23/01/2026
Finding one of your photos has been used on a page that's nothing to do with you... and you've not even been accredited as the owner of the image... it's just annoying, right?
As an artist/designer, it's very annoying to have your work stolen, but for a small business, there can be more serious implications.
Why does copyright and intellectual property matters to small businesses?
There is unfortunately a lot of stolen content on social media, and keeping an eye on this is part of having any kind of social media account, because of the risks to your business from unsolicited use of your content.
Unfortunately, despite my best efforts to keep on top of this, I recently noticed one of my photos from my business page had been used on a selling group that was nothing to do with us at all. While I obviously recognised the photo was one of mine immediately when I saw it, it took me a while to find it in my posts- it wasn't one I'd used for advertising and didn't have my logo on- you'd never know it came from us if you didn't know what our sofa or showroom looked like.
So why does it matter?
It's not just the potential financial loss from someone else stealing the image- the time taken to set up the image, the money spent on advertising that someone else is attempting to benefit from for their own items for sale etc.
We build up a 'brand' with our business, our products and our advertising- likewise with the products we sell in the UK on behalf of other companies we have agreements with, for eg, the font style etc. The consistency of using the same font, same colours etc, is that you know you can trust that the product is genuine and you know exactly who the manufacturer is, who the retailer is etc. You know that we have the right to sell this product, and that you are going to receive what you want.
Stolen content takes away this reassurance. You don't know if the product is 'real' if they've stolen someone else's photos- it probably isn't. If it's a knock-off version, it's not going to be right. When it comes to a specialist bespoke wheelchair- that's literally risking your life- both for your own safety and your independence.
People see our products through our photos, and trust that we are behind the sale. They trust our FourX DL all-terrain powerchairs come direct from the FourX manufacturer Moventuras, in Finland. They can trust from Able Mobility Solutions that their chair has been built for them specifically- for their measurements and requirements- it's their new powerchair- from each screw, to the backrest, to the tyres.
However if we didn't take action if we saw our photos being used by other unknown sellers etc for their own purposes, that would erode that trust.
Equally, if you believe the seller you've made a purchase from is somehow associated with one of the main retailers of a product, you will expect a standard of care if something goes wrong. Buying from a private seller gives you no rights- but assuming there's a company behind it will give the customer false assurance. The customer will expect that the private/unknown seller is part of a legitimate company if they have used stolen content from a company on their ads- and that comes with all the statutory laws and regulations of buying from a company in the UK. If something goes wrong with their purchase, they may come to the company they think they bought it from with a complaint that is nothing to do with them. Again, if it's a minor complaint, that would be easily resolved with explaining it's nothing to do with us. No one likes to be tricked, and both the company who has had their content stolen, and the customer, will lose out.
But what if it's a more serious situation, and this easily could be the case in the mobility industry as second-hand sales from private sellers could have unauthorised adaptations that are dangerous and affect the safety of the powerchair. Explaining it's nothing to do with us if there is a serious problem becomes more difficult if we just ignored knowing our content has been stolen like this, so we have to take a zero tolerance approach when we see it.
Social media platforms do also protect the intellectual rights of both individuals and companies, and will delete content they have been advised is breaching copyright laws.
If you wouldn't walk into a shop and put your hand in their till, then bear in mind stealing someone's photos online for your own gain is the same thing.
Sharing and giving the owner of the images and business credit is very different.
