Earlier today you may have heard some strange news if you're a user of the image theft detection service Pixsy. In an email to its users, the company indicated that it has been acquired by none other than Getty Images.
Google is seeing a huge boom in the number of takedown requests it receives from copyright owners wishing to get infringing webpages removed from the search engine. There were 76 million requests last month -- double compared to a year ago.
My name is Aram Pan, and I'm a photographer documenting North Korea through 360° panoramas, photos and videos. I’d like to share with everyone my experience with what I call “copyright infringement abuse.”
Basically, I feel that the YouTube copyright reporting system is seriously flawed. Here's what happened to me...
Brussels-based photographer Ezequiel Scagnetti stirred up a hornets nest this past weekend after calling out a world famous boy boy singer for posting a photo on Instagram without any permission or credit. Fans of the star began harassing Scagnetti, defending the singer with abusive messages.
Groupon is being hit with a class action lawsuit that claims the deals company has repeatedly used Instagram photos without permission from the photographers.
Photographers in Serbia are protesting and raising awareness this week in response to a new proposal in parliament that threatens the basic copyright of their photos.
It seems that there's finally some resolution in the curious legal battle between PETA and a photographer over whether a monkey owns the copyright to the viral selfies he shot back in 2011.
A federal judge in San Francisco said yesterday that he's planning to dismiss the case, ruling that the monkey cannot own the copyright to photos.
Artist Richard Prince sparked huge controversy last year by taking Instagram photos without permission, making extremely small edits to them, and then selling them as fine art for up to $100,000 each.
Now, one of the outraged photographers who had his photo used by Prince is suing the artist for copyright infringement.
Yunghi Kim, a decorated photojournalist and 20 year member of Contact Press Images, is bringing more than turkey to Thanksgiving this year: she's donating $10,000 to create ten one-time grants of $1,000 with money that she has received “from fees recovered from unauthorized use of my work.”
In September, the animal rights group PETA filed a lawsuit against photographer David Slater, arguing that the monkey who took a series of viral selfies with Slater's camera in 2011 should be the rightful copyright owner.
If you thought that was strange, get this: the legal battle has now evolved into a dispute over the pictured monkey's identity and gender.
Restrictive concert photography contracts have been a big story in the photo world over the past several months. Taylor Swift, the Foo Fighters, Dweezil Zappa, and Janet Jackson have all made headlines for their extremely strict -- and often rights-grabbing -- contracts that photographers and reporters must sign before covering a concert.
Now a number of the media industry's biggest associations and organizations have published an open letter to performers on behalf of thousands of photographers and journalists in the United States.
In a Nutshell created this 5-minute video that offers a simple explanation of the problem of "freebooting" on Facebook, when copyrighted videos are ripped from other sources (mostly YouTube) and uploaded to the service without permission. The videos then go viral, gaining attention for the uploader and ad views for Facebook, but leaving the original content creator out in the cold.
The following is my account of the most infuriating, frustrating and insulting photo usage theft I’ve dealt with. After attempting to resolve it with letters, phone calls and lawyers, I’ve decided the most beneficial thing I can do is lay out my experience in a cautionary tale and let people know how this company feels about photography.
For the past few years, people have been contending with more and more false copyright claims and ID matches on services such as YouTube. While these copyright claims often involve an audio match of copyrighted music, sometimes it is the visual content that is in question.
Whether it’s still photography or motion imagery, your visual content can be flagged, blocked, or removed due to a copyright dispute. If you have original content on YouTube, this could happen to you.
Janet Jackson doesn't just have a strict concert photography policy when it comes to professional photographers -- she's cracking down on fan shots as well. Instagram users are reporting that their accounts are being deleted by the service after they posted photos and videos of Jackson during her Unbreakable concert tour.
Here's something that you should be aware of if you use Behance to share your photography portfolio online: the "No Use At All" symbol used by Behance is the same well-known one used by Creative Commons for "No Rights Reserved." In other words, with a casual glance, it may look like your work is in the public domain and completely free for everyone to use however they'd like.
Back in May 2015, the Lewisville Independent School District in Texas issued student Anthony Mazur a notice to take down any photographs from his personal Flickr account that had been captured with school equipment or face a threat of suspension. After much debate with the school board, Mazur won the battle thanks to US copyright law and support from his local community.
The school isn't backing down from its policy, though: it's now requiring students to sign a "work for hire" contract to use district-owned camera equipment and, as a result, surrender all of their copyright protection. Mazur recently posted the new contract on Twitter for everyone to read.
Rapper T.I. is being criticized by photographers after using a photo without permission on advertising for a party and then getting into an online dispute about the infringement.
Remember that copyright controversy last year between photographer David Slater and the money that took selfies with Slater's camera back in 2011? PETA is joining in on the fracas.
The animal rights group filed a lawsuit yesterday on behalf of the monkey, a 6-year-old macaque in Indonesia named Naruto. PETA argues that Naruto is the legal copyright owner of the photos (seen above) rather than Slater, and that all proceeds from the photos should be used for the benefit of the monkey.
A new patent filed by Facebook suggests that the social networking giant is working on giving user cameras a unique digital fingerprint. Looking for ways to identify fraudulent accounts and evermore establish what connections you may have with others, the new technology means that your future photographs will be tracked at levels previously unimaginable. For photographers, however, it may be an excellent way to prove that you truly own an image.
If you find that someone is using your photo online without your permission, one thing you can do is send a DMCA take down request to force the hosting company to remove the image. But be careful, though: you need to make sure the usage doesn't fall under fair use. Otherwise, you could be liable for sending a bad-faith take-down notice.
Well, this is a bit... awkward. Getty Images recently threatened a lawsuit against German blog Get Digital, which had published the famous ‘Socially Awkward Penguin’ meme without first obtaining permission.
That is right: you technically need permission to use the meme. According to Getty Images, the meme contains an image originally shot by nature photographer George F. Mobley. The blog ended up paying Getty Images $868 for the copyright violation.
Photographers, be warned: if you share a photo online with a Creative Commons license that allows for commercial usage, you need to be okay with if that actually happens. A photographer named Art Dragulis just learned that lesson by losing a copyright infringement lawsuit.
Taking a quick snapshot of your meal at restaurants has become a widespread pre-meal ritual in recent years. People often like to keep a memento of the food they eat, and perhaps share that image with others online as well.
But if you're a foodie blogger and/or photographer in Germany, you might want to think twice the next time you pull out your camera: your simple photo could constitute copyright infringement.
Earlier this year, artist Richard Prince sparked a huge controversy by taking people's Instagram photos, making very small changes to them, and selling the prints as fine art for $100,000 a pop. Now there's a new website that's following in Prince's footsteps, on a larger scale but with smaller prices.
It's a service called Sellfie, which scours Instagram for the hashtag #selfie and then sells the photos as single-edition, high-quality prints for $150 -- all without the photographer's permission.
When your finger presses down on a camera's shutter button and captures a photograph, that photo is instantly copyrighted with you as the rightful owner. However, there are benefits to formally registering your work with the United States Copyright Office. Today, we are going to take a look at the process involved in registering your visual artwork, along with the benefits of doing so and why you may want to consider it for photos you value.
The Washington City Paper recently decided to boycott the Foo Fighters' restrictive concert photo contract by buying photos from fans instead. Now a different paper is protesting that same contract in a much different way.
This past weekend, the Quebec newspaper Le Soleil decided to send a cartoon sketch artist to cover a Foo Fighters' concert instead of putting a photographer in the media area.
Note: I wrote this because, well, if you make your living with your camera, this IS your circus and these ARE your monkeys.
Dear PPA,
You know that I have had nothing but mad love for you. Even as I typed those words, I made a peace-sign with my fingers and thumped them against my chest. I’m street like that.
Florida-based photographer Kiersten Grant was at the Miracle Strip Amusement Park with her daughter Mylie recently when she came across a board near a ticket line that featured a girl that looked surprisingly like Mylie.
After taking a closer look, Grant was surprised to discovered that it was Mylie.
If your camera lets you automatically add copyright EXIF metadata to every photo you take, you should do it: it could help you recover your gear if it ever gets stolen. That's exactly what happened to photographer Jon Grundy: after losing $15,000 in gear, Grundy was able to identify the thief and recover his stolen equipment after seeing his name in the copyright info of online photos.
Good news for photographers in Europe: freedom of panorama will live on to see another day -- in most countries, at least. Today the European Parliament voted on a controversial proposal that threatened to restrict the photography of copyrighted buildings and sculptures from public places. An overwhelming majority of MEPs voted against the plan.
Last month, we shared how "freedom of panorama" has come under attack in Europe. According to a proposed amendment to copyright reforms being considered, photographers would need to seek authorization before commercially using photos showing copyrighted works that are permanently located in public spaces.
Once word of the proposed amendment got out, photographers have been working hard to speak out against the proposal in order to retain freedom of panorama.
A federal court has dismissed a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against Nike by photographer Jacobus Rentmeester, who claimed that the sports juggernaut had ripped off his 1984 photo of Michael Jordan for its own photo and its iconic Jumpman logo.
Should photographers be able to include copyrighted public building and sculptures in photos without having to worry about payment or permissions? The concept is called "freedom of panorama," and it's currently under attack over in Europe.
Being a photographer in the digital age presents a number of excellent advantages along with a collection of new concerns. Sharing your images with the world and gaining exposure has never been easier, but the risk that someone may decide to steal your work is also increasing. Protecting your images on the web should be at the forefront of your thought process when uploading a new potential masterpiece. To help you out, we have established a list of ten sites that can assist you in your creative endeavor.
Finding the perfect photograph to use can be a challenge. Most photographers seek to copyright their work giving them the exclusive rights to its use and distribution. When you simply want to use a photo for a school presentation or your personal blog, navigating the legal landscape can be a nightmare. Luckily, the folks over at Creative Commons have created an Android app to allow you to find quickly and request images that you can legally use.
If you're wondering why copyright infringement is so widespread on the Web and why wealthy artists like Richard Prince can test the boundaries of copyright law without much worry, consider this: by the time photographer Daniel Morel won $1.2 million in 2013 after a 5-year copyright battle, his law firm had racked up a staggering $2.5 million in legal fees and costs -- most of which won't be paid.
Richard Prince has caused quite a commotion over the past week after it came to light that he has been selling other people's Instagram photos for upwards of $100,000. Now, one of the people he took from is responding in a clever way: she's reselling Prince's artwork for $90 instead of $90,000.
A Seattle-based fine art photographer is suing Pinterest for infringing upon his copyrights and other intellectual property rights. Christopher Boffoli claims that his photographs have been posted over 5,000 times on the public site, and that Pinterest isn’t doing enough to “protect photographers and their work”.
There are many people who have studied and understand the art world better than me. But there is one thing that I’m sure of: Richard Prince is a jerk.