Topic: Filmwasters Instagram account

[leanne]

Hi all

Is this one of us?

[Kai-san]

Looks like a copycat, that logo is unfamiliar.

[leanne]

It’s definitely not our logo. The account seems quite new. I’m a little worried about the copyright symbol next to the account name so would like to talk to the owner. Hopefully they are one of the users here. 

[Francois]

Personally I doubt that it's one of us. Why bother with all the Facebook problems when we have a nice forum right here?

[kentish cob]

It’s definitely not our logo. The account seems quite new. I’m a little worried about the copyright symbol next to the account name so would like to talk to the owner. Hopefully they are one of the users here.

I wouldn't worry too much about the copyright symbol, Leanne.
i have no legal background, but from my very fundamental understanding, copyright refers to ownership of creative works, not names, words or short phrases. A name can be trademarked, which is a different animal... In short, you can place the symbol wherever you like, but it only has any legal weight against your creative works, not their titles or labels.

Our filmwasting friend could conceivably copyright his logo, but not the word it represents.

Makes you wonder why he didn't take the same route as the rest of us to become a bona fide filmwaster.

[leanne]

It’s more the intention behind the copyright symbol than its value I think.

Anyway, i have messaged them, and explained why the 5 of us set up FW in 2004, and asked nicely if they could at least post a comment to say they aren’t affiliated with this site. No reply.

A non active FW member also commented on their photos to ask if they were part of us, and they did answer to say no, so ... anyway. Let’s see.

I dont particularly mind them using the name, and they are all for film, so that’s really good, but I would like them to disassociate themselves from this site to avoid confusion and just in case anything goes awry with the stuff they might post.

[kentish cob]

I see your point... Whether there's any intent to wilfully misrepresent, or just a misunderstanding, without clarification these things can have the potential to be bothersome.

[Bryan]

There's another one using the name but they haven't posted anything since May of 2019.

[leanne]

Oh no!!! Well, it always was a good name!

[Francois]

The thing is that, over the years, want it or not, we have built a website that is non commercial and totally based on trust and respect. It would be a bit sad to see someone else capitalize on our great name to sell stuff and possibly give us a bad rap.

[LEAFotography]

That "half-passion" seems to be quiescent at the moment, though I wonder if there's a "film-wasters" on there too?

It's a tricky one, as feasibly someone could set up as "the real filmwasters" (film + soup = deluxe looks(c))etc., there or elsewhere.

Thanks for contacting them Leanne!

[Francois]

I just tried spelling out name backwards... don't do that