Hornby Trains: Intellectual Property Pirates

And our friend Electric Nose is the victim.

Being cheeky counts for a lot these days, it would seem, whilst copyright counts for precious little unless you're a large organisation with the financial clout to protect your interests. I'm well aware that making my copyright images available online for the benefit of fellow enthusiasts carries an inherent risk - a certain percentage will inevitably appear on other websites with some parasite claiming them to be all his own work.

More suprising, however, is the rapidly increasing number of established companies or multi-nationals who'll rip-off copyright images without so much as a by your leave. I've lost count of the times I've seen my photos staring back at me, especially in adverts where they're being used to make money for somebody else. There's one of mine in a well-known model railway retailer's long-running advert this month, in fact.

When faceless media conglomerates use heavy handed legal tactics to squash 12 year old file-sharers while ripping off the creative talent that created their precious intellectual property in the first place, it seem theres one law for those who can hire expensive lawyers and buy lawmakers. There's another law for everybody else.