Nothing bought my photo and used it to cheat the buyers

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hhan

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#321540 27-Aug-2025 10:28

Hi GZ,

As a photographer, I sell my photos through an agent. Nothing bought my photo recently. I never know that they would use my photo to cheat the buyers until I read this report today.

I saw my photo in the report, and Nothing claimed that my photo was captured with a Nothing Phone 3. But that is simply not true. The photo was captured with my mirrorless camera.

I felt guilty as if I have cheated the buyers.

Shame on you, Nothing!

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Bung

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#3407795 27-Aug-2025 10:59

So who is the anonymous tipster from Oceania who knew where the shots came from?

gehenna

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#3407859 27-Aug-2025 16:51

https://www.androidauthority.com/nothing-phone-3-fake-camera-3591569/

freitasm

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#3408006 28-Aug-2025 08:10

https://www.theverge.com/report/766543/nothing-busted-using-fake-phone-3-photo-samples

“An initial version of the LDU [live demo unit] needs to be submitted with placeholders around 4 months before launch, to be implemented and tested as we ramp up towards mass production,” said Evangelidis. “Once we enter mass production, those placeholder images are replaced with photo samples through a new version of the LDU, along with final product renders and videos. In this case, it was brought to our attention that some live demo units’ stock imagery were not updated.”

Why not use a single colour image with the word PLACEHOLDER during that phase?

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gehenna

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#3408027 28-Aug-2025 09:00

or why not include images taken with the same camera array as you're using in the new device, because surely they have prototypes with the array before it gets to mass production. All these companies are finding it far too easy and acceptable to lie to customers lately.

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#3408038 28-Aug-2025 09:52

freitasm:

https://www.theverge.com/report/766543/nothing-busted-using-fake-phone-3-photo-samples

“In this case, it was brought to our attention that some live demo units’ stock imagery were not updated.”

Lots of lawyer speak in there .....

it was brought to our attention that some demo units images were not updated... yes someone did tell you that it had their phot on it...

but the statement fails to address the big question of was it a one off ? . or did lots/all of the units ship like this ???

snj

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#3408064 28-Aug-2025 11:41

freitasm:

Why not use a single colour image with the word PLACEHOLDER during that phase?

Also skips over the fact that there had to be at least some intent, according to the other articles at least some of those sample photos were explicitly licensed by Nothing, so there must've been some intent for them to be used in some sort of marketing instead of using generic placeholders to be replaced later.

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Batwing

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#3408068 28-Aug-2025 12:21

gehenna:

or why not include images taken with the same camera array as you're using in the new device, because surely they have prototypes with the array before it gets to mass production. All these companies are finding it far too easy and acceptable to lie to customers lately.

Yeah and since OEMs like you claim their camera software always has some special sauce then the difference between pre and post implementation of their software tweaks should be noticeable right

Gurezaemon

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#3408210 28-Aug-2025 17:46

hhan:

Hi GZ,

As a photographer, I sell my photos through an agent. Nothing bought my photo recently. I never know that they would use my photo to cheat the buyers until I read this report today.

I saw my photo in the report, and Nothing claimed that my photo was captured with a Nothing Phone 3. But that is simply not true. The photo was captured with my mirrorless camera.

I felt guilty as if I have cheated the buyers.

Shame on you, Nothing!

FWIW, I looked through some of your other linked photos, and IMHO you have a really good eye for composition :)

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MadEngineer

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#3408232 28-Aug-2025 20:07

Out of interest, would there be any recourse if your artwork was photographed and used on a product that is prominently displayed on a product by a household NZ company?

Not mine, but asking for a mate… it’s actually hilarious seeing this everytime I’m at the supermarket

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

freitasm

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#3408233 28-Aug-2025 20:10

MadEngineer:

Out of interest, would there be any recourse if your artwork was photographed and used on a product that is prominently displayed on a supermarket product by a household NZ company?

Not mine, but asking for a mate… it’s actually hilarious seeing this everytime I’m at the supermarket

It should be easy. All work is copyrighted. You can sell the rights to use but you retain the copyrighted.

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#3408358 28-Aug-2025 22:50

It’s not always the case however

see: artist John Radford vs Hallensteins

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

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#3408379 29-Aug-2025 08:40

I'm reminded of something ~15 years ago. To the best of my recollection:

Person A, from the US, goes on holiday to Australia. Sees a billboard, and sends a photo of it to friend B, also from the US. "Is this you?"

Person B replies that yes, it is, and how on earth did I end up on an Australian billboard?!

It turned out that friend C had taken a photo of B at some point and uploaded it to Flickr or similar with the licensing rights set to "public domain" or similar. A stock photo company had then picked it up and put it in their library, and then the advertiser in Australia obtained the photo from the stock photo library.

In short, the advertiser hadn't done anything wrong, but they'd still ended up with a photo of someone who hadn't consented to it.

freitasm

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#3408381 29-Aug-2025 08:43

[Edit (MF): remove incorrect comment.]

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Journeyman

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#3408643 29-Aug-2025 17:14

hhan:

Hi GZ,

As a photographer, I sell my photos through an agent. Nothing bought my photo recently. I never know that they would use my photo to cheat the buyers until I read this report today.

I saw my photo in the report, and Nothing claimed that my photo was captured with a Nothing Phone 3. But that is simply not true. The photo was captured with my mirrorless camera.

I felt guilty as if I have cheated the buyers.

Shame on you, Nothing!

Have you contacted the stock photo company that sold the photo? I'm curious as to their position on this.

hhan

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#3408644 29-Aug-2025 17:22

Journeyman:

hhan:

Hi GZ,

As a photographer, I sell my photos through an agent. Nothing bought my photo recently. I never know that they would use my photo to cheat the buyers until I read this report today.

I saw my photo in the report, and Nothing claimed that my photo was captured with a Nothing Phone 3. But that is simply not true. The photo was captured with my mirrorless camera.

I felt guilty as if I have cheated the buyers.

Shame on you, Nothing!

Have you contacted the stock photo company that sold the photo? I'm curious as to their position on this.

No reply as of now

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