refuse to take food off the table of the honest hard-working people.
Let’s be realistic, if the entire Denison company operated with dishonesty, would they still be in business? And, would they be a massive size broker? I wouldn’t hesitate to use Denison when buying or selling a boat. Thousands of people have been satisfied with their services.
I refuse to take food off the table of honest hard-working people. But, if you opt to do so, that is your prerogative.
Well, I don’t think that it is just this one isolated incident. When I look at their Facebook page a large portion of their glowing reviews are from employees. Some disclose that in the review and some don’t. Either way, that seems pretty dishonest to me as well. Like I said, there are a million boat brokers out there, so I’ll choose to hire one that isn’t so obviously ethically “flexible”. All that aside, perhaps it was an honest mistake with the picture but the response was 100% unprofessional. And it’s not the first time. I have seen reviews posted of snarky emails to other complaining customers in other places as well. Once again I’ll choose to do business with a broker that doesn’t do that.
Agreed! You sound like a snowflake millennial… or another sedentary blogger crying on the internet ………..
obviously not a reader of this blog saying “sedentary” lol
so you’re a “snowflake millennial” / “sedenary blogger crying on the internet” because you expect someone not to steal your work and use it for business purposes for free? breaking copyright law? lol please
“Markus” calls me a sedentary blogger, yet his IP address is the same as “Steven” from thirty minutes earlier.
Well, a large number of the glowing reviews on their Facebook page are by…….wait for it……….employees. Some disclosed it in the post and some didn’t. Seems like ethics are a challenge for this company in more than one regard. Would be interesting to see if reviews on other sites such as Google and Yelp follow the same pattern. But I think I already know the answer to that.
I admire the way you handled that, Pat… Also: can’t believe you were only asking $800. They are such fools.
ugh. That’s the worst. It happened to my friend with Coke.. Here’s his cease and desist letter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_CffUwXhQE…..
Thanks for the skirt link Ali!
What a huge waste of time.. seriously Pat? Why are you so offended they used your photo? Your family sounds desperate for money… won’t be reading this blog anymore
Of course he should be offended, it is his, not their’s. Stealing photos is no different to stealing goods or money. Do you work for Denisons?
…..and nothing of value was lost.
So you think a rich person would let it go if a company used a photo of their family to de facto advertise their product? Let alone a personal photo they themselves have the copyright to? You’re right, they aren’t desperate for money, so they’d totally overlook it.
I agree completely with you about the copyright issue with Denison Yatch Brokerage. They knew exactly what they were doing and totally took advantage of you. I just bought a Grand Banks 42 and whenever I decide to sale it I will not be using them as a broker. When a company as big as Denison does not do the right thing and pay you for the photo usage it shows what they are all about……greed!
Anyway, back to your blog. Love reading and seeing the pics of your wonderful family and boating experiences! Keep up the great reads for all of us, we enjoy it so much.
Pat, I have a scuba diving related website where photos and articles have been stolen by government departments and dive shops, despite very, very clear statements on every page asserting my copyright.
While none of the dive shops has ever apologised or offered payment, the government departments did end up paying me.
Anyway, great bagging of them!
I can’t believe you have readers that don’t think this is a big deal. Don’t they see that it’s not about the money? I think most of us are very glad you shared this experience with us. We aren’t boat shopping right now, but when we get rid of our RV, we just might be and now we know who to stay away from!
Agreed 100%!
Agreed.
Pat and Ally, good on you for standing up to a bully of a company. I hope those in search of boats take Denison’s business practices under consideration. Glad you are enjoying Bonaire, it’s a jewel of an island!
We are currently in the market for a boat. I called Denison and spoke with Alison and informed her that I would not use her company as a result of their stealing from Bumfuzzle’s copyright of their photograph. She knew what I was talking about! So Bumfuzzle is making some waves with Big Denison!
Let them get a taste of the “cancel” culture as word of their dishonor permeates our circles. It’s a small community!
I love reading your blogs and really enjoy learning about how y’all live your lives. I’m usually fine just being a passive lurker, but I feel the need to weight in on the copyright issue.
