To be so peed off?

[Kittenmitten22]

A fellow small business, local to us, posted their new business venture all over their fb page and community pages (they are local to us). Basically the same as what we do, but that's not why I'm peed off. (Genuinely, it would be stupid of me to be as there are plenty of businesses the same or similar to one another).

I'm peed off as, amongst the plethora of photo's they were showcasing, was one of our own. Long story short, I asked them to take the photo in question down, with proof that it was ours. They did, but hurled abuse at me and still claims it's not ours.

The AIBU question here, is that, in my anger, I googled a whole bunch of other images they posted that looked fishy, and almost all are from google, pinterest, sellers on etsy, other small businesses etc. I know it's now none of my business as they removed our image, but to see them still selling these images as works of their own, and people lapping it up saying how great it all looks, knowing full well it's not their work, really irritates me. I looked on their page and they've done this before.

AIBU to feel annoyed by this? Is this really what people do? It just feels so wrong!

Yes it's wrong, but some people don't get it. They won't last.

I would let the owners of the original photo know tbh!

Yanbu x

I would let the original creators know, it's not fair to have their original creativity ripped off

I'd let the original businesses know their photos are being used. I'd also be tempted to contact trading standards- surely this is false advertising? You could report the pages on social media as well. I think that's super low to do to other small businesses.

I have told a few other small businesses that they're using their photo's. Trading standards dod spring to mind tbh, but I'm not sure.

I just can't believe people do this. Claiming someone elses hard work is theirs, and then have the audacity to get mad and continue to lie when caught out. Just don't believe all that you see I guess!

To be honest I don't know why you can't believe this having seen that they used your photo. Surely most people look at things on line in a fairly sceptical way . Refer to trading standards if you want to and move on. They won't last long if this is how they conduct business.

It's illegal to use an image to sell something without paying for that image first, unless you create the image yourself. Definitely contact trading standards, it's unfair to the other small businesses and the customers who are essentially being scammed.

It's illegal to take someone's photo and use it as their own without permission, I would remind them of this. I'd also report to HRMC and trading standards. I bet my last penny that they aren't a legit business.

As above.

Also once people realise their own work isn't what they've advertised they'll go under pretty quickly.

It's a bit like cheating in school exams by copying from someone else, OP.

It may work in the short-term but bites people in the bum later.

I would certainly advise the other businesses about this. If the images are Copyrighted they might have grounds for Copyright Infringement and Fraud.

Trading Standards might also be interested.

I'd report it to Facebook and get the content removed