International Steam Pages Copyright Notice

Please also read our privacy policy page.

Infringement of copyright is an occupational hazard of anyone running a popular website - my 'front page' had (as at June 2007) attracted about half a million hits since its inception over 10 years ago, since when I haven't bothered to keep track.. Regular contributors will know that their efforts will be properly acknowledged unless they request otherwise. In the same vein, where I have used material derived from other sources, I have always sought permission or, if this is not practical, plainly stated where it comes from. Put simply, the text and pictures on this site do not appear 'by accident', they are the result of steam enthusiasts spending large amounts of time and money in pursuit of their hobby. When, from time to time, I have been asked to allow reproduction of material, this has been freely granted provided its source is given and, where necessary, the permission of the original contributors has been obtained.

Until now, the small number of known problems had been largely confined to parts of Asia where cyberspace piracy is most rampant, the worst examples being Indonesian, Malaysian, Thai and Chinese enthusiasts and organisations using a number of pictures without authorisation. In early June 2007, I was alerted to a UK site offering more than four hundred images of Cuban steam locomotives. Many (I soon lost count) had been taken from my website and then uploaded to another site; no attempt had been made to seek permission for their re-use and no acknowledgement of their source was made. Links to pictures on other sites were made in such a way that it would have been almost impossible for readers to know whose efforts were being pirated. 

On the site's index page was the following statement "This site is non commercial and it is thus believed that the use of these pictures does not contravene copyright. Any copyright holders who believe their rights have been contravened please contact the author and the pictures will be removed immediately." In this case, the misguided individual concerned, when contacted, apologised and immediately withdrew the material and I have let the matter drop. Let me make it absolutely clear that his statement is total crap (that means nonsense for non-native English speakers) and anyone who repeats such a trick will feel the full force of a public name and shame exercise. 

All material on this site is copyright of either myself or the contributor concerned and any reproduction without prior permission AND proper acknowledgement of the source is absolutely forbidden. OK?