There are people who have never experienced bullying and don’t know how it feels first hand. There are other people who have been bullied or been around bullying enough to feel empathy for the bullied and discontent for the bullies. I tend to want to forgive the ignorant, but if we say nothing we miss an opportunity to educate.
For those that don’t know already, this is a classic case of bullying where one party has more power, influence, strength, money, or whatever and is leveraging that against another person who has less or fewer of those things.
The response to call the bully out is courageous because of this power differential. It is also one of the only (the only?) ways the bullied can stand up to the bully. If there was no reaction, the bullies get away with their behavior, and the bullied remain unaccounted for, unheard, and isolated. Thus perpetuating the power differential for all of us.
So, thank you, Bumfuzzle, for standing up. I will not critique your methods because this situation is yours to share, but I do support your position. Screw the bullies.
Chris Burcher
Chris, my sentiments, exactly.
Well said, Chris. If Denison Yachting management had a clue about Pat Schulte, though, or any knowledge of how another company (the manufacturers of Wildcat catamarans) learned that it isn’t a good idea to try to screw him, I’m sure they would have been more circumspect about their theft of his intellectual property. I take your point about standing up to bullies, but I look at this from a different angle.
I’ve never understood how someone can regard a talented individual’s creative expression as “just a picture” (or written word, or recording, or painting, or sculpture, or acting achievement, or . . . well, you get the idea.) I suspect that it’s those who have no talent who so easily belittle the unique accomplishments of others and assign no value to those accomplishments.
The perhaps apocryphal tale of a famous creator asking a surprising amount for something produced in moments applies in this instance, I think (see https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/01/14/time-art/ ). Yes, Pat took only seconds to gather his family on the bow of his GB, launch his drone and take that picture . . . only seconds, and the rest of his life up to that point.
He first had to attain success in his trading career, marry his high school sweetheart, travel the world, learn seamanship, create a family, refine his photographic talents, learn to fly a drone, then bring it all together to capture that singular moment. He then had to be selfless enough to share his creation with the world via the internet for no charge . . . only to have a huge corporation (that surely knows better) callously steal his copyrighted work for their own selfish interest.
To allow that to go unchallenged is just unacceptable. If Denison chooses not to compensate a talented creator for his copyrighted work, then they surely deserve to pay in other ways.
And they will, as they’re about to learn.
TJ
Well said, thank you for your articulating my thoughts about this issue.
A very un-bum amount of vitriol in this tread.
As a photographer and web developer, I know two things.
1) Theft of interweb photos is sooo common that few people or companies consider it a crime or even know that it is. Honestly, without a visible or digital watermark, a copyright claim for incidental use is an uphill battle at best.
2) In all likelihood that website was developed by a third party consultant, and the client is clueless about the legal issues. They had every reason to initially think Pat may have been scamming them or selling them an extended vehicle warranty.
To be clear, Pat was 100% justified and he could have asked for far far more money. As well, it was reasonable for the company to initially not understand Pat’s claim or to think he was a scammer, and I’m sure their legal people said to defer, deny, and degrade….’cause….lawyers.
Mostly, I think Pat posted this topic to distract us all from the heinous parenting decision of letting the kids ride in the bed of the pickup. 😂
I have no dog in this fight but consider this. Does anyone think Denison’s bottom line is going to be affected by this blog post? Corporate boycotts don’t work. Half the people agree with the offended party and the other half think the offended party are idiots. The end result is marketing exposure and press for Denison.
So what’s your theory about what people should do when a company wrongs them? Just cower down submissively and keep quiet with your hat in your hand? If bad press and exposure was really all that inconsequential companies wouldn’t be paying millions to marketing consultants and advertising agencies.
It’s OK to complain about poor service or getting hosed or offended by big corporate. People did that to Chick-Fil-A, Target, Dick’s Sporting Goods and others when those companies took actions and made statements that offended some. People ranted that they would never patronize those places again yet a year later it had no effect on the bottom line. They are just too big to be harmed for any length of time and people have short memories and soon forget being offended.
