you need to first email them and ask that it be
taken down. If they don't comply in a reasonable
time (like division said, 7 days sounds right)
then you can take legal action. Technically, it's
theft of intellectual property, though most
prosecutors don't like to take up such cases
unless the thief is selling for a profit.
As a last resort you could get the copyright
holders involved, but be careful how you phrase
your emails to them. Having scans of our own cels
on our sites is just a hair shy of being illegal
as well. They could try to come back at you. I
recommend putting up a disclaimer on all your
pages as to who actually owns the copyright to
the image. That'll cover you somewhat if they try
to come back at you. Also, if these image thieves
try to tell the copyright holders that they
didn't know the images were copyrighted (which
they will), the rightsholders can point to your
disclaimer as proof that they did know and posted
the images anyway.
If you're feeling REALLY spiteful, you can email
the thief's Webhosting service. They are legally
obligated to investigate all allegations of
criminal wrong doing and report the findings to
the appropriate legal authorities.
Good luck.
KF
(who's not a lawyer, but would like to play one
on TV :) |