Recently, a significant number of cherished family photos featuring our beloved elf adventures have been removed from our social media profiles by a certain elf company we like to affectionately refer to as “Grinch on a Bench”. Sadly, this unsettling practice doesn’t appear to be limited to just our own experiences; it seems to be affecting countless admirers of this particular elf brand. While we won’t mention the company by name, it has become a rather common occurrence with them. Due to fans sharing images of their elf brand, this company has deleted countless fan photos, causing the closure of social networking accounts and groups.

There are moments when our family wishes we could turn back time and opt for a different brand of elf. However, our children have grown attached to this particular elf brand and are hesitant to consider alternatives with less restrictive conditions towards their customers.

We initially shared a collection of these elf adventure photos on our social media platforms to allow our children to relive past mischief, share these photographic moments with friends and family, and document our family’s cherished holiday traditions. The loss of these precious family memories has deeply affected our children.

Quoting Mx. Ruth B. Carter, Esq., who specializes in Intellectual Property, Internet Law, Business Law, and Litigation: “For a photographer, you own the copyright of a photo the moment you snap the shutter and the image is created on the film or digital file.” (source: Pow Product Photography) As the photographer who skillfully created and captured these artistic works of our elves’ adventures, we inherently hold the copyright, entailing exclusive rights to copy or reproduce our images. These rights unequivocally belong to us and should not be subject to baseless claims of copyright infringement by this elf brand.

This leads us to pose a heartfelt question to this elf company: What is the purpose of adopting your brand of elf if customers are not permitted to capture and share these cherished memories with family and friends on social media? By unlawfully erasing these photographic mementos from the online albums of your customers, not only have you diminished the Christmas magic for countless children, but there doesn’t seem to be any tangible benefit you’ve gained from this action. In fact, it seems to be quite the opposite, as you’ve eliminated a valuable form of free customer advertisement.

If you ever find yourself in a situation where this particular elf brand has unjustly issued copyright claims on photographs that you’ve personally created and captured, we wholeheartedly encourage you to consider seeking legal advice and potentially filing a report with the Copyright Claims Board (CCB) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Do not allow this elf company to suppress your creative photographic expression with their baseless claims of copyright.