Wall of shame: NDTV steals my picture of a crashed Kingfisher Airlines aircraft

Theft of intellectual property.NDTV has joined the my “wall of shame” by stealing my picture of a Kingfisher Airlines aircraft VT-KAC and displaying it on a story sourced from Agence France Presse (AFP) without taking my permission or even acknowledging my intellectual property rights.

The NDTV web page in question is here. A screen shot is posted just in case NDTV decides to change the page.

NDTV steals pirate my Kingfisher Airlines picture
NDTV using my picture of VT-KAC without my permission or giving me credit. Screen shot taken on Dec 20, 2011.

The original picture is here.

On its Facebook page, NDTV claims “NDTV – India’s most credible source of news”.

Dear viewers and readers of NDTV please note — in a ringing endorsement of its high and ethical standards, its in-depth and painstaking research and broad knowledge of the aviation industry  knowledge, the picture used to highlight a current story, of Kingfisher Airlines, is of VT-KAC the plane that crashed at Mumbai in November 2009 and was subsequently written off. The picture being used in 2011 is of an aircraft that was scrapped in 2009. See the DGCA investigation report and photograph of the crash here.

This is India’s most credible source? Somehow this claim rings hollow does it not?

In 2009, this same NDTV and its editor Ms. Barkha Dutt who used all their legal and financial clout to sue an Indian blogger name Chyetanya Kunte for defamation on a post he wrote. They hounded him in to submission. (Full details in this story here. Or just google it).

Wow Mr. Kunte actually defamed the editor and an organisation which blatantly indulges in the theft of intellectual property. Oh, it was unintentional was it? The bold copyright notice in my picture establishing my IPR, just happened to be “unintentionally” erased in the process of cropping. How does one defame one who has no shame?

Burkha Dutt who has also been involved in the Radia tapes scandal is the same person who used her bully pulpit at NDTV to question the ethics of bloggers and whether we should be regulated.

To the readers of this article, I ask, and invite comments on what should be the regulation, law, and punishment for this self-appointed bombastic queen of hypocritical actions.

Update

As if this was not enough, I found out some more plagarism by NDTVProfit. This video at timestamp 1:57 uses this photo of mine without permission. It also appears to use photos from others as well, with or without their permission is not known.

About Devesh Agarwal

A electronics and automotive product management, marketing and branding expert, he was awarded a silver medal at the Lockheed Martin innovation competition 2010. He is ranked 6th on Mashable's list of aviation pros on Twitter and in addition to Bangalore Aviation, he has contributed to leading publications like Aviation Week, Conde Nast Traveller India, The Economic Times, and The Mint (a Wall Street Journal content partner). He remains a frequent flier and shares the good, the bad, and the ugly about the Indian aviation industry without fear or favour.

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