Checking for Graphic Theft
As a website owner, you might find yourself encountering graphic theft... or not. Sometimes it is hard to see if a graphic is really stolen, especially if this graphic is something extremely simple like an avatar base.
Upon first glance, the two avatar bases below may seem identical. They are not, however, as this tactic will later prove. We are going to call the one on the right the "original", the other the "suspected" throughout this site. You will need a graphic program which supports multiple layers. I am using PSP 8. All versions of PSP and Adobe Photoshop should work. If you have none, consider downloading PSP 7 (link in the PSP 7 basics guide) or ask a friend to check for you.
Now, lets assume that you came across the suspected image at some random site. The first thing you need to do is take a screenshot of the suspected stolen artwork. Press the prt src button in the upper right area of your keyboard. Open your art program and paste the screenshot into it. Crop off everything extra so you only have the actual image left. Be careful to work without cutting off any part of the image or leaving anything extra on.
Next up, check your own files and grab your original image. Copy it into that same image on your graphics program. On Paint Shop Pro, you usually do this by pressing Ctrl + L or going to Edit >> Paste >> Paste as new layer. On many versions of Adobe you simply have to press Ctrl + V to do so.
Lay your image on the suspected image, covering it completely. If the image sizes don't match up - great, that means your graphic probally wasn't stolen. If you believe that just a part of your graphic was stolen, then try to lay yours as best you can over the suspected. Once your done with that, go to your layer overview. This is where your layers are listed. On your upper layer, lower the opacity slowly and step by step. On some graphics programs (including most versions of PSP) you can grad the opacity arrow and scroll is lower. If you are able to see your image changing, its clearly signals that the two are different and therefore probabally not stolen after all, which is great. If they don't seem to change, you might have a thief on yours hands. At this point, I advise you to gather the evidence and follow our theft guides.
~Kathrin