A screenshot of the image Shane Warne posted on his Instagram.
Ex-cricketer Shane Warne has come under fire online for reposting an image taken by a Melbourne photographer on his Instagram page.
Victorian photographer Jarrod Hyde’s image of Brighton Beach bathing boxes at sunset was originally posted with permission on the Visit Melbourne Instagram account on Monday evening.
“I was alerted to Warnie’s use of my image early Tuesday morning by a keen-eyed follower of mine,” Hyde said.
“He asked me if Shane Warne ‘was standing right beside me when I took the photo, because it sure looks a lot like yours!’”
“No mention of where he obtained the image was made, so I politely asked if he could credit my work or remove the photo altogether,” Hyde said.
Hyde’s request was deleted from the comment thread and his second request went unacknowledged, as did attempts to contact Warne through Twitter.
“He has also manipulated the image by adding an awful Instagram filter over the top before posting on his personal account to 78,000 followers,” Hyde said.
“This would’ve been a great opportunity for my business if he had done the right thing,” he said.
Although the photograph remains on Warne’s Instagram account, photographers and fans of Hyde have been campaigning for due credit on the image.
“I was blown away by how many people jumped to my defence considering I now had been blocked from commenting at all,” Hyde said.
@ShaneWarne Oh shane, shame on you. Doesn't this photo belong to https://t.co/XeNddTvR93, poor form Warnie. At least credit the photographer
— Barbara Glover (@barbaragloverau) August 5, 2014
Credit where credit is due. Amazing pic by @jarrod_hyde used without credit by Shane Warne. http://t.co/OqEp3GoC7o #instagram
— Daniel Wilkins (@lensman_dan) August 5, 2014
V8 Supercar driver Russell ‘The Enforcer’ posted the photo to his Instagram with the caption “not all sports people are like @shanewarne23 re posting photos without credit to the photographer. I’ll give you credit for your photo @jarrodhydephotography – Great shot!!”
Sean Mullins, a lawyer at Studio Legal, a firm for the entertainment, fashion, hospitality and creative industries, said that uploading another person’s content contravened Instagram’s rules and is potentially a copyright infringement.
“The Instagram terms and conditions of use require users to warrant – or promise – that they own the content they upload,” Mr Mullins said.
However, the fine print of the Instagram privacy policy “states that if you have uploaded an image, the users you have shared the image with are permitted to then share your content with others,” Mullins said.
This means other users have a licence to share images, which may not be directly breaching copyright law.
Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, allows people to report instances in which they feel the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) has been breached.
Hyde filed a copyright infringement notice with Instagram when he “realised I wasn’t going to get a response”, he said.
“I am now waiting for this to be actioned.”
While Hyde waits for his DMCA take down notice to be processed by Instagram, he said “all us photographers ask is for credit to be given where credit is due.
“We can’t buy groceries with ‘exposure’, which a lot of the time is all a photographer is offered for their work.”
The City Journal was unable to reach Shane Warne for comment.
