Thanks for your question Steve. I would recommend the following -

1.) Let all members know that Chipguide/MOGH appreciates their intellectual property and will not take the stance that by altering said photos are they in any way declaring a new copyrighted derivative. The lack of high profile chips on Chipguide is because many owners of said chips are not comfortable with Chipguides stance on this issue. A number of high profile chips on Chipguide have been taken from outside sources such as Heritage Auctions, Chip Chat Auctions, and even Facebook postings. Until this issue is addressed and acknowledged...everything else is meaningless as it is built on a false premise.

The following interaction was between a user identifying himself as "Chipguide" (Charles has stated it was not him after causing an absolute s^&$ storm on another site) and someone who's opinion I respect.

I will side with the opinion of a former US Copyright Attorney over those of Mr Kaplan.

2.) I would watermark the images ever so slightly as to be visible but not obtrusive. Watermarks are not ant-copying mesurements..they are indication of ownership or use. By watermarking these photos it would relieve the issue of having Chipguide representatives scouring forums and the like looking for a citation that is not needed. Just watermark the photo and be done with it. Something like this

3.) Per the excellent suggestion of Pete Klinger I would adopt a Creative Commons License Notice, Otherwise, as he states, "it's just asking". The site should say:
By exercising the Licensed Rights (defined below), You accept and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License ("Public License"). To the extent this Public License may be interpreted as a contract, You are granted the Licensed Rights in consideration of Your acceptance of these terms and conditions, and the Licensor grants You such rights in consideration of benefits the Licensor receives from making the Licensed Material available under these terms and conditions.

CC license explained: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Which in short says, you must give credit to the source, or you can't use the free images.

4.) Submissions on file should have all info including name and provenance to the photo. Did they take the photo from somewhere? Do they own said chip? Submitters can remain anonymous on the guide but the info should still be available if needed. If a challenge is made to the validity of a photo then it should be reviewed by a comittee or group and action taken or not. Had proper provenance been taken down at the time of submission this would not be an issue.

It is my belief that these measures are not taken because for whatever reason someone is trying to make Chipguide a tangible and proprietary asset....and not a reference tool that depends on the work and intellectual property of others to work.

Emilio Soto
R-8784