June 2010

We recently encountered a painful situation that we want to inform you about.  Shambhala Europe received notice in June that a Shambhala Group had taken an image they found on the internet and used it on their website for one of their Shambhala levels.  The owner of the photo, a large online image database service, discovered that the image was being used illegally and has now billed Shambhala Europe over 450 euros as a penalty.  We immediately removed the image from our database and website, but we still have to pay the penalty-which comes from the dues we all pay to Shambhala.  

We want to share this incident in hopes that it will serve as a reminder to be careful of what is post on your website. While images found online may seem perfect for your new postcard or website, they are not ours to use without permission. Shambhala Europe will pay the fine this time, but if this happens in the future, we will ask the Centre or Group responsible to pay. To avoid this, please do not use images without permission.  We would also like to remind you that we provide quite a selection of photos and graphics for publicity use at http://logos.shambhala.info/

We would appreciate it if you would share this message with anyone who works with your website or database information.  Thank you very much for taking the time to read this and for your continued effort in supporting Shambhala!