Local Democrat says Republican candidate stole her Facebook photo
A Facebook fight over allegedly stolen photos
Michele McDermid said that Eileen Quiring, Republican candidate for Clark County Council chair, stole a photo she had posted to Facebook and is using it in a campaign mailer to criticize Quiring’s Democratic opponent.
“Basically, I saw her ad, and I’m like, oh my god, she has my photo! What the hell?” said McDermid, who took to a local Facebook group on Friday to complain.
Quiring’s campaign recently sent out a mailer that includes an image of Eric Holt, her Democratic opponent, and contrasts her positions with his.
McDermid said that yesterday she recognized the photo on the mailer as being one she took of Holt speaking at an event held by the Clark County Democratic Women at Latte Da Coffee House and Wine Bar in 2016, when he was then running for state Senate. There is a photo on the group’s Facebook page that looks like the image used in Quiring’s mailer.
“I know it’s my photo because I took it,” she said. “It’s on my SD card and I was president of Clark County Democratic Women.”
McDermid, who is no longer president of Clark County Democratic Women, said that after the event she posted the photo of Holt to the group’s Facebook page. She said that Quiring’s campaign pulled the photo off of the group’s Facebook page and put it in the campaign mailer.
She said that she’s reached out to Quiring, who’s emphasized property rights in her campaign, via Facebook but has not heard back.
“I don’t know why she thought that was okay to take it off the Clark County Democratic Women’s site,” said McDermid. “She had no permission to do that whatsoever.”
Does Quiring, or anyone for that matter, need her permission?
According to a Facebook FAQs page, generally “the person who creates an original work owns the copyright in it. For example, if you create a painting, you likely own the copyright in that painting. Similarly, if you take a photo, you generally own the copyright in that photo.”
The page states that copyright owners have the right to grant permission to others to use their work and to prevent others from using it without their permission.
In a Facebook message, Holt shared screenshots of posts to Quiring’s wall criticizing her for using the photo. Those posts appear to have been deleted.
McDermid said she’s not planning on pursuing any litigation against Quiring and that the candidate “can’t undo what she’s done.” When asked what Quiring could do to make things right, McDermid responded, “by not winning.”
I’ve reached out to Quiring for comment and will update this blog if I hear back.
