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Possible Entrapment Scheme by Vincent K. Tylor & Hawaiian Art Network

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Matthew Chan:
In reading the latest Righthaven article, R-J is being accused of using entrapment and ambush tactics because it encourages people to disseminate its articles through its share icons. The claim is there is an "implied license" when R-J encourages the sharing of its newspaper articles.

http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2012/jan/07/nonprofit-attacks-r-j-righthaven-ambush-tactic/

Further, a Righthaven judge stated the argument has merits.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/sep/20/righthaven-judge-review-journal-implied-license-de/

As I have frequently said, I am not normally a fan of conspiracy theories. However, when there is an abundance of evidence that images on multiple websites are being labeled "FREE wallpapers", a strong argument can be made that there is a scheme by the photographers to intentionally trick or trip up users to using the images and later nailing them with a copyright infringement claim.

I do not believe that Hawaiian Art Network actually tells or encourages their photographers to do this but I do think they do turn a blind eye to it. If I were to argue on the defense, I would point out to HAN they have a responsibility to at least investigate this when brought to their attention and that they hinge their case on a technicality.  The "spirit" of free wallpapers is supposedly to share their work and actually use it on their computers. But when that same image is placed on a website, that is where the "gotcha" comes from.

I believe it puts HAN on very dangerous ground relying on such a technicality. The Righthaven lawsuits have shown that judges have a low tolerance for such underhanded tactics and they clearly have voiced this in several rulings.

Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi):
I couldn't agree more with this, I also don't think Hawaiian Art Network, encourages it, if it did I think we would being seeing more letters naming other photographers under HANs umbrella, thus far every letter we have seen assoiates V.K.Tylor with the exception of this new skunk image letter, I haven't been able tofigure what this artist has to do with HAN, unless this photographer is using Copyright Services International which is owned by HAN and probably handles the picscout account.

Extortion-Victim-No Longer:
I think they are doing a lot more than turning a blind eye...HAN themselves brag about the fact that PS is responsible for 50% of their income...&  exclaiming what a tremendous success it has been to 'catch & spank'. Here's the link again...

http://www.picscout.com/customers/case-studies.html
http://blog.picscout.com/2010/10/12/hawaiian-art-network-sustains-global-business-with-imagetracker%E2%84%A2/

Has anyone come up with an actual count as for how many times VKT name has come up in association with HAN?

Matthew Chan:
EVNL,

You might be correct that they may be doing more than turning a blind eye. Using PicScout in itself is not the problem in that it simply identifies images and compares them to an internal database.  It is still up to a person in HAN to decide whether to pursue a case.

In the case of Vincent Tylor, his name has come up way too often.

Extortion-Victim-No Longer:
It is HAN that initiates all legal pursuits on behalf of VKT...Given the number of times demand letters were sent on for VKT, one can only presume they must have done a little investigating of their own, only to turn a blind eye.
I actually informed HAN of the 'freewallpapers' site & they said they were doing everything in their power to have the image taken down. It's been almost a year & that photo is still up & vibrantly advertising itself as free.
What would be uncovered if the owners of these websites were somehow divulged? One can only wonder? If either are involved, I'll bet they were smart enough to keep their names off those domain record/s.

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