legalbattle

This Photographer Built a Checklist to Help You Not Get Sued

If you've ever worked in commercial photography, you know how complicated relationships with brands, agencies, and sub-contractors can be. In this 11.5-minute video, photographer Chris Hau details how he almost got sued as a result of those relationships and what he has learned since.

Northrups Sue Photo Thief, Make Them Pay $60,000

Photographers Tony and Chelsea Northrup were shocked when they discovered one of their photos being used on a product's packaging without their knowledge or permission. They then sued the photo thief and collected AU$60,000 (~$45,000) for the offense. Here's a 26-minute video in which they share the story of how it all happened.

Fujifilm: Polaroid Demanding Millions Per Year for White Border on Instax

Fujifilm has filed a legal complaint in the US, accusing Polaroid of turning against the company and demanding millions of dollars in royalty payments per year for the use of its white borders on its new Instax Square instant film. Polaroid is allegedly threatening Fujifilm with a trademark lawsuit if it doesn't comply.

Photographer Sues CBS for Copyright Infringement, CBS Sues Back

There's a strange legal battle going on right now between a photographer and a giant online media company. After being sued by the photographer for infringing on his photo copyrights, CBS has responded by filing its own copyright infringement lawsuit against the photographer... for sharing 59-year-old TV show still frames on social media.

Animated Documentary Explains The UK Terrorism Act and How it Affects Photogs

In response to September 11th and London Bombings, the UK drafted a series of Terrorism Acts, giving their officers certain rights they thought would help fight terrorism. This included a section (58a) added in 2008 that made it illegal to photograph or film a police officer if the footage was likely to be useful to a terrorist. The police's interpretation of that section has since changed, but not before that "if" caused some newsworthy controversy.

This short animated documentary covers that controversy from the point of view of one of the act's victims, Gemma Atkinson, who was assaulted by police in 2009 because she was filming them searching her boyfriend. It tells the story of the subsequent legal battle she went through trying to get the act changed and hold the police officers who were unnecessarily rough with her accountable.

Legal Rumble Over the Critical Elements of Wedding Photography

Earlier today, an Australian court put an end to a year-old tussle between photographer George Ferris and newlyweds Jarrad and Sheree Mitchell over the quality of the wedding photos he took for them. Although neither side really won, the court did make an interesting statement that could serve as a precedent in the future.

One of the main pillars of the Mitchell's argument was that Ferris had missed several key moments, including their wedding kiss. Ferris, on the other hand, called it "just a peck" and maintained that not all moments could be captured. The court sided with Ferris.

How Much Pixelation is Needed Before a Photo Becomes ‘Transformed’?

In 2009 Andy Baio of Waxy.org -- founder of Upcoming.org and former CTO of Kickstarter -- created Kind of Bloop, an 8-bit tribute album to the best-selling jazz album of all time, Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. While Baio meticulously licensed all the music he used to create the album, he released a pixelated version of the original album cover (top, second from left) without licensing it, believing it was different and low-res enough to be considered fair use. He was then sued by the photographer, Jay Maisel, who "felt violated to find his image of Miles Davis, one of his most well-known and highly-regarded images, had been pixellated [...]".