Peace and privacy are supposed to be part of the deal when you own a home but Sunny and Namrata Bhargava feel like someone is intruding.
Website www.propertyvalue.co.nz has been featuring dozens of photos, including interiors of their Christchurch home, months after they took possession.
“I don't want to the corporates to gain profit out of my privacy,” says Sunny.
Namrata says it’s been taking a toll on the couple.
“I've seen Sunny going through that stress, I could hear it in his voice, I could see him writing big, big emails to get justice.”
Sunny spotted the images used to market the home were still up and live on several sites. His pleas to have them removed were met with stiff rejection by website owner, US multinational CoreLogic.
“They are saying, ‘now these pictures belong to us’. We as the owner of the property have no right to ask them to remove this information from the public platforms,” says Sunny.
However, Fair Go found the photographer who took the photos. He insists he still owns the copyright and has no dealings with CoreLogic.
“I don’t have any agreement for them to use my images at all. I wouldn’t even know who to speak to”, Rory Gilmore said.
Gilmore says it has become commonplace for people and companies to make unauthorised use of work created by photographers and other artists, but that doesn’t make it right.
“People look at the internet and think ‘well. I've seen the image and I can just download it,’ but you wouldn't do that with somebody's wallet that you found at the bus-stop, or a bicycle.”
The images CoreLogic put on PropertyValue were watermarked to real estate company Total Realty, which handled the house sale to the Bhargavas.
Total Realty had done all it could to take them down on request, before Fair Go got involved.
A manager told Fair Go the agency shares those images to four other websites – TradeMe, OneRoof, RealEstate.co.nz and Homes.co.nz – but has no deal with PropertyValue.
PropertyValue referred to TradeMe terms in its defence.
TradeMe says it takes down images once the sale is complete, but it refuses to confirm or deny any relationship with CoreLogic, citing commercial sensitivity
CoreLogic won’t say either, just that it relies on assurances that it can use the images.
The companies did announce a partnership in 2020, declaring “datasets from both companies will be aggregated”.
Total Realty told Fair Go it accepts the images are for the sale process only and knew that all along, however CoreLogic seems to have a different idea. Its NZ country manager Simone Moors implied a chain of permission from the agent that it relies upon.
“When a real estate agent uploads property imagery from a photographer to a listing portal, the agent may grant to the listing portal a licence to those images. That licence permits the listing portal to sublicense the use or distribution of those images to third parties, which may include CoreLogic,” says Moors said in a statement.
Gilmore says he has no issue with that, as long as it’s just for the purpose he took the photo – to help sell the house.
But he says it’s not OK to keep them and keep using them for ongoing listing of a property for other reasons, like value comparisons.
“If you're using my images or my work to make money, I think you should pay,” Gilmore said.
Intellectual property law specialist Earl Gray from Sangro Chambers says copyright holders often have a fight to assert their rights.
“It's a hard ask once it's spreading on the internet,” he said, adding that the cost of legal options may make it more worthwhile to spend the time and money taking more photos for a new customer instead.
Back to the Bhargavas and their feeling of intrusion.
They could contact the copyright owner - Gilmore in this case - and ask to buy the copyright for a small sum. If Rory agreed, they could issue what’s called a take down notice demanding the US parent company remove their photos. But that requires some legal knowledge, which isn’t always cheap to come by.
Sometimes it’s enough to just contact the company and ask nicely, but that had zero effect on CoreLogic when Sunny asked.
Yet when Fair Go got involved, the photos vanished almost immediately.
Moors offered a public apology to the Bhargavas:
“Sunny’s initial request should have been met more urgently, and we are sorry for the inconvenience and distress experienced. We are undertaking internal training to ensure future requests are met appropriately.”
CoreLogic will soon be offering homeowners the ability to claim their home’s listing and decide what images can and can’t be used.
Until then, Moors says CoreLogic will listen and act on direct requests for image removal.
Sunny is very happy: “Never say no, until you ask Fair Go.”
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