Please don’t steal my work

Regarding copyright infringement:
It’s come to my attention that two of my copyrighted images have been used by a number of people on the internet without credit to me or or any sort of attempt at obtaining permission.
This puts me in an extremely compromised position with the company to whom I granted an exclusive license to one of the images and to whom I am contractually obligated.

And by using my images without credit to promote their companies and/or ideologies these many infringers are enabling others to take the images without permission as well, compounding my situation exponentially. In the past I have politely emailed some of these infringers asking them to remove my images. These requests have often been met with hostility and arrogance.
Therefore the only recourse I have to this type of theft is a legal one. I feel that the copyright system is important to artists because it essentially allows us to make a living from our efforts. Copyright was devised by the founding fathers as a way to allow the arts to flourish, by letting artists make a living making art.
And I believe that the concept of copyright is meaningless unless is is enforced. To this end I have decided to pursue these infringements legally with my attorney Ed Greenberg. I feel as though I need to defend myself against theft, theft of what’s most important and self-defining to me in my life, my work.