Denison might lose a few deals from this but they are aren’t going to lose any sleep over it and in six months this will all be forgotten by everyone save a few here.
Just my option. Your mileage my vary.
Thank you for relaying your full experience of that Denison crap. I will certainly stay away from them and tell all other boaters to do the same.
Wonderful photo you took of the ocean through the wooden and stone window frame. Awesome contrast!
Been a reader for years (decades?) and certainly won’t use Dennison in the future.
What a dumb way for them to handle an issue.
Instead of, “Somebody at Dennison screwed up, but they apologized and made it right,” the story is “Oh, isn’t that the company that stole one of Bumfuzzle’s pics and then threatened them with a lawyer?”
Every company I’ve ever worked for spent lots of money on ethics training not to mention having a pathway for ethic complaints. Dennison has obviously chosen to turn a blind eye to bad behavior if they’ve had their theft pointed out to them and they tell you to contact a lawyer rather than address the issue.
I’m glad this has been brought up in a public forum. Behavior such as this needs to be addressed even if it’s just a grumble in a blog post. This behavior
represents a reflection of managements thinking and one has to wonder how other ethic issues percolate down through the company.
Patrick-
Sorry for the late reply. I’ve read through your post, and most the comments that followed and feel foolish and ashamed. Obviously I wished we would have handled this differently. Not just b/c of the bad PR but b/c you deserved to be paid.
The reason you were ignored may have less to do with Denison being too large, although that certainly played a part, but might have more to do with our Marketing Team being bombarded by copyright scams on a weekly basis.
We have a pretty decent track record for only using photos that are paid for, and when we do make a mistake, we pay the source.
Recently someone introduced the idea we were a bigger target because we so quickly and easily paid when asked. We did an audit and found that we paid 100% of the time. We also realized we paid people that scammed us.
Anyway, we made a decision a few months ago to be more proactive in asking for proof of photo, and to overall, be more ‘corporate’ in replying.
This likely saved us from avoiding a few scammers, but also resulted in us being a jerk to someone that actually needed to be
paid for a photo we were using w/out permission… and of course that person was you.
For that I’m very sorry.
And this isn’t a ‘sorry if i offended you’ type of sorry… I’m sorry. We shouldn’t have used your photo, and we shouldn’t have made you go through lengths you did, to collect what was rightfully yours.
Last week I asked our team to reach out to you and pay what you were asking.
If it’s okay with you I’d also like to offer you the following 3 additional remedies:
1) An additional $500 to you for the hassle.
2) $500 to a charity of your choice.
3) An invitation to dinner the next time you find yourself in Fort Lauderdale. I’ll let you pick the wine… just please not more than $500.
Grateful for your grace.
bob denison
P.S. My wife is a photographer and MIGHT be more mad at me than you are. 🙁
Fantastic response.
Wow, there’s some textbook leadership. Way to go Mr. Denison.
Now this is responsible public relations! Thank you for stepping up, Mr. Denison.
I don’t know what choice the Schultes will go with, but I’ll bet there are some deserving critters in unfortunate circumstances whose days will be a little brighter soon.
TJ
Well done Mr. Denison!!! Very good to read of this nice action on your part. And if Pat says everything has worked out as you mentioned, then I’ll reconsider your company!
A gracious apology Mr. Dennison. I also will reconsider you as a source for our new trawler when the Bumfuzzle crew indicates it’s settled.
I would suggest to Mr. Dennison one more remedy and that is to add a process for following up on copyright notifications like Pat’s. Granted the copyright scam volume is a bummer yet so is not following up on real issues like Pat’s that could likely have been verified easily enough given his blog. But in the end this is between Pat and Mr. Dennison who I can say has offered a gracious follow up.
I thank Bob Denison for following up with this, and for his apology. The issue has been resolved now.
I don’t really have anything to add beyond what I posted in the beginning, which is why I haven’t replied to any of the comments posted here, or elsewhere. The issue, in my opinion, was incredibly straightforward—copyright infringement is only a problem for those that aren’t certain of where the images that they are using have come from. Eliminate that uncertainty from the very start, and there will be no problems.
Thanks for the support from our Bum friends.