Someone stole my product photos: what to do in the first hour, and after

What should you do in the first hour?

Don't message the seller yet. Screenshot every listing with its URL in view, note the date, and save your original photo files. Then search with your image to find the other copies, so you can report them together rather than one at a time.

It usually starts with a customer email or a stray search. Your hero shot, the one you paid for and retouched, sits on a listing at a third of your price with your logo cropped out. The urge is to message the seller. Hold off. A warning gives them time to swap the photos or rename the store, and your evidence goes with it.

1. Screenshot each listing with the address bar showing, so the URL and the price sit in one image. Note the date and time.
2. Copy every listing URL into one document, one line each, with the date you found it.
3. Pull your originals: the full-resolution files, straight from the camera or your photographer, with their file dates intact.
4. Search with the image. Google's search with an image can return websites with the image or a similar one. Try your top product shots, not just the one you found.
5. Note who hosts each copy: a marketplace, a store built on a platform such as Shopify, or an independent website. That decides where you report.

That's the first hour done. You don't need a lawyer yet, and you don't need to register anything to report a copy.

What evidence do you need?

Enough to show the photo is yours and to let the platform find every copy. A US copyright notice needs six things under 17 U.S.C. 512(c)(3)(A), including where the copy is, with enough detail to locate it. Your screenshots and original files cover most of it.

The notice also carries two statements: a good-faith belief that the use isn't authorized, and a statement that the notice is accurate. Only the part saying you're authorized to act for the owner is made under penalty of perjury, under 17 U.S.C. 512(c)(3)(A). Our step-by-step guide to writing a DMCA takedown notice has the wording.

Who owns the copyright in your product photos?

Copyright in a photo belongs first to whoever took it, so check your photographer's contract before you claim the shots as yours. If you took them, they're yours. If an employee took them as part of the job, they're the company's.

The rule is 17 U.S.C. 201(a): copyright vests initially in the author. Section 201(b) makes the employer the author of a work made for hire, and the definition in 17 U.S.C. 101 covers two cases. One is work by an employee within the scope of the job. The other is certain kinds of commissioned work, where both sides sign a written agreement saying it's made for hire. A freelance product shoot may not fit those commissioned categories at all, so don't lean on the label.

Transfers need paper too. Under 17 U.S.C. 204(a), a transfer of copyright isn't valid unless it's in writing and signed by the owner. If your contract only says you may use the photos, the photographer may still own them. You have two fixes: ask for a signed assignment, or have the photographer authorize you to act for them. Do it before you file, because the notice has you state you're authorized.

Should you send a DMCA notice or a trademark complaint?

Send a copyright (DMCA) notice when the listing uses your photos or text. Use a trademark complaint when it sells a fake under your brand name or logo. If it does both, report both. A copyright notice needs no registration; a trademark complaint relies on your trademark, so have its details, including any registration number, ready.

Platforms treat photo theft as copyright infringement in their own rules. eBay's intellectual property policy lists third-party photos used without permission, and it counts editing copied images too. The Taobao and Tmall IPP policy lists unauthorized use of copyrighted photography as an eligible complaint. Our explainer on what a DMCA notice is covers when it's the wrong tool, and our DMCA takedown service page shows how we prepare these notices for you to file.

Where do you report stolen product photos?

Report to whoever hosts the copy, through its own IP or copyright form. Never report a site to its domain registrar, which can only switch off the whole domain. Each platform's route, with the date we last checked it, is in the Takedown Routes Index.

For platform-by-platform detail, including Google Search and the Copyright Office's directory of designated agents, read how to report copyright infringement. If the copies are fakes rather than photo theft, the guide to where to report counterfeits covers trademark routes too.

What happens after you report?

If the report complies with the platform's policy, the copy comes down and the seller is told. Etsy may send the seller a copy of your report, including your name and email. If the seller files a counter-notice, the listing can return 10 to 14 business days later unless you start a court action.

Etsy's intellectual property policy says it makes a reasonable attempt to contact the affected seller, explains the removal and, for copyright, explains how to counter-notice. Expect a reply. Some sellers apologize and swap in their own photos; that's a win. Some counter-notice. The rule is 17 U.S.C. 512(g), and our guide to the DMCA counter-notice sets out what you can do in that window.

And some come back under a new store name with the same photos. Report the new listing, note that it's the same seller, and read how to stop repeat counterfeit sellers.

When should you call a lawyer?

Call one when you want money or a court order, not just removal. To sue over a US work you generally need a registration first, and statutory damages and attorney's fees depend on registering in time. For smaller claims, the Copyright Claims Board handles disputes up to $30,000.

The timing rules are worth knowing before you need them. 17 U.S.C. 411(a) bars a civil infringement action over a US work until the copyright is preregistered or registered, with narrow exceptions. 17 U.S.C. 412 rules out statutory damages and attorney's fees for infringement that began after publication and before registration, unless you registered within 3 months of first publication.

Registration is cheap next to that. The Copyright Office fee schedule lists $45 for one work by a single author filed online, $65 for the Standard Application, and $55 for a group of published photographs. If you shoot new product photos every season, registering each batch is the cheapest insurance in this post.

The Copyright Claims Board is the middle path: a tribunal for copyright claims up to $30,000, outside federal court. Its FAQ says it's voluntary, so the other side can opt out, and that you need a registration or a submitted application to file. A lawyer can tell you whether it fits your case.

If copies keep turning up, Brand Protection Tools searches marketplaces for your photos, saves the evidence at detection, and prepares the notice with the right route for you to file. We start with Etsy and Alibaba.com.