
My original Flickr photo.Most people know how I feel about Urban Outfitters.
I hate their political affiliations, their track record of putting out anti-voting "fashion" during election years, and their propensity of stealing artists' and designers' work with knockoffs. Little did I know my own work would be stolen by someone staffed by UO. It's a small thing, but I was notified today by a Flickr user that an old photo I snapped while in Paris was being used in the Urban Outfitter's blog from Paris with neither permission, but more importantly without credit. I'm not a permission fascist when it comes to my images and would have likely given them permission to use the image without any hassle if they asked since a fellow blogger is a brother/sister in spirit. But this wasn't a Creative Commons image, and the fact they didn't even link/credit me sucks smegma macarons. Come on, at least credit me properly...I doubt I would have been offended despite skipping out on asking my permission. I guess this par for the course when it comes to how UO handles other's work. Not even a nod.
I wrote them a firm, but polite email to try to get this sorted. If they're good about handling it, no spilled milk. I'll have to wait and see if their blogging team knows how to handle missteps like this quickly or if I get the run around or cold shoulder.

My photo as used by Urban Outfitters' X-Jen**Update: UO pulled my photo...and the whole post without any response to my email. It would have been more pleasant if they just shot an email saying they made a mistake, they were sorry, "hey we liked your photo, would it be okay to use it?" and move forward. But by just yanking it, it seems more like they were embarrassed about getting caught and didn't have any excuse.