James Rattray, Explore Scotland Website Owner & Image Thief

What is a business website without photographs on its pages? Boring!
Which is why the vast majority of sites have images scattered liberally throughout.

Websites can acquire their photographs from a variety of sources.
They can hire a photographer, they can licence them from stock sites like Getty, Corbis or a multitude of others. They can browse images on Flickr and other photo sharing sites and come to a usage agreement with the copyright owner.

There are of course other means of obtaining imagery, one of which is simply stealing a photo from the place of your choice and passing it off as your own.
Before the pedants descend, it's not technically stealing, as you still have the image, but essentially it's theft.

Thanks to Google Reverse Image Search, it is possible to find examples of unauthorised use of photographs.
When confronted with the evidence of their wrongdoing, copyright infringers will often blame their web designer in an attempt to wriggle free from the situation.
Occasionally it takes the threat of legal action before a reply can be elicited from the offender.

Then there's others, like image thief James Rattray, owner of the the websites Explore Scotland and Explore Glasgow
Mr Rat, as we'll call him for short, seems to have developed a severe case of obmutescence and has refused point blank to communicate with me.

I first had reason to contact Mr Rat when a Google search found my image on his Explore Glasgow website (screenshot below)
I informed Mr Rat that I would expect payment for past use and also expect him to pay for any future use.

Within a matter of hours, the photo had disappeared from his website (below) This suggests to me that Mr Rat had received my email and didn't wish to purchase a licence for any future use. It was now only a matter of him paying for past use.

After being ignored three times, I contacted Mr Rat a fourth time, offering reasonable terms to avoid going to court, however, the Scarlet Pimpernel continued to ignore all communication from me.

A recorded letter (now called "Royal Mail Signed For") was then hastily dispatched. This allows the sender to see that the letter was actually received.
As can be seen by the signature, it appears that a rodent may well have signed for it. No surprise there. No surprise either that I didn't receive a response from The Ratster himself or Explore Glasgow .

Normally, this is the point at which I would begin court action. It's not a difficult process, and in Scotland, "Small Claims" forms can be downloaded and filled in.
Having informed an infringer that court action is imminent, I feel that in the vast majority of cases it should be followed through.
In this case, and for the paltry sum involved, I've decided instead to make public what this supposed pillar of the Perthshire community is up to.

Mr Rat was informed of my intentions and was asked "in the interests of fairness and balance" if he had any comments or contribution he would like to make.
He made no reply.

I believe photo thieves like Mr Rat will continue until shamed into stopping, though I'd be surprised if he is capable of feeling ashamed.
Perhaps if his activities were brought to the attention of those who pay to advertise on his websites, it could have some small effect.

In the listed "Skills" of his LinkedIn profile, Mr Rat has included only one skill - that of Negotiation. How I laughed upon reading THAT one. He may consider the addition of  thieving, copyright infringement, selective deafness and averice to his skillset.

I've no idea if Ratty steals from the Co-op in Pitlochry.  What I do know is that if I worked there, I'd be keeping a close eye on him during his visit.