At Red Points, we are at the forefront of tackling one of the most complex and rapidly evolving challenges in the digital landscape: AI-driven copyright image infringement.
Over the past decade, we’ve watched this threat intensify, transforming from isolated incidents into a pervasive issue that spans across industries. In fact, since the start of 2022, we´ve witnessed a 97% surge in unauthorized use of copyrighted images for our clients — a number that continues to rise as new forms of infringement emerge.
The stakes have never been higher.
Not only does this growing challenge threaten brands financially, but it also compromises their reputation and erodes consumer trust — two critical pillars of long-term success. And with the rise of AI-generated content, the complexity of these infringements has escalated, demanding more advanced and proactive strategies for detection and enforcement.
While traditional reverse image search tools have long been a go-to solution for identifying unauthorized use, they are no longer sufficient. AI-generated images have introduced a new layer of sophistication, often evading detection by subtly altering genuine images in ways that manual search tools cannot identify.
This new frontier of infringement is pushing the limits of existing tools, making it clear that a more comprehensive approach is needed.
In industries ranging from e-commerce to social media, we’ve observed firsthand how AI-generated content is reshaping common infringement scenarios:
- Counterfeit listings: With AI, counterfeiters can now create highly realistic images that mimic original product photos, deceiving consumers more effectively than ever before.
- Fake websites and phishing: AI-generated images help scammers build websites that are nearly indistinguishable from legitimate brands, amplifying financial losses and eroding trust.
- Influencer misuse: Influencers using copyrighted images without permission can now exploit AI tools to alter and appropriate brand content, leading to reputational damage.
In this new era, brands must evolve their protection strategies. Red Points’ AI-driven approach is the key to identifying and mitigating these risks before they escalate, ensuring brands remain protected against the latest threats.
The Future of Image Protection in the Age of AI-Generated Content
A recent court ruling by the Beijing Internet Court, which deemed AI-generated images copyrightable when sufficient human input is involved, underscores the increasing complexity of protecting brand assets in this evolving landscape.
This pivotal decision is set to reshape the way brands approach image protection, as AI-generated content continues to blur the lines between genuine creations, manipulated images, and outright infringements.
To stay ahead of these challenges, brands will need cutting-edge technologies capable of distinguishing between authentic content and AI-generated manipulations.
Red Points’ AI-powered models are built specifically to tackle these complexities, employing advanced techniques to identify even the most subtle alterations.
At Red Points, we go beyond traditional reverse image search with our Image Fingerprinting technology. This solution enables us to detect and enforce takedowns against infringing products that exploit your copyrighted images. With the capacity to remove up to three official images per second, we prevent a backlog of customer service complaints from confused buyers — safeguarding both your brand’s reputation and your bottom line.
Manual vs. AI-Powered Image Detection
Reverse image search tools offer a starting point for brands looking to protect their visual assets. Here’s how they work and some popular options:
- Google Lens: Right-click on any image in Chrome and select “Search image with Google Lens” to find similar images across the web.
- TinEye: Upload an image or paste an image URL into the tool to search their database of over 71 billion images. This tool also has easy filtering capabilities that can help users easily spot suspicious domains or online marketplaces.
- Aliseeks Chrome Extension: Focuses solely on Aliexpress.com. This is a great place to start for finding counterfeit products on a notoriously suspicious marketplace.
To use these tools:
- Upload your copyrighted image to the tool or right-click the image and use the extension.
- Review the results for unauthorized usage.
- Document instances of infringement.
- Send takedown notices to offending websites.
- Follow up to ensure compliance with takedown requests.
Despite their usefulness, these tools come with notable limitations, especially in the age of AI-generated content:
- Time-consuming manual processes
- Limited scalability for brands with large image catalogs
- Potential to miss slightly modified images
- No automated enforcement or tracking of takedown compliance
AI-Powered Image Protection is where the solution lies
To tackle image infringement at scale, brands need a robust, automated solution that can adapt to the evolving tactics of bad actors. This is where Red Points’ advanced AI-powered technology stands out.
Our AI models are built on over 2.7 billion data points each month, forming the most comprehensive brand protection dataset in the industry. In an era where data quality directly impacts the effectiveness of AI, Red Points delivers unparalleled accuracy in detecting and enforcing against infringements.
Red Points goes beyond basic detection by integrating keywords, reverse image searches, and AI-driven models to uncover thousands of potential infringements daily. By pulling results from Google’s Exact Match section, we ensure we keep increasing the precision of our image search results. This allows us to capture even the most subtle and hard-to-detect infringements, providing brands with a higher level of protection against unauthorized use of their images.
Once identified, our cutting-edge image technologies take over:
- Image Fingerprinting: Detects exact matches of your official product images, including known counterfeit versions.
- Image Recognition: Our AI can identify your products even when bad actors modify images, ensuring infringements don’t slip through.
- Logo Recognition: Detects the use of your official logos in any images, protecting your brand’s visual identity.
- Optical Character Recognition (OCR): Extracts and analyzes text within images, crucial for identifying unauthorized sellers and clustering similar infringements.
Once infringements are flagged, our automated enforcement system swiftly issues takedown notices and tracks compliance, ensuring rapid removal of unauthorized content. Additionally, our technology continuously analyzes trends to detect emerging infringement patterns, allowing brands to stay one step ahead of evolving threats.
With detailed reporting and actionable insights, brands can measure the effectiveness of enforcement actions, track infringement trends, and fine-tune their protection strategies for greater impact.
So how can brands keep up with AI-generated copyright infringements?
As AI-generated content grows more advanced, it presents challenges that manual processes and traditional detection tools struggle to handle.
While reverse image search tools provide a basic level of defense, they fall short in addressing the increasing complexity of AI-driven infringements.
To stay ahead of these threats and protect valuable digital assets, brands need to adopt advanced AI-powered protection platforms like Red Points.
If your brand is experiencing these issues, feel free to contact me or Red Points to discuss the solutions we offer